By CJME News Staff

47 per cent of Sask. residents approve of oil spill handling: poll

Aug 30, 2016 | 8:20 AM

A new poll asked Saskatchewan residents how they felt the provincial government responded to a large oil spill on the North Saskatchewan River last month.

Mainstreet Analytics surveyed a random sample of 1,690 people living in the province between Aug. 22 and 23. The poll found only 47 per cent of people who responded approved of the way the government handled the spill. Those who disapproved entirely represented 31 per cent of the people polled, while 22 per cent said they weren’t sure how they felt.

Regina was the only place in the province where more people disapproved than approved of how the government handled the situation.

Poll results also showed a split in perception between younger people and older generations. Roughly 20 per cent of respondents between the ages of 18 and 49 said they did not approve of how the province dealt with the situation, while only 17 to 18 per cent of people over 50 said the same.

Mainstreet asked people if they supported the proposed Energy East pipeline. Sixty-seven per cent of the people who responded said they approve of the plan, while 19 per cent disapproved and 14 per cent said they were unsure.

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The poll has a margin of error of 2.38 per cent 19 times out of 20.

Beginning July 20, roughly 225,000 litres of oil spilled from a Husky Energy pipeline near Maidstone into the North Saskatchewan River. Clean-up of the spill is still ongoing, and both North Battleford and Prince Albert put emergency drinking water measures in place for both urban and rural residents. 

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