Minority of Canadians polled disagree with Trudeau’s pipeline decisions: Ipsos

A new poll by Ipsos suggests most Canadians support the way Justin Trudeau‘s federal government is handling pipelines.

The poll, conducted on behalf of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), shows 37 per cent of Canadians surveyed support Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain expansion. Twenty per cent disagreed with the decision while 43 per cent said they’re neutral.

READ MORE: Calgary, Alberta oilpatch applaud Trudeau pipeline approvals

Of those polled in Alberta, 61 per cent were in favour of the expansion, which was approved last month along with Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline to Wisconsin.

Watch below from Nov. 29: CAPP President and CEO, Tim McMillan is disappointed Northern Gateway was denied, but pleased the federal government approved Kinder Morgan.

1:06 CAPP dissapointed Northern Gateway denied, but pleased Kinder Morgan approved

Thirty-nine per cent of Canadians polled support Line 3, 43 per cent of respondents were neutral and 18 per cent disagreed with that decision.

In Alberta, the numbers of those in favour jumped to 66 per cent.

READ MORE: Clark says Notley’s trip to B.C. to promote pipeline took courage

CAPP president and CEO Tim McMillan said no issue will have unanimous support. He said he thinks the more people know about pipelines, the more they will support them.

“As leaders in our country, business leaders and political leaders, trying to read through where the average citizen is is important,” McMillan said. “Polls like this reach a large sample size. And those that support projects probably aren’t the ones making sandwich boards and going out and publicly championing issues, but their views are important.”

READ MORE: Justin Trudeau halts Northern Gateway, approves Kinder Morgan expansion, Line 3

McMillan added it will still take some time before construction begins.

“There’s a lot of work left to be done,” he said. “The proponents of these projects are continuing to do their work with communities and citizens, with their contractors and with their suppliers. Ultimately, these are nation-building projects and they take a lot of work.”

Support for the Liberals’ treatment of the pipelines is highest in Alberta and in British Columbia, and lowest in Quebec and the Maritimes, according to the poll.

This poll was conducted between Dec. 5 to 8, 2016, with a sample of 1,000 Canadians from Ipsos’ online panel who were interviewed online. In this case, the poll is accurate to within +/ – 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadian adults been polled. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.

(Newstalk 770/km)