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SYDNEY, N.S. - Cape Bretoners are overwhelmingly in favour of separating from Nova Scotia, at least those who took part in an informal poll on the matter.

The Cape Breton Post asked readers about the subject of separation after Sydney resident Mark Macneill, a member of the faculty at Nunavut Arctic College and teacher business law and northern governance, spoke on the topic this past week.

Voting options of 'I'm all for it,' 'I'm against it,' and 'I need more information on this before deciding' were available to select in the online poll.

As of noontime Thursday almost 67 per cent of those who voted selected the 'I'm all for it' category.

The 'I need more information on this before deciding' category notched a little over 16 per cent of the votes, while 'I'm against it' was the third most popular option at just under 16 per cent.

An 'other' category allowed voters to offer other suggestions that included 'I believe Cape Breton isn't self sufficient enough and will just be absorbed again,' 'I'm for it, if it means that we will have equalization pays like other places do,' and 'Cape Breton would never survive.'

Treason, it's stupid and we have no tax base to separate were among the other 30 of so online submissions.

Almost 2,000 people took part in the online portion of the poll and many others weighed in when it was posted to the Cape Breton Post Facebook account.

Lively commentary broke out in the comments section of the Facebook page regarding separation, equalization payments, control over local affairs, and constitutional hurdles in the way of creating a so called Province of Cape Breton.

Go online to http://bit.ly/2IrOLLe to see the poll and its results.

news@cbpost.com