by Jordan Reid

Are oil companies a reliable source of information on tar sands development? Less than one in seven Canadian residents (13.6%) think so. The federal government’s score is barely higher (17.5%).

Much more trusted are environmental groups (28.5%) and the “academic community” (50.8%).

More surprising than these figures themselves are their source: Oil Industry Magazine, a publication catering to companies that profit from the tar sands (oops: “oil sands” is the magazine’s term). And they weighted their poll in the oil industry’s favour by choosing 36% of the 1,396 respondents from Alberta, where the tar sands companies have enormous economic and social clout. Albertans make up 11% of Canada’s population.

Oil companies enjoy similarly little trust in Canada with regard to “clean energy” (9.0%) and “carbon emissions” (10.2%). The federal government’s ratings were higher but still fell short of 20%. Environmental groups, by contrast, were trusted by 37.7% (on clean energy) and 34.7% (carbon emissions).

Confidence in the oil industry was higher in Alberta than elsewhere in Canada, but nonetheless, from the oil industry’s point of view, alarmingly low.

Consider how Albertans answered this question: “When thinking of the oil and gas sector in Canada, please select words or statements that come to mind.”

In Alberta, 22% selected the term “environmental disaster.” Another 17% chose “wasteful.” Less than half (46.2%) picked “essential.” Hostility to the oil barons was greater in Canada as a whole (32% chose “environmental disaster).

Thus even in the heart of the Alberta oil patch, this oil-industry study indicates, petroleum industry tycoons and their backers in Ottawa inspire mistrust and disbelief.

For full results, see http://www.albertaoilmagazine.com/2015/02/public-trust-confidence/

For another analysis, see http://www.desmog.ca/2015/02/04/five-poll-results-are-gonna-cause-oil-execs-some-headaches