British Columbians back public ownership of pipelines

Despite being ground zero for much of the resistance to pipelines, a new poll from the Angus Reid Institute reports that a majority of British Columbians not only back a new oil pipeline to the west coast but also support spending public funds on one.

Fifty-four per cent of British Columbians answered that “it’s appropriate for governments to invest in or own pipelines,” roughly in line with the national average of 56 per cent.

This follows an earlier poll from Angus Reid finding 63 per cent of British Columbians support a new oil pipeline to Canada’s west coast.

In early July, the federal government announced its intention, along with Alberta, to build a new oil pipeline to the Port of Delta. While details are currently scarce, 90 per cent of the construction cost is set to be carried by Ottawa and the Alberta government.

Support for public investment in pipelines crosses all party lines, with typically free-market Conservatives showing the softest support at 50 per cent.

Canadians are also more supportive today of the Trudeau Government’s 2018 decision to buy the Trans Mountain pipeline (TMX), with 41 per cent viewing it as the 'right decision' and only 25 per cent saying it was the 'wrong decision.' And British Columbians are once again in line with the national average.

Interestingly, Canadians also appear to be in no rush to sell Trans Mountain, with 54 per cent saying the federal government should maintain ownership as opposed to seeking to sell the pipeline.

And again, support for maintaining public ownership crosses partisan lines.

Even when a proposal to sell to Indigenous ownership, a strong plurality of 41 per cent of Canadians say the pipeline should remain in federal hands.

Methodology: The Angus Reid Institute conducted an online survey from July 10–14, 2026, among a randomized sample of 2,649 Canadian adults. Respondents are drawn from the Angus Reid Forum, a large-scale online panel developed to include Canadian residents in each of the 343 federal ridings in Canada and representative of the Canadian population by age, gender, family income, ethnic status and education. The sample was weighted to be representative of adults nationwide according to region, gender, age, household income, and education, based on the Canadian census. For comparison purposes only, a probability sample of this size would carry a margin of error of +/– 2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. The survey was self-commissioned and paid for by ARI.