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Albertans, it seems, are hooked on the oil sands.
They love all the jobs that the pay dirt has created and the handsome quality of life it has bestowed. They say these things, like any honest addict coming off a high, knowing they'll regret it later.
They also complain that relentless development in oil sands has hiked the cost of living, degraded the environment, contributed to climate change and is stealing water from future generations.
These views about the oil sands, outlined in a new poll conducted by the Strategic Counsel for The Globe and Mail, are also shared in large measure by Canadians no matter where they live.
Related Articles
Internet Links
- Globe poll: How Albertans view the oil sands
- Shifting Sands: Globe stories, photos, discussions and interactives from our eight-day series on the Alberta oil sands
"It's one of the reasons we often talk about this as our 'addiction to oil,'ƒ|" said Lindsay Telfer, director of the prairie chapter of the Sierra Club of Canada. "We have to break it or I believe in the end it will break us."
The survey finds that 60 per cent or more of Albertans say that oil sands is hurting the planet and about half said if the current pace of development continues, there won't be enough fresh water to meet the needs of people and businesses in the province down the road.
At the same time, three-quarters of Albertans said they have a good or excellent quality of life and another 83 per cent said the oil sands have been a "good thing" for Alberta.
That view is echoed across the country, according to the poll.
Seventy-nine per cent of Canadians said the oil sands have been good for Alberta and the rest of the country, but 55 per cent also believe exploitation of the resource is harming the environment.
"Too much of a good thing is the big story here," said Tim Woolstencroft, managing partner of the Strategic Counsel. "Clearly, Alberta has benefited enormously from the oil sands and development. But there are negative consequences to that development."
The poll of 800 Albertans taken Jan. 10-13 is considered accurate within 3.5 percentage points 19 times out of 20. The poll of 500 Canadians was taken Jan. 22-23 and has a margin of error of 4.4 per cent.
Albertans specifically and Canadians in general seem to be aware of their hypocrisy and want to see changes in management of economic growth and the oil sands, according to the poll.
"That is out of step with industry and what the government is saying," Mr. Woolstencroft said. "The government has been pro-development of the oil sands, but clearly, public opinion is wanting a slower pace."
Indeed, 62 per cent of Albertans surveyed said that the rate of economic development has been too fast, and 43 per cent said oil sands growth has been too swift.
More than half of those surveyed said growth could be better managed if only one big project at a time were allowed to go ahead. And more than 60 per cent of respondents in Alberta and nationwide also said a more stringent approval process for oil sands development is needed to cope with the economic and environmental impact of the projects.
(A recent survey by Cambridge Strategies Inc. also found that Albertans want habitat protection and capture and storage of greenhouse-gas emissions made key conditions for future oil sands development.)
Slowing down growth is a concept that former Alberta premier Peter Lougheed has been publicly advocating, but an idea that Premier Ed Stelmach has not championed.
"The environment is a huge vulnerability to Stelmach," Mr. Woolstencroft said. "The opposition parties have yet to capitalize on it."
Mr. Stelmach is expected to call an election next month for early March. His Progressive Conservative government still has support in the polls, but pollsters have also noted the public's dissatisfaction with his government and what is now 37 years of one-party rule.
Over the past few months, Mr. Stelmach has been making policy announcements and handing out money to address everything from homelessness to climate change.
David Finch, historian and author of Pumped: Everyone's Guide to the Oil Patch, said the Tories are playing catch up to quell the simmering sense of public discontent.
"This is supposed to be the land of milk and honey and people here are very frightened about what the future holds and we're in the middle of a boom," Mr. Finch said. "Usually, that happens five years into a bust. I'm not sure this type of situation has ever happened before in Alberta."
