Friday, March 27, 2009

canadians unsure about their oil sands reputation?

Just as the Government of Alberta launched a $25 million national and international rebranding campaign to counter critics of current oil sands development practices, the latest Nanos Poll suggests that many Canadians, including here in the West, still have mixed feelings about our oil sands reputation.

Here are the national results and regional breakdown:
Do you believe that oil sands development has a positive, neutral or negative impact on Canada's reputation abroad?
Canada
Positive: 26%
Neutral: 25%
Negative: 35%
Unsure: 14%

Atlantic Canada
Positive: 40%
Neutral: 25%
Negative: 24%
Unsure: 11%

Quebec
Positive: 14%
Neutral: 29%
Negative: 46%
Unsure: 12%

Ontario
Positive: 30%
Neutral: 24%
Negative: 29%
Unsure: 17%

Western Canada
Positive: 29%
Neutral: 22%
Negative: 36%
Unsure: 13%

10 comments:

  1. Why do Western Canadians hate Alberta?

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  2. Maritimers love Alberta more than Albertans do.

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  3. By chance, does anyone know the percentage of out-of-province oil sands workers that hail from Atlantic provinces versus Quebec, or Ontario? This might play a role in the large differences in support from region to region.

    There is a lot of anecdotal evidence that there are a lot of 'Newfies' in Fort McMurray, but what about Ontarians or Quebecois?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Michael in CalgaryMarch 27, 2009 at 4:47 PM

    (Sorry about the double comment post)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Michael in CalgaryMarch 27, 2009 at 4:47 PM

    By chance, does anyone know the percentage of out-of-province oil sands workers that hail from Atlantic provinces versus Quebec, or Ontario? This might play a role in the large differences in support from region to region.

    There is a lot of anecdotal evidence that there are a lot of 'Newfies' in Fort McMurray, but what about Ontarians or Quebecois?

    ReplyDelete
  6. tailings r composed of H2O, silts, fn. sands, clays and residual bitumen. current volume 720 million cubic metres in longterm containment.

    Environmental industry is a growth sector in western canada.

    Not to mention all the facilities and 1000's of inactive and abandoned well sites that need to reclaimed.

    Extraction of resources should be done at same time as vamped up remediation and reclamation efforts. Job creation and best $$$ spent on a image campaign.

    J. Leinweber

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  7. It doesn't matter what anyone thinks. Development will continue as long as the world needs oil. And don't think for one second the apprehension over oil sands development has anything to do with the environment. Do you think Quebecers would be so negative if it was their resource?

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  8. TAR SANDS please. "Oil sands" is an Orwellian euphemism like "collateral damage".

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  9. There's nothing Orwellian about calling them "oil sands". Through a well established process the extracted bitumen can be made into oil.

    Just because you don't like the facts doesn't somehow make them wrong.

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  10. "Tar sands" is a bollocks term.

    In any case, the poll is asking a silly question. How the hell are we supposed to know how the oil sands impacts our reputation abroad (where exactly is "abroad" anyway?). I guess it mostly depends on whether our interaction with people "abroad" comes from watching Fox News, MSNBC, or surfing greenpeace.com.

    Most commenters seem to be thinking that the question was "how do YOU feel about the oil sands?" - which it was not.

    ReplyDelete