Albertans cool to idea of more Chinese investment

EDMONTON — Support for further Chinese investment in Alberta’s oilpatch is at a three-year low, according to a survey of 1,200 Albertans conducted for the University of Alberta’s China Institute.

Although more than 63 per cent of those polled expect China to play an increasingly significant role in Alberta’s future, and 76 per cent see China as a key export market, just 43 per cent support more Chinese investment in the energy industry.

That’s down nearly 10 per cent since 2011, according to the 2013 survey of Albertans’ views on China.

“The No. 1 reason why Albertans are skeptical of Chinese investment is that they’re skeptical about foreign investment period,” said Gordon Houlden, director of the China Institute. “So there’s an element of economic nationalism or provincial nationalism — if there is such a thing — that would point to a nervousness about outsiders owning our resources.”

Since Alberta needs massive amounts of private capital, including Chinese capital, to develop the oilsands, those attitudes may pose a challenge to future growth.

“With four million Albertans it’s just not in the cards for us to develop a resource the size of the oilsands. So my own view is that I favour Chinese investment. That’s economic reality,” Houlden said.

It’s just not in the cards for us to develop a resource the size of the oilsands GORDON HOULDEN

“I think there’s a job for governments, federal and provincial, to lead in this regard. There is pretty well unanimity in the oilpatch that we need foreign investment, and the Chinese have got the biggest capital pools.”

The China Institute’s third annual survey reflects the views of over 1,200 randomly selected Albertans who were polled by the Population Research Lab at the U of A. The survey results have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 per cent.

Support for engagement with China is the highest in Calgary, followed by Edmonton and other centres, the survey shows.

Although a growing number of Albertans (now 60 per cent) say the province should reduce its reliance on the U.S. market, where domestic oil and gas output is up sharply, slightly fewer respondents (down four percentage points since 2011, to 68 per cent) view Asian markets as an attractive alternative.

Despite that, more than two-thirds of those surveyed support building new infrastructure such as oil pipelines to transport energy to the west coast for subsequent export to Asia. That’s up nearly 10 per cent since 2011.