Public Opinion Research 

Canada - June 2011

Public Opinion & Oil & Gas in Canada
Keys to a robust social license to operate

National and Harris Decima Survey:
The results are based on a national representative telephone survey of 1,002 Canadians.  Data was collected between June 2nd and June 5th, 2011.  The margin of error for a survey of this size is +/- 3.1%, nineteen times out of twenty.

U.S. - April 2011

Omnibus surveyed the opinions of 1,010 Americans living in Northeast, Midwest, South and West.

Key findings of the poll:

• Most Americans are unsure of how much oil the U.S. imports from Canada. The most common estimate is that Canada provides less than 100,000 of the eight million barrels the U.S. imports every day. The reality is roughly 20 times that amount, or about two million barrels.
• Of eight million barrels the U.S. imports every day, most Americans (56 per cent) feel that more than four million should come from Canada, or double the current level.
• The vast majority (80 per cent or higher) give Canada good marks as a supplier of oil to the U.S., based on each of the following criteria:
  
  
  • An ally that America can trust (95 per cent say very good/good)
  • Has a good human rights records (92 per cent)
  • Offers good social and living conditions (92 per cent)
  • Respects the environment and works to limit environmental impacts (88 per cent)
  • Has a democratic government that operates with clear laws (87 per cent)
  • Poses limited political risk of a disruption in the oil trade (79%)
  • Buys a lot of goods and services from America (80 per cent)

     

• 85 per cent believe U.S. government policies should support the use of oil from Canada’s oil sands.
• 79 per cent feel pipelines are likely the best way to move Canada’s oil to U.S. markets
• When informed about the economic benefits of buying Canadian oil, this significantly improves already positive feelings about importing from Canada.
• Overall, Americans are nearly unanimous in seeing several good reasons to import oil from Canada, including buying from an ally, a stable democracy with a good human rights record, and the fact that there are important jobs and economic benefits for America.

Canada - May 2010

In March and April 2010 CAPP surveyed the opinions of 2,600 people living in Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver and Toronto. The research was conducted by Harris Decima.

The research indicates that Canadians want to see environmental performance improvements from the oil sands industry.

Oil sands producers are under no illusion about the scale and scope of our performance or communication challenges. While we have a solid track record of performance improvement, we also know we have a long road ahead.

Canada's producers want to ensure oil sands development moves forward in a manner consistent with the expectations of most Canadians – improving environmental performance, contributing to economic prosperity for all Canadians and providing secure and reliable energy supplies.

Familiarity with Oil Sands Development

In general, would you say you are very familiar, somewhat familiar, not too familiar, or not at all familiar with the subject of oil sands development in Northern Alberta?

Impressions of Companies Developing Oil Sands

Thinking about the companies that are involved in developing and producing energy from the oil sands, would you say that your impressions of these companies is very positive, positive, neutral, negative or very negative?

Issues Performance

Do you feel that the companies who are developing the oil sands are doing a very good job, a good job, an acceptable job, a poor job, or a very poor job in each of the following respects?

Oil Sands' Benefits

How significant are the following benefits of the oil sands in your opinion?

Oil Sands' Challenges

How significant are the following challenges of the oil sands in your opinion?

Best Goal

Which is the best goal when it comes to the oil sands?