Six in 10 Quebecers favour pipeline development
By Adam Freill
Construction InfrastructureMontreal Economic Institute polling indicates preference for new oil and gas infrastructure to reach new markets in Europe and Asia.
PHOTO: Trans Mountain
Two-thirds of Canadians, and more than 60 per cent of Quebecers are in favour of developing new pipelines for oil and gas, says a recent Montreal Economic Institute (MEI) Ipsos poll.
Most of Canada’s energy export infrastructure leads to the United States, but based on the Canada-wide polling, two in three respondents (67 per cent) stated that they are favourable to the development of oil and gas pipeline infrastructure to supply ports in Eastern and Western Canada for the export of fuel to Europe and Asia. In Quebec, the proportion is 61 per cent.
Furthermore, six in 10 Canadians said they are in favour of developing and exporting natural gas to Europe in order to reduce its dependency on Russian gas. Two in three Quebecers are in favour of doing so.
“Quebecers recognize that each cubic metre of gas we export to Europe is a cubic metre of gas less that Russia exports,” explained Renaud Brossard, senior director of communications at the MEI. “The population is much more open to developing our energy resources than are its representatives at the National Assembly.”
The survey also suggests that 51 per cent of Quebecers are in favour of extracting Quebec’s own oil resources, while three in 10 believe the province should continue to import 100 per cent of the oil it needs. This was consistent with a similar survey conducted in 2022.
Other questions in the survey indicate that an increase in incentive measures for carbon sequestration would be favourable to 63 per cent of Canadians, and 61 per cent of Quebecers, and 61 per cent of Canadians can’t or don’t want to pay more in taxes to fight climate change.
The results of the MEI-Ipsos poll are available at: https://www.iedm.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/energy-needs-poll-2023.pdf.
