Protesters march in downtown Montreal on Ste. Catherine St. in a demonstration against pipeline projects in Quebec, Saturday Nov. 15, 2014.
Only a third of Quebecers support the controversial Energy East oil pipeline project, according to a poll conducted by researchers at the Université de Montréal.
But it is a different situation outside the province. Nationally, half of Canadians support the project, with 68 per cent of Albertans favouring the pipeline, the poll found.
TransCanada Corp. proposes to convert one of its existing natural-gas pipelines into a 4,600-kilometre oil pipeline — dubbed Energy East — that would carry 1.1 million barrels of crude oil per day to refineries and terminals in Quebec and New Brunswick. The $12-billion plan includes building hundreds of kilometres of new pipeline in Quebec.
The U de M poll results come the day after TransCanada’s communications plan to win over Quebecers and silence critics were leaked. The company’s strategic plan devoted to Quebec, dated May 20, calls for recruiting “third parties” to “build an echo chamber of aligned voices” in favour of the project.
The U de M poll was conducted in October with two American colleges: the University of Michigan and Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Canadians and Americans were asked whether they support the Keystone XL pipeline that would carry oil from Western Canada to the southern United States. The poll found that 52 per cent of Americans supported that pipeline, while 44 per cent of Canadians opposed the Keystone pipeline.
The researchers also asked about Canadians’ perception of climate change and changes in the weather. It found that the majority of Canadians — 81 per cent — believe there is solid evidence that the average temperature on Earth has increased over the past 40 years.
The poll also found that:
70 per cent of Canadians perceive “significant” changes in the weather where they live.
60 per cent of Canadians say weather has been getting more extreme.
87 per cent say those changes are somewhat or very likely because of a warming planet.
The poll of 1,401 Canadians was conducted between Oct. 6 and Oct.27.
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