Meeting Energy Needs: More than Half of Quebecers (52%) Agree to Developing Own Oil Resources Instead of Importing All Its Oil

Montreal, QC, March 17, 2022 — The recent geopolitical instability caused by the war in Ukraine has underlined the importance of rethinking how the global economy meets its energy needs. In this context, a new Ipsos survey on behalf of the Montreal Economic Institute shows that more than 52% of Quebecers think their province should develop its own oil resources instead of importing all the oil that is consumed – this represents a 9-point increase compared to last year. Inversely, almost one in three Quebecers (28%) thinks 100% of the oil consumed should be imported and a fifth (20%) are undecided.

Economic Uncertainty and Meeting Energy Needs

The increase in inflation, interest rates and the price of gas seems to have contributed to a rise in anxiety over the fluctuations of the energy sector: three quarters of Quebecers (73%) think that taxes and duties on gasoline are already too high and shouldn’t be increased any further. Moreover, more than half (51%) say they strongly agree, while only 15% disagree. Those aged 55 and over are more likely to agree (79% vs 70%: 35-54 et 68%: 18-34), which is also the case for the residents of the greater Montreal region (9% vs. 6% for the Quebec region and 5% for other regions).

Elsewhere, half of Quebecers (50%) think that the actions taken by some environmental groups are preventing too many job-creation projects from moving forward – which represents a 9-point increase compared to August 2021. A third (33%) of Quebecers disagree while 18% remain undecided.

In the same vein, less than half of Quebecers (47%, 23% ‘completely’; 25% ‘somewhat’) believe it is more important for them to create jobs in their region than to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 0.06% by reaching the target set by the Quebec government for 2030. Inversely, 41% disagree (21% ‘a little’; 20% ‘strongly’). Men are more likely to agree than women by a 7-percentage point difference.

Governmental Management of the Energy Sector

When it comes to the management of green energy sector by the government of Quebec, more than half (55%, 22% ‘completely’; 33 ‘somewhat’) of Quebecers believe that the government should promote competition around the production of green hydrogen, rather than maintaining its monopoly. 19% disagree and more than a quarter (26%) don’t know. Similarly, more than half (54%, 21% ‘completely’; 33% ‘somewhat’) believe that Quebec should follow the European Union’s example and designate natural gas as a source of green energy; 22% disagree and 24% remain undecided. For these two propositions, men are more likely to agree than women by an 11-point and 8-point difference respectively.

Concerning the recent proposal by the government of Quebec to prohibit the exploration and exploitation of the province’s oil and gas potential, 45% of Quebecers agree with this proposition, while a third disagree. If this idea were implemented, more than half (51%) believe that the companies that hold licenses should be compensated according to the market value of their license.  

Survey Methodology

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between the 25^th of February and the 2^nd of March, on behalf of the Montreal Economic Institute. For this survey, a sample of 1,007 Canadian adults aged 18+ years was interviewed. Quotas and weighting were employed to ensure that the sample’s composition reflects that of the Canadian population according to census parameters. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ± 3.3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadians aged 18+ been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Sébastien Dallaire
Senior Vice President, Ipsos Canada
General Manager, Ipsos Québec
[email protected]

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