On issues of environment and energy development, the opinions of Albertans are diverging sharply from the rest of the country, according to a new Forum poll for the National Post.

The Forum Research survey, which questioned 1,863 Canadians and 682 Albertans across the country at the beginning of April, found a deep ideological split between the country’s oil-rich region and the other provinces.

“There’s been some speculation about the differences between the east and the west and I guess this confirms that. But when when we say those differences are in the west, they’re more centred in Alberta,” said Lorne Bozinoff, president of Forum Research.

A majority of Albertans, for example, supported construction of the contentious Keystone XL and Northern Gateway pipelines. A full 72% of Albertans surveyed believe in climate change, but they were less likely to attribute the phenomenon to human activities than Canadians elsewhere.

Of the 545 Albertans who believed in climate change, only 55% said it was caused by human activity. That was on par with respondents in Atlantic Canada, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, but very different from Quebec and B.C., where 78% and 72% respectively attributed the change to non-natural phenomena. About 64% of Ontarians surveyed believed the same.

While it should probably come as little surprise to see Albertans favouring policies that serve their own economic interests, the rest of Canada seems just as ready to do the same.

While the rest of the country overwhelmingly opposes Keystone XL and Northern Gateway, they seem to have no compunctions about benefiting from the wealth those pipelines and the oil in them would help generate.

About 60% of Canadians believe provincial resource extraction revenues should be shared equally. In Ontario 72%, felt this way, as well as 69% of Liberal supporters. Approximately a third of Albertans tend to welcome the idea of sharing the wealth.

“[Central Canada] wants to eat their cake and have it too, right. You have to forgive people who want to do that, I think. It’s kind of a human trait,” Mr. Bozinoff said.

“That probably bothers people in the industry and in Alberta. People in the east are consuming plastics and everything else.”

[Central Canada] wants to eat their cake and have it too

The survey found Canadians are split more by their region on these issues than by income, gender or education.

Following other polls, the survey also recorded an emergent Justin Trudeau. Canadians were asked which leader was best able to represent the interests of their respective regions. On the whole, they were about equally split between the new Liberal leader and Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper. About a quarter of the respondents said Mr. Harper was best able to represent their region. That tracked with the 27% who awarded the distinction to Mr. Trudeau.

Mr. Harper remains the favourite in Alberta, while Mr. Trudeau has the edge in Atlantic Canada and Quebec.

NDP opposition leader Thomas Mulcair did not lead in any individual region.

While most of the poll questions centred around the oil industry, Mr. Bozinoff said Albertans have always tended to march to the sound of a different drummer. This is as true in politics and economic issues as in anything else.

That said: “If you look at the NDP or the Liberals, even in Alberta you saw in the recent Calgary Centre byelection that there are national currents … that do affect the province.”

The poll also found about a third of Canadians believe the western provinces are an equal partner in Confederation. Fewer than that, 31% said they were a less dominant partner.

About one in five respondents believe the west dominates the country.

In Alberta, about half said the west is not dominant. As many as 41% of Conservatives believe the west still “wants in.” That compares to 26% of Liberals and 29% of NDP supporters.

The poll, conducted through an interactive recorded telephone survey on April 3 and April 8 is considered accurate within a margin of error of between +/- 3%.

National Post