Trade with China trumps human rights: poll

Canadians are becoming less concerned about human rights in China as they increasingly view the booming Asian-pacific region as a crucial driver of Canada’s future economic success, according to a survey to be released Monday.

But a Western Canada-led consensus on the importance of the Asia-pacific region falls apart on the controversial proposals by two Calgary-based companies to ship hundreds of thousands of barrels of oilsands bitumen daily via pipeline to Asia-bound supertankers docking at B.C. ports, according to the poll of 3,129 Canadians done for the AsiaPacific Foundation of Canada.

And 62 per cent of respondents don’t believe major pipeline proposals should go ahead if affected First Nations are opposed.

“Canadians’ support for the promotion of human rights and democracy in Asia seems to be taking a back seat to the potential for economic gain,” concludes a summary of the poll provided exclusively to Postmedia News.

The Asia-pacific Foundation found that Albertans’ enthusiasm for expanded trade with Asia includes robust support — 60 per cent in favour compared to 29 per cent opposed — for having Asia-bound tankers transporting bitumen from B.C. ports.

British Columbians are generally enthusiastic about expanded Canada-asia trade but a clear majority of 56 per cent of respondents opposed tanker traffic on the West Coast. And when asked if the potential risks of transporting oil and gas to Asia from B.C. outweigh the benefits, 55 per cent of British Columbians polled agreed while 37 per cent disagreed.

The results were reversed in Alberta, with 51 per cent of respondents rejecting that notion that the risks outweigh the benefits, compared to 37 per cent who shared that sentiment.

The online poll was done in late February by Angus Reid Public Opinion and has a margin of error of 1.8 percentage points, according to the pollster.

The error margins for regions and provinces are higher — ranging from 3.5 points in Ontario to 5.5 points in Alberta — due to smaller sample sizes.