A vast majority of Canadians think Canada has a duty to export more oil to the world to decrease global dependence on Russian energy.
The poll conducted by Leger on behalf of SecondStreet.org found that 72% of Canadians agreed Canada should be working to develop and export more energy.
Broken down further, 49% of those polled said they strongly support more exports while only six percent were strongly against the idea.
“Developments around alternative energy sources are exciting for consumers, but studies suggest natural gas and oil will be used for decades to come,” said SecondStreet.org president Colin Craig in a news release.
“Policy makers would be wise to consider the positive role that Canada could play not only in displacing Russian oil and gas, but how the enormous tax revenues from such sales could be used to help develop technology to reduce emissions.”
The poll was conducted via an online survey of 1,535 Canadians between Sept. 30 and Oct. 2.
In August, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau doubted whether there was a “worthwhile business case” to export Canadian energy to Europe from the east coast while entertaining a visit from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
“We are looking right now — and companies are looking — at whether or not, in the new context, it makes it a worthwhile business case, to make those investments. … It needs to make sense for Germany to be receiving LNG directly from the east coast,” said Trudeau.
The comment immediately led to criticism from proponents of Canadian energy.
When polled on the matter, 54% of Canadians sided with the energy industry over 16% who agreed with the government on whether Ottawa was standing in the way of exports to Europe.
“Imagine if the world had a choice,” said Craig. “Buy Russian oil and gas and their government would continue to use the money to buy tanks and rockets or you could buy from Canada and the government would use some of the money to help develop technology to reduce emissions.”
Last month, the energy advocacy group the Modern Miracle Network sent an open letter to Trudeau slamming his government’s attitude towards oil and gas producers.
“While we remain well-positioned to supply Europe’s energy needs, years of government interference and politicized restrictions have prevented our sector from building the infrastructure needed to export large volumes of LNG,” the group wrote.
