VANCOUVER — Twelve per cent of British Columbians are willing to engage in civil disobedience to oppose the Trans Mountain expansion project, a new poll has found, underscoring what a Burnaby MP says is a “deep frustration” with the federal government.

The online poll, conducted this month by Insights West and commissioned by NDP MP Kennedy Stewart, asked 1,021 people in B.C. between April 16-18 if they would consider civil disobedience to stop or disrupt the pipeline’s construction. It found men and women were equally likely to consider civil disobedience, a release said.

Similarly, people of all ages, income brackets, and in different regions of the province said they were willing to engage in civil disobedience.

While 12 per cent overall were willing to engage in civil disobedience, that increased to 24 per cent among people who voted for the NDP. Among Liberal voters, 11 per cent would do so and two per cent would among Conservative voters.

The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points 19 times out of 20.

There’s “a deep, deep frustration with the Trudeau government and the threats that are coming from both Trudeau and Alberta,” Stewart said Friday afternoon.

“Peaceful protest is part of the Canadian fabric and this is what people are feeling they’re prepared to do if they’re being ignored and railroaded by the national government.”

Stewart was arrested while protesting the pipeline in March alongside Green Party Leader Elizabeth May. The two MPs are now awaiting a decision from special prosecutors about whether they, like other protesters who have been arrested, will be charged with criminal — instead of civil — contempt of court for breaking an injunction that ordered protesters not to block access to the Kinder Morgan Tank Farm on Burnaby Mountain.

There’s a lot of confusion about what a criminal charge means, Stewart said. These are not Criminal Code charges, it’s more of a technicality about who will prosecute them, the Crown or the company, he explained, adding that he doesn’t think it’s a deterrent.

While Insights West polling over the past four years has typically shown a small majority of people opposed to the pipeline in B.C., another April poll found that trend had reversed and now a small majority were in favour.

Fifty-five per cent of respondents in that poll, which was conducted online between April 13-16 among 1,021 British Columbians, said they support the pipeline. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

“It’s always been a divisive issue in the province,” said Steve Mossop, the company’s president.

The poll results show 66 per cent of people said they’ve talked about the project in social settings and 61 per cent are following the news about it closely.

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It’s a “very galvanizing topic,” Mossop said, adding it’s “really pitting two sides against each other.”

He also said that means there’s more potential for conflict.

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