Opposition to Enbridge's proposed $5.5-billion Northern Gateway pipeline is growing and has topped 50 per cent in British Columbia, according to an independent survey released Thursday.

Opposition to the project was 52 per cent among 1,069 adults in a random telephone survey conducted on April 11 — up from 46 per cent in January and 45 per cent in December, according to the Forum Research Inc. poll.

The new survey also showed the proportion of British Columbians who support the pipeline declined to 37 per cent in April from 41 per cent in January and December.

Another 11 per cent had no opinion, down from 14 per cent in January and 13 per cent in December.

Support for a law banning oil tanker traffic on the B.C. coast has also risen to 46 per cent from 40 per cent in January and December.

"It looks like the federal government has not been that successful in swaying public opinion on Northern Gateway, that's for sure," said Forum Research Inc. president Lorne Bozinoff.

Bozinoff noted the federal government announced in its budget that it will streamline the environmental review process for projects like Northern Gateway.

"[That move] has not impacted public opinion. In fact, it's turned the other way on it," he observed.

Increased awareness of tankers needed to export the oil, and local community and first nations' opposition, also appears to have fed growing opposition, said Bozinoff.

He said the poll was not commissioned by anyone, but that his Toronto-based firm is tracking support of the project as an issue of interest. Forum Research will likely conduct more polls on Northern Gateway, he said.

The controversial project is meant to open up new markets in Asia for Alberta oilsands crude. Virtually all Canadian oil is now shipped to the United States.

Some northern B.C. communities and numerous first nations and environmental groups have aligned themselves against the project, arguing any economic benefits are not worth the risks and effects of an oil spill from the pipeline or ocean tankers.

Calgary-based Enbridge has said they can build and operate the project safely, also pointing to the economic benefits of accessing new markets. The federal and Alberta governments also support accessing new markets for Canada's oil.

Enbridge spokesman Paul Stanway had not seen the results of the new Forum Research poll, but said the company remains confident it can build public support. He pointed to a poll recently commissioned by the company that found 48 per cent support for the project.

Stanway said the company will get a "big" opportunity to make a case for the project in September, when the formal part of federal panel hearings begin.

Since its inception in January, the panel has largely heard opposition in oral statements.

Prince Rupert city councillor Jennifer Rice, who also works for the T. Buck Suzuki Environmental Foundation, said the recent poll results mirror the growing opposition she sees in northern B.C.

"As time goes by and people digest more and more information, they've already decided for themselves — it's not really in our best interests," she said.

The latest survey from Forum Research has a margin of error of plus or minus three per cent, 19 times out of 20.

ghoekstra@vancouversun.com