Canadians Support Natural Resource Development – Ipsos Poll

Vancouver BC, April 8, 2021 — A new online poll conducted on behalf of Resource Works Resource Works and the Task Force for Real Jobs, Real Recovery[1] shows strong support for natural resource development. Canadians see the sector as important to the economy and as an opportunity to help Canada’s post COVID-19 economic recovery.

Support for Natural Resource Sector

Canadians support the natural resource sector. Eight-in-ten (81%) agree that ‘natural resource development is good for Canada’ (only 13% disagree) and more than eight-in-ten (83%) agree that ‘Canada’s natural resource sector is an important contributor to the Canadian economy today’ (only 10% disagree).

Canadians also view the sector as being important to restarting the Canadian economy. Roughly three-quarters (73%) of Canadians agree that ‘investment in Canada’s natural resource sector will help Canada’s post COVID-19 economic recovery’ (only 15% disagree).

As shown in the table below, agreement with all three of these statements is well above majority levels in every region of the country and among all age groups.

Continued Importance of Natural Resource Sector

Canadians do not accept the idea that the natural resource sector is becoming less important to the national economy. Only about one-third (32%) of Canadians agree that ‘Canada’s natural resource sector is less important to the economy than it has been in the past’ (56% disagree). And a similar one-third agree that ‘Canada’s natural resource sector will become less important to the economy over the next 10 to 20 years’ (51% disagree).

Continued Importance of Natural Resource Sector

Currently, about 19% of Canada’s energy comes from renewable sources[2]. Canadians do not think an energy transition away from fossil-based energy (e.g. oil and natural gas) to a majority (50%+) renewable energy sources (e.g. wind, hydro, solar and geothermal) is something that will happen in the next few years.

Very few Canadians (12%) think that renewables can provide a majority of Canada’s energy in the next 10 years. The largest proportion of Canadians think the transition will take either 20 years (28%) or 30 years (22%). Another two-in-ten (19%) think the transition will take 40 years or more, while 18% are undecided.

Collectively, 41% of Canadians think the transition to a majority of renewable energy sources will take 20 years or less. An equal proportion (41%) thinks the transition will take 30 years or more. This means the median projection is a 25-year transition.

About the Study

These are the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted on behalf of Resource Works. The poll of 2,000 adult (18+) Canadians was conducted online via the Ipsos I-Say Panel from March 17 to 22, 2021. These data were statistically weighted by region, age, gender and education to ensure the sample composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to Census data. The precision of Ipsos polls containing online data is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the overall poll (n=2,000) is accurate to within +/- 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadian adults been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Kyle Braid
SVP, Ipsos Public Affairs
office: 778.373.5130
cell: 604.788.2417
kyle.braid@ipsos.com

About Ipsos

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[1] The Task Force for Real Jobs, Real Recovery is a coalition of Canadians including industry associations, labour, Indigenous organizations and others invested in building a path towards meaningful recovery. See: https://realrecovery.ca/about.

[2] Source: https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/our-natural-resources/energy-sources-distribution/renewable-energy/about-renewable-energy/7295#what.