Prairie provinces split on Ottawa's use of Emergencies Act: Nanos Research poll

A Canada-wide Nanos Research poll found nearly 52 per cent of respondents in the Prairies supported Ottawa’s move to invoke the Emergencies Act following the Freedom Convoy to Parliament Hill.

Forty-four per cent said they were opposed or somewhat opposed.

The poll, commissioned by CTV News, surveyed 1,025 Canadians between Nov. 27 and 29, following a public inquiry on the Emergencies Act’s use.

Trevor Harrison, a sociology professor and political expert at the University of Lethbridge, says those results are a clear indication of the distaste Western Canada has for the prime minister.

“What you see in the Alberta results, particularly the Prairie results, is really a partisan thing – that is, we just don’t like Liberals,” he said.

“It would be interesting, had there been a Conservative government in office in Ottawa, would the reaction be the same?”

Two-thirds of Canadians overall supported the use of the act, with 48 per cent completely supporting and 18 per cent somewhat supporting its use.

Support was highest in Atlantic Canada, where 74.6 per cent indicated they support or somewhat support the decision. This was followed by Quebec, where 73.4 per cent said they at least somewhat support the use of the act.

About 30 per cent of Canadians were opposed to its use in some form.

Nanos also asked survey respondents whether they believed Canada would be prepared for another protest similar to the "Freedom Convoy." Of the respondents, 45 per cent said Canada is not prepared or somewhat not prepared, while 50 per cent said Canada would be at least somewhat prepared.

An organizer for the "Freedom Convoy" says there are plans for a "Freedom Convoy 2.0" protest in Ottawa in February 2023.

Solicitor General and Justice Minister Tyler Shandro says Alberta did not need the act to clear protesters from the Coutts border blockade, which cost the economy $44 million per day.

A cache of weapons was seized by the RCMP and several protesters were charged for conspiracy to murder Mounties.

Shandro says law enforcement can always learn from past events, to better prepare for future ones.

“We want an opportunity for law enforcement to be able to protect the rights of Canadians,” he said.

“We want them to do it in a safe way and a way for them to come home safely to their families at the end of the day.”

Poll results have a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points 19 times out of 20.

The results were statistically checked and weighted by age and gender using the latest Census information and the sample is geographically stratified to be representative of Canada.

Individuals were called using random-digit dialling with a maximum of five callbacks. 

To see the poll, you can visit Nanos' website.