Friday, March 29, 2024

94% of Canadians think marine shipping is “generally safe” in our waters

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Amidst mounting national debate about trade and pipelines, one form of product transportation remains relatively uncontroversial to Canadians: marine shipping.

According to a new survey published by the Angus Reid Institute on Thursday, 94% of Canadians think that shipping in Canadian waters is “generally safe” or “very safe”.

55% of Canadians also think that marine shipping has become more important in the last two years. When the institute asked the same question in 2016, only a minority of respondents thought that shipping was increasingly important to our country, at 43%.

“Today, the Canadian public places a higher degree of importance on marine shipping than it did back then,” reads the report.

“Greater numbers now say the industry is ‘critically important’ to the Canadian economy, Canada’s access to imported goods, and Canada’s ability to access export markets than did so in 2016.”

Environment

While most survey respondents believe that marine shipping is invaluable and safe, Canadians are still wary of potential oil and fuel spills.

“As they were in 2016, however, Canadians remain concerned about the prospect of oil and fuel spills, even as they express confidence that shipping is generally safe and well-regulated,” reads the report.

“British Columbians tend to be most worried about the safety of shipping oil and gas in Canadian waters, while Albertans and those in Atlantic Canada – likely reflecting the prominence of petroleum industries in their provinces – are most confident.”

https://twitter.com/angusreidorg/status/1070702043524972544

While a total of 94% of Canadians think that marine shipping is either “very safe” or “generally safe”, a majority of respondents (at 54%) still cite spills as a major risk associated with the shipping industry.

When respondents were asked to guess how many “major oil spills” (defined as 700 tonnes of petroleum/oil or more) occured in Canadian waters over the past decade, 68% guessed that there have been at least three.

Angus Reid says only 11% of respondents got the correct answer, which is actually 0 major spills in the past 10 years.

Besides concerns for spills, Canadians cite damage to marine life as the next largest worry.

https://twitter.com/angusreidorg/status/1070709617917878272

Economy

While environmental concerns are at the forefront of Canadians minds when talking about marine shipping, more respondents believed that the economic contributions of the industry outweighed the environmental risks.

According to Angus Reid, 32% believe that economic contributions outweigh environmental risk, while 19% believe the opposite. The remaining 49% of respondents maintain a “50/50” balance to both sides.

https://twitter.com/angusreidorg/status/1070740968171859968

 

 

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Adam Chan
Former Staff Writer at Victoria Buzz.

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