By Len Coad
In the Edmonton Journal

Aug. 11, 2014


 

Western Canadians have a few action-oriented words of advice to resource developers. They know that you create jobs and income. They know about your efforts to build communities and protect the environment.

But they want you to improve.

Resource industries looking to build support need to spend more time in communities learning about their expectations. A poll commissioned by the Canada West Foundation provides revealing clues of what they might learn.

Our pollster, Ipsos Reid, surveyed residents in the four western provinces, plus Ontario for comparison purposes. Questions were designed to dig into the details of our familiarity, trust and support for resource industries. The purpose was to test peoples’ attitudes, and it found a number of examples of polarization.

For example, the most common reason given for trusting forestry was environmentally sustainable practices; the most common reason for not trusting forestry was that it does not follow sustainable practices. For energy and mining, supporters see economic benefits, detractors see profit motives.

The dichotomy is clear. The question is what to do about it, and how to find the right balance between improving performance and communicating what is being done. For example, respondents expressed strong concern over public health and safety even though resource companies and projects are already meeting a very high standard. As society becomes more fragmented, and as advocates fight for our hearts and minds, it is increasingly unlikely that better communication is the ‘what to do’, especially for an industry seeking to defend or improve its record. Instead, the outreach needs to focus on understanding and closing the gap between performance and expectations.
Westerners, and especially Albertans, see energy contributing more strongly to the economy than farming.

They also see resources as a key contributor to our future, and want to see all four resource industries expand. However, performance is seen as lagging in such key areas as environmental protection, health and safety, and contributions to local communities.
While business leaders may see such low performance ratings as unfair, the public’s perception is clear and strong. The path forward ought to start with a better understanding of the performance gap followed by improvements and eventual public support based on improved outcomes.

The survey also explored perceptions of the role of government. Western Canadians believe that governments exert the strongest influence on resource development, followed in order by non-government agencies (including industry associations), regulatory tribunals, conservation agencies, environmental NGOs, the general public and Aboriginal Canadians.

Respondents said that one of their main reasons to trust resource industries is government regulation, yet they are looking for better outcomes in key regulatory areas like environmental protection and health and safety. If governments can better understand and deliver the regulatory outcomes people are looking for, it will help build trust and support.

The bottom line here might simply be that we expect our governments to be as effective at representing resource owners (the public) as companies are at representing shareholders. The survey results indicate clearly that westerners want a better balance between the three sustainability themes: economic benefits, environmental protection and societal development. Deliver it and those who oppose everything will have a tougher job and, more importantly, public support for resource development will grow. Fail to find that balance and individual projects will continue to be dogged by broader issues.

So, what does listening to communities look like for resource industries and governments? Look at it as you learning about them, rather than vice versa.

Don’t tell them you understand, and don’t ask them to understand you. Just ask them what matters and what to do about it. Act on what they say.

And stay miles away from lightning rod positions like pointing to increased costs or competitiveness as a reason for not acting or even for constraining your willingness to act.

Len Coad is Director of the Centre for Natural Resources Policy at the Canada West Foundation, which exclusively focuses on policies that shape the quality of life in western Canada.