Young British Columbians are significantly more likely to oppose the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline than the rest of the population, according to a survey by Abacus Data.
According to data from a survey conducted last month, just one per cent of millennials -- which Abacus defines as people born between 1980 and 2000 -- strongly support the plan by Calgary-based Enbridge to build a heavy oil pipeline from Alberta's oilsands to Kitimat. An additional seven per cent from the demographic somewhat support the plan.
Among respondents of all ages in B.C., eight per cent of people strongly support the $6 billion project and 20 per cent somewhat support it.
"[Millennials] were much more likely to strongly oppose the pipeline: almost half, 46 per cent said they strongly opposed and less than one per cent said they strongly supported the pipeline, indicating a trend among millennials, and particularly those living in British Columbia, away from support for the pipeline," Abacus social media co-ordinator Jamie Morrison wrote on the company's website.
The trend wasn't limited only to B.C. Abacus found just six per cent of millennials nationwide strongly support the pipeline, compared with 11 per cent of the overall population. Addtionally, 14 per cent of Canadian millennials somewhat supported the megaproject, compared with 22 per cent of the rest of the survey sample.
Although the demographic strongly opposes the pipeline, Abacus also found that young people aren't as interested in keeping up with the developments in the story. Just seven per cent of millennials across Canada said they were following the issue closely and 71 per cent responded that they're not following the story in the news. That's reflected in higher than average responses among the group that they are unsure about the merits of the pipeline.
The survey was conducted online between Aug. 10-12 and is considered accurate within 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
