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The research gauged the opinions among Canadians on how important oil and gas are to Canada’s current and future economy. It also assessed views about expanding oil and gas exports for a more secure global energy supply and to help combat global climate change. In addition, the survey asked Canadians to score government performance on energy decision-making. Questions were also asked about national energy projects, specifically, who should have the final say in approving them, what the main obstacles are and the level of support needed for the federal government to approve projects.

1. Majority of Canadians agree that oil and gas is important to Canada’s current and future economy: More than four in five Canadians rate oil and gas as important to Canada’s current economy (score of 7-10 out of 10) (84%) which is a marginal decrease from the previous wave in February 2025 (88%). Two in three Canadians also view oil and gas as important to Canada’s future economy (score of 7 to 10 out of 10) (67%), which is consistent with the previous wave in February 2025 (70%).

2. More than seven in ten Canadians agree or somewhat agree on expanding oil and gas exports for global security, the highest since tracking began: The percentage of Canadians that agree or somewhat agree that Canada should expand oil and gas exports to help the world have more secure and reliable energy supplies jumped ten percentage points since last summer (44% agree and 28% somewhat agree; 35% agree, 26% somewhat agree in August 2024) and is the highest since tracking began in 2022. Canadians are also more likely to agree than disagree that these exports from Canada’s oil and gas sector can contribute to combatting global climate change if our exports displace energy sources in other countries that are more damaging to the climate (36% agree and 32% somewhat agree). This is consistent with previous waves.

3. Canada’s performance poorly rated in building public confidence in energy decision making and developing a shared long-term vision for Canada’s energy future: Canadians are more likely to say that Canada is doing a poor job than a good job at building public confidence in energy decision-making (21% very poor and 29% poor; 11% good and less than one per cent very good) and in developing a shared long-term vision for Canada’s energy future (29% very poor and 21% poor; 12% good and 2% very good), which is consistent with previous waves.

4. Canadians say top challenges to approving energy projects are environmental concerns, conflicting interests and misinformation: When asked what is the number one challenge in developing energy projects in a manner that Canadians can have confidence in, the top three responses are environmental concerns and ensuring sustainability (17%, compared to 19% in 2015), balancing conflicting stakeholder interests (16%, up from 9% in 2015) and misinformation (15%, down from 20% in 2015).

5. Canadians split over whether the federal cabinet or an independent regulatory body should have the final decision in major energy projects: About three in ten Canadians believe that the federal cabinet should have the final say over energy projects (30%), and another one in three think that an independent federal regulatory agency should (29%). When asked why they think this, the top reasons given are that the federal government is elected to represent Canadians (15%) and that an independent regulatory agency would be non-political (14%). Responses have changed since the question was last asked in 2018, when 25 per cent opted for the federal cabinet and 36 per cent for an independent regulator.

6. Majority of Canadians think the federal government should approve a national energy project even if some affected parties don’t support the project: More than one in two Canadians think that the federal government should approve a major national energy project even if some local communities affected by the project don't support it (61%), some provinces affected by the project don’t support it (59%), and some Indigenous nations affected by the project don’t support it* (57%). Only one in three agree (37%) with the statement that the government should only approve major national energy projects when all parties support them. (*The wording of this question does not mean that Indigenous rights can be ignored. Indigenous Peoples have constitutionally protected rights and Canada has committed to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples).