Canadians more likely to support decreasing trade with China, survey finds

OTTAWA —
A new survey suggests Canadians are four times more likely to support decreasing trade ties with China, compared to those who want increased trade with the country.

The survey, conducted by Nanos Research and commissioned by CTV News, asked 1,048 Canadian adults what Canada’s future trade relationship with China should be and 45 per cent responded that they believe Canada should decrease trade, while just 10 per cent said Canada should increase trade ties with China.

Additionally, 28 per cent of Canadians said trade ties should remain the same, while another 17 per cent of Canadians were unsure.

Nik Nanos, founder of Nanos Research, called the latest results “blockbuster numbers.”

“What it speaks to is that there’s not a lot of appetite, there’s reticence, there’s risk,” he told CTV’s Power Play on Monday. “People are worried about doing more business with China and this is big news because China’s the second largest economy in the world.”

When broken down by region, those in Ontario (46.6 per cent) and British Columbia (46.6 per cent) were most likely to suggest a decrease in trade with China, while 36.4 per cent of people in Quebec believe trade should remain at the current level.

“It doesn’t matter whether you are young and old, whether you live East Coast, West Coast, central part of Canada, you have that view that increasing trade with China is just not politically on the table with China right now,” Nanos said.

Tensions between China and Canada have been slowly escalating since Canadian officials arrested Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou at the request of the United States on Dec. 1, 2018.

Since then, China has detained two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, suspended Canadian exports of canola oil and temporarily suspended exports of beef and pork.

METHODOLOGY   

Nanos conducted an RDD dual frame (land-and cell-lines) hybrid telephone and online random survey of 1,048 Canadians, 18 years of age or older, between Dec. 27 and Dec. 30, 2020 as part of an omnibus survey. Participants were randomly recruited by telephone using live agents and administered a survey online. The sample included both land-and cell-lines across Canada. 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.

The margin of error for this survey is ±3.0 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.