A majority of Canadians believe in the importance of oil and gas to Canada's current and future economy and score governments poorly on their energy and climate performance

The research gauged the opinions among Canadians on oil and gas, more particularly how important they are to Canada’s current and future economy as well as expanding oil and gas exports for a more secure global energy supply and to help combat climate change worldwide. Questions were also asked on the government’s performance in providing clear regulations for investors building energy infrastructure to meet climate objectives and in decision making on energy and climate change.

1. Importance Of Oil And Gas To Canada’s Current And Future Economy Remains Steady: About three in four Canadians rate oil and gas as important to Canada’s current economy (score of 7-10 out of 10) (74%) which is a slight decline from the previous wave in August 2023 (78% in August 2023) and consistent with last year’s results in January 2023 (74% in January 2023). When asked the reason for their opinion on the importance of oil and gas to Canada’s current economy, the top response for one in four Canadians (25%) was because it ‘contributes/tied to Canadian/provincial economy, exports, jobs’, followed by it is ‘needed for our lifestyle and the cold weather (vehicle and transportation, heating etc.)’(10%). The importance of oil and gas to Canada’s future economy has slightly decreased with more than half of Canadians (53%) rating it as important (score of 7-10) compared to about three in five in the two previous waves (57% in January 2023 and August 2023).
2. Expanding Oil And Gas Exports Seen As Increasing Global Energy Security: Most Canadians agree or somewhat agree that Canada should expand oil and gas exports to help the world have more secure energy supplies (31% agree; 21% somewhat agree compared to 34% agree; 24% somewhat agree in August 2023). Of note, men are more likely than women to agree/somewhat agree (62% men; 44% women;) that Canada should expand oil and gas exports to help the world have more secure energy supplies.
3. Canada’s Oil & Gas Exports Seen As A Possible Contributor To Combatting Climate Change: Most Canadians agree or somewhat agree that exports from Canada’s oil and gas sector can contribute to combatting global climate change (34% agree; 27% somewhat agree compared to 36% agree; 28% somewhat agree in August 2023) by displacing energy sources that are more damaging to the climate. Of note, residents of the Prairies are more likely (67%) than those from Quebec (49%) to agree/somewhat agree that exports from Canada’s oil and gas sector can contribute to combatting global climate change by displacing energy sources in other countries that are more damaging to the climate.
4. Governments’ Performance At Providing Policy/Regulatory Environment For Energy Investments: Consistent with the previous wave, Canadians are five times more likely to rate the job done by governments at providing a clear, predictable and competitive policy and regulatory environment for investors building energy infrastructure to help Canada meet its climate change targets as very poor/poor (45% in January 2024 and 44% in January 2023) than very good/good (9% in January 2024 and 8% in January 2023). When asked the reason for their rating of the governments' performance, most answered ‘I don’t know enough about this/not enough transparency for the public to know’ (12%), followed by ‘a lot of stop and go on actions or promises/confusion about priorities’ (8%) and ‘government continues to create regulatory red tape/approval is too slow/over taxation’ (8%).
5. Job Done By Federal And Provincial Governments In Cooperating: Consistent with the previous wave, almost six in ten Canadians say that federal and provincial governments do a very poor/poor job of cooperating on decision making on energy (23% very poor, 34% poor) and cooperating on decision making on climate change (23% very poor, 35% poor). In both instances, residents of the Prairies are more likely to rate the job done as very poor/poor (79% very poor/poor for decision making on energy; 75% very poor/poor for cooperating on decision making on climate change) than residents of Quebec (37% very poor/poor for decision making on energy; 41% very poor/poor cooperating on decision making on climate change).