Canadians support oil exports, but are iffy on pipeline, poll shows
Most Canadians see the country’s energy sector as highly important to the economy’s future and feel markets beyond the United States should be sought for exporting oil and gas, but are divided on whether a controversial oil pipeline to the U.S. should go ahead, according to a survey.
A poll done jointly by Policy Options magazine and Nanos Research found 56.1 per cent of respondents rated the energy sector’s importance to Canada’s future prosperity at eight or more on a scale of one to 10. Con- versely, just 2.8 per cent put its importance at three or lower.
Almost 75 per cent said Canada’s current trade pattern, which sees 99 per cent of oil and gas exports going to the U.S., should be diversified to send more of it to Asia and other destinations.
“And yet, Canadians are conflicted, or at least divided, on the issue of building a pipeline to transport oil from the Alberta oilsands to refineries on the Gulf Coast of the U.S.,” said a report on this survey, written by Nanos president Nik Nanos and analyst Mitra Thompson.
About 80 per cent of respondents indicated they had heard of the Transcanada Keystone XL pipeline, which would ship raw oilsands material from Alberta to the Southern U.S. The survey was taken between Jan. 20 and 23, just days after U.S. President Barack Obama said no to this pipeline proposal, stressing a 60-day deadline Republican legislators imposed in December for making a decision was not enough time to properly assess the pipeline’s environmental implications.
Of survey respondents familiar with the Keystone, 45.2 per cent were generally favourable to it, while 41.7 per cent were against it.
Environmental concerns were most prevalent among those opposed to the pipeline, with 94.9 per cent bringing this up.
But economic concerns were also raised among these respondents. Some thought the oil should stay in Canada to provide cheaper access to energy and support domestic refining operations.
In an interview, Nanos summarized the poll’s findings: “Canadians believe that our future prosperity is very closely linked to the energy sector. But there are two competing tensions that are occurring; one relates to jobs and the positive impact on the economy, and the other relates to the environment.”
Developing renewable and more environmentally-friendly sources of energy was picked as the most important issue facing the energy sector by 12.4 per cent of respondents. Second was energy supply, cited by 9.8 per cent, and third was respecting the environment, chosen by 8.3 per cent.
This random telephone survey was taken of 1,201 Canadians. Its results are considered representative of the population within 2.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.