It revealed that 62 per cent of Canadians said they believe rail companies should not be allowed to transport dangerous cargo through populated areas. Older and lower-income Canadians said they were most likely to be against transporting hazardous materials by train through towns and cities, at 71 per cent and 73 per cent against, respectively.
Most Quebecers surveyed, 71 per cent, were against dangerous cargo travelling by train in cities and towns, and 74 per cent of Bloc Québécois supporters polled were also against the practice.
The poll found that 62 per cent of Canadians said they believe pipelines are safer than rail for transporting crude oil, while 16 per cent believe rail is the safer option and 13 per cent want to find another way to transport crude entirely.
The poll asked 1,782 Canadians for their opinion by telephone on July 23. It is considered accurate plus or minus two per cent, 19 times out of 20.
Forum Research President Lorne Bozinoff told The Hill Times that it’s likely, but hard to say for sure, whether Canadians’ opinions have been influenced by the tragedy in Lac-Mégantic, which killed 47 people and forced the evacuation of 2,000 of the town’s 6,000 people in the early morning of July 6.
“That's hard to say. I would say yes because these numbers are so lopsided. When we do our polls, we seldom see 50, 60 per cent agreeing on something. This is sort of overwhelming,” he explained.
Preference for pipelines over rail did vary by which federal political party respondents supported.
Conservative Party supporters were most likely to prefer pipelines to rail, at 81 per cent in favour compared to eight per cent for rail. Liberal supporters were next most likely to prefer pipelines, at 62 per cent. Seventeen per cent of Liberals preferred rail while 14 per cent preferred “some other way.”
What that other option is was not defined in the poll, and Mr. Bozinoff said those who selected that option are likely to be dissatisfied with both rail and pipelines.
“It looks like the NDP and the Green, I think are leaning more towards rail than pipeline, probably because they have greater opposition to the pipelines that have been discussed, the Keystone and the Northern Gateway. They are not seeing this issue as any reason for supporting more pipelines,” said Mr. Bozinoff.
Green and NDP supporters were least likely to support the use of pipelines over rail, with 41 per cent of Green supporters and 48 per cent of New Democrat supporters in favour of pipelines. Rail was supported by 21 per cent of both Green and New Democrat supports. Supporters of both parties were most in favour, compared to other political affiliations, to support “some other way,” at 17 per cent for the NDP and 25 per cent for the Green.
Of Bloc Québécois supporters, 59 per cent thought pipelines were a safer way of transporting crude oil compared to rail, while 15 per cent preferred rail and 16 per cent preferred another option. Ten per cent didn’t know.
The Canadian Railway Association estimates that up to 140,000 train cars of crude oil will be transported through Canada this year. In 2009, that figure was just 500 carloads. Carloads can carry up to 600 barrels of oil, the CRA notes.
On July 6, an estimated 1,875 barrels of crude oil spilled out of the 72 tanker cars when an unattended Chicago-owned Montreal Main and Atlantic Railway train derailed and exploded in the picturesque town of Lac-Mégantic, killing at least 47 people. The explosions also destroyed more than 40 buildings. It's considered one of the worst rail disasters in Canadian history.
The crude oil passing through Lac-Mégantic was destined for an Irving Oil facility in New Brunswick.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is investigating three other accidents involving oil being shipped by rail since the beginning of 2013.
The Canadian Railway Association states that “99.9977 per cent” of dangerous goods shipments travelling by rail arrive safely at their destination.
Whether the majority of Canadians’ preference for pipelines over rail as indicated by the poll is solid, or holds out over time, remains to be seen, said Mr. Bozinoff.
“The issue is, what impact does this have on the pipeline debate? There’s the immediate issue of what does it mean about rail safety, and all that is being investigated or dealt with in an obvious manner,” he said.
“Here people are saying, ‘We prefer pipelines.’ But if we actually went and asked them, ‘Well what do you think of pipelines?’ They may be against them,” he added.
Forum Research Inc. does tracking studies on pipeline support in Canada, but has not conducted one since the Lac-Mégantic disaster. It’s also difficult for pipeline proponents to capitalize on Canadians’ sudden awareness of the dangers of oil transport by rail, he noted.
“The pipeline companies can’t really do much with this. It’s really left to Canadians to sort of figure out on their own,” he said.
Support for pipelines varied regionally, with those in Alberta most in favour of them, at 76 per cent. Support was also higher in the Atlantic provinces, at 67 per cent, and the rest of the Prairies, at 66 per cent. The majority of Quebec and Ontario also preferred pipelines to rail, at 59 per cent. Results in these sub-categories have a wider margin of error.
Men were more likely than women to support the use of pipelines, with 71 per cent in favour compared to 53 per cent for women. Women were more likely to say some other option aside from rail or pipelines would be best to transport crude, at 17 per cent, compared to nine per cent of men surveyed.
Original Article
Source: hilltimes.com
Author: JESSICA BRUNO
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