More than half of British Columbians now support the Trans Mountain pipeline

Mario Canseco, president of Research Co., says that because the government was involved in the project, it was harder to protest the move compared to the involvement of a company.

He says approval numbers began increasing when the government bought the pipeline; the earlier plan was for companies to buy it.

According to the Vancouver Star, the poll shows that 95 per cent of those who oppose the pipeline are dissatisfied with the government’s handling of the situation. For those that supported the expansion, 59% were dismayed by the way it was done by the Liberal government.

“It’s not as if this is going to be making people who were maybe flirting with the Conservatives to go back to the Liberals because of job creation or energy policy,” Canseco said. “If anything, it shows that it’s not going to help Trudeau get some of those small ‘c’ conservative voters.”

Support for the expansion was highest among men and people aged 55 and over, with both polling around 65 per cent. More than 70 per cent of British Columbians believe the pipeline will create hundreds of local jobs, the poll shows.

A majority of Vancouver Island residents now also support the expansion project.

However, around 40 per cent of British Columbians still oppose the expansion and believe the province should do anything and everything to block it. More than 70 per cent of Green voters buy into this, while only 51 per cent of NDP voters now agree with this statement.

The poll was conducted from 22nd June to 26th June among 800 adults with the province’s demographics accounted for. The margin of error is +/- 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.