Completion of Site C was the prudent move: poll

More than half of B.C. residents think Premier John Horgan and his government made the right call to finish the dam project.

In a new Angus Reid Institute survey, 52 per cent of respondents agree that the NDP government was right to proceed with the Site C project after reviewing the mega dam that was started under Christy Clark’s Liberal government.

Just 26 per cent said it was the wrong decision, while 23 per cent said they were unsure.

The controversial project had been a major campaign issue leading up to last year’s provincial election, with Horgan promising to send the project to a review if the B.C. NDP was elected.

Last month, Horgan announced “with a heavy heart” that the province would forge ahead with the now $10.7-billion project, after it was found the project had proceeded too far to be stopped completely. To cancel the project meant the province would lose millions.

The majority of those who voted for the B.C. Liberals last spring agreed that it was the right choice (78 per cent) to proceed, while 44 per cent of NDP voters and 42 per cent of Green voters said it was the right choice. Just 33 per cent of NDP voters, seven per cent of Liberal voters and 40 per cent of Green voters felt it was the wrong choice to finish the project.

The report was compiled from two waves of data. The first came as the result of an online survey conducted between Dec. 7 and 14 from a representative, randomized sample of 5,413 Canadians registered as part of the Angus Reid Forum. Of those, 691 were a part of the B.C.-specific sample. A probability sample of this size carries a margin of error of +/- 3.7 percentage points in B.C., 19 times of 20.