Economic growth now tops environment as priority in energy policy, poll suggests

A truck carries a cargo container at the Port of Vancouver Centerm container terminal in Vancouver. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)

OTTAWA — More Canadians now say economic growth should be a bigger priority in Canada’s energy policy than protecting the environment, a new Angus Reid Institute report suggests.

The pollster released a report Monday indicating 61 per cent of Canadians now see economic growth as the biggest priority in energy policy. The question offered two options on the top priority shaping federal energy policy: economic growth or environmental protection.

That’s a shift in public opinion since seven years ago, when the same question had 55 per cent of Canadians saying the environment should be the top priority in energy policy.

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The poll suggests almost two thirds of British Columbians now support the recently approved $4-billion expansion of Enbridge’s Westcoast natural gas pipeline, with 17 per cent opposing the project. The remaining 22 per cent of respondents said they were not sure.

The pollster found 55 per cent support the project nationally, with 17 per cent opposed and 28 per cent not sure.

In an interview with The Canadian Press on May 1, Prime Minister Mark Carney said a new pipeline is “more probable than possible.” He also said Canada needs to increase its energy production and exports in a way that addresses emissions, pointing to carbon capture and storage technology.

Carney met with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith last week to talk about progress on a deal between the two levels of government to advance a proposal to build a new oil pipeline to the Pacific coast through B.C.

Smith said after the meeting she was more confident the deal will be completed, while noting there are still some issues to iron out. Those issues include the timeline for Alberta’s adoption of a $130 per tonne industrial carbon price.

Angus Reid collected polling data going back to 2012 on the Northern Gateway pipeline to show opposition to pipeline development has been shrinking in B.C. The 2012 poll recorded 57 per cent opposition to the Northern Gateway project, shrinking to 32 per cent opposition in 2025.

A potential Alberta-backed pipeline enjoyed 56 per cent support in B.C., with 33 per cent opposition, according to an October 2025 Angus Reid poll.

More people told Angus Reid this time that the government is taking the right amount of action to get new pipelines built, with 31 per cent agreeing the level of action was “about right” compared to 23 per cent seven years ago.

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The number of people saying the government is doing too much declined from 27 per cent in 2019 to 21 per cent in this poll.

About half the population maintains the government is doing too little, with 50 per cent of respondents holding that view in 2019 compared to 48 per cent in 2026.

The Angus Reid Institute says the online poll was conducted between April 24 and 28 with 2,360 Canadian adults drawn from the Angus Reid Forum, the agency’s poll respondent pool.

The Canadian Research Insights Council, an industry organization that promotes polling standards, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 11, 2026.

The Canadian Press staff