Home Featured Posthaste: Despite strong support for Teck’s Frontier oilsands project, only one in five Canadians believe the project will ‘absolutely’ get built: Survey

Posthaste: Despite strong support for Teck’s Frontier oilsands project, only one in five Canadians believe the project will ‘absolutely’ get built: Survey

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Posthaste: Despite strong support for Teck’s Frontier oilsands project, only one in five Canadians believe the project will ‘absolutely’ get built: Survey

Good Morning!

Canadians are finding themselves increasingly at odds with each other over resource development. Whether it’s the Coastal Gas export pipeline project, Alberta-to-B.C. Trans Mountain oil pipeline or Alberta-to Nebraska Keystone XL conduit, opinions are divided from coast to coast to coast.

And so it is for the latest resource flashpoint: The $20-billion Teck Resource Ltd.’s Frontier oilsands mine.

A new survey by Angus Reid Institute states that 49 per cent of Canadians are for the project, while 40 per cent are opposed.

“Many take a firm stance,” according to the survey published this morning. “One-quarter (24 per cent) say they strongly support the construction of the $20 billion mine, primarily comprised of prairie residents and past Conservative voters. Meanwhile, the same number (25 per cent) say they strongly oppose the project, led by left-leaning Quebecers and British Columbians, both groups that the Trudeau Liberals relied on heavily in the last federal election.”

However, as the Financial Post’s Gabriel Friedman reported earlier this week, a federal approval is just one of the boxes the proponent has to tick before proceeding with the project. Teck will require partners, more pipeline capacity and the price of oil to be well above its current level of US$50 per barrel to make it an economically feasible venture.

Canadians appear to be well aware of this challenge and are deeply skeptical that the Frontier mine will ever be completed.

“Just 16 per cent say it will “absolutely” be built if approved, while a considerable number say probably (36 per cent), probably not (20 per cent), or that they are not sure (20 per cent),” the survey noted.

Here’s what you need to know this morning:

  • Justin Trudeau holds various meetings and participates in events in Dakar, Senegal
  • CRTC hearing on Bell Canada’s application to buy V Interactions Inc. (V television network) in Montreal
  • Ontario Energy Minister Greg Rickford to make an announcement in Thunder Bay
  • Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau announces funding to support grain industry at CropConnect conference in Winnipeg
  • The Independent Contractors and Businesses Association will release the results of its 2020 Wage and Benefits Survey at its BUILDEX CEO Breakfast in Vancouver
  • Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan to deliver keynote speech at GLOBE Forum in Vancouver
  • Notable Earnings: Shopifyn Inc., Molson Coors Beverage Co., Hydro-One, Russel Metals, Cineplex Inc., Barrick Gold Corp., Manulife.com, Kinross Gold Corp., Cenovus Energy Inc., Great-West Lifeco Inc., West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd., A&W Revenue Royalties Income Fund, Sun Life Financial

Developers are responding to the need for more housing in Canada. Latest data from Statistics Canada notes that the total value of building permits issued by Canadian municipalities jumped 7.4 per cent to $8.7 billion in December.

Increases were reported in five provinces, led by Ontario (+10.5 per cent to $3.4 billion) and Quebec (+15.8 per cent to $2.2 billion). For 2019 overall, municipalities issued $102.4 billion worth of permits, up 2.6 per cent compared with 2018. Read more here.

— Please send your news, comments and stories to yhussain@postmedia.com. — Yadullah Hussain @Yad_Fpenergy

With files from The Canadian Press, Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg

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