Public support in Alberta for the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline has waned since 2020, but a substantial majority of Albertans still support the project, a new poll from Research Co. suggests.
A pipe yard servicing government-owned oil pipeline operator Trans Mountain is seen in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada on June 7, 2021.
Michael Rodriguez - Sunday
According to polling data, almost seven of every 10 Albertans, 69 per cent, support the federally owned pipeline project, down five percentage points from a November 2020 poll.
The federal government bought the Trans Mountain pipeline for $4.5 billion in 2018, with the cost to finish the expansion — set to increase the capacity of the pipeline from 300,000 to 890,000 barrels a day — then estimated around $7.4 billion. Since then, the project — running from Edmonton to the B.C. coast — has faced several hurdles, including legal pushback from Indigenous groups, protests that spurred multiple arrests and a skyrocketing price tag, estimated in February to be around $21.4 billion.
Calgary showed the least support in Alberta for the expansion, with 66 per cent still professing favourable views of the project. In Edmonton, 72 per cent of residents favour the project, and that number is around 70 per cent for other areas of the province.
Polling data suggests a slim majority of B.C. residents are now in favour of the expansion, 51 per cent, though that number has risen by six points since 2021. Most of the opposition comes from the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island, expressing 50 and 41 per cent support, respectively. In contrast, support from residents of other areas of the province ranges between 58 and 66 per cent.
“The proportion of British Columbians who want the provincial government to do anything necessary to ensure that the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion does not happen dropped from 41 per cent in October 2021 to 33 per cent in July 2022,” says Mario Canseco, president of Research Co. “In Alberta, 25 per cent of residents” — an increase of three per cent since 2020 — “share the same point of view.”
Most Albertans and British Columbians think the expansion will bring hundreds of jobs to their province — 78 and 71 per cent, respectively. Still, 61 per cent in Alberta and 51 per cent in B.C. are disappointed in the federal government’s handling of the project.
Around 28 per cent of Albertans believe the TMX expansion threatens the health and safety of residents, and 40 per cent of B.C. residents share that view. Less than half of residents of both provinces think the expansion will help lower gas prices — 40 per cent in Alberta and 37 per cent in B.C.
In addition, just under half of British Columbians, 46 per cent, think it’s time to take another look at the quashed Enbridge Northern Gateway proposal, which would see the construction of a new pipeline from Alberta to British Columbia’s north coast for export by sea to Asian markets.
Research Co. said its results come from an online study involving 800 adults in Alberta and 800 in B.C., conducted July 29 and 30, with the results weighted based on census data. The firm said the margin of error is +/- 3.5 percentage points for each province, 19 times out of 20.
mrodriguez@postmedia.com
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