Nearly two thirds of Canadians believe the country鈥檚 aviation authority should conduct its own testing on passenger aircraft instead of accepting the U.S. safety reports,
The findings, commissioned by CTV News and conducted by Nanos Research, randomly questioned 1,000 Canadians both online and over the phone and found 62 per cent of respondents believe the government should conduct its own independent safety reviews, compared to 30 per cent who believe Canada should continue to accept the U.S. inspections.
This comes just weeks after the Canadian government said it would independently investigate the Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft following a pair of deadly crashes involving the planes.
On March 10, a Ethiopian Airlines Max 8 crashed shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, killing all 157 people on board, including 18 Canadians. Five months earlier, a Lion Air Max 8 crashed into the Java Sea, killing 189 people.
Under an international agreement, planes must be certified in the country in which they鈥檙e built and other countries rarely question the results. Following the two crashes however, critics have raised concerns about the practice in part due to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration鈥檚 relationship with Boeing.
Canada officially grounded the Max 8 planes on March 13 pending an investigation into the crashes. Air Canada has said it intends to keep the planes grounded until at least July 1.
The majority of Canadians, according to the survey, have not lost trust in the Canadian regulatory process. Fifty-four per cent of respondents said their level of confidence in the products and vehicles that have been certified by the government has stayed the same compared to five years ago, while two per cent of respondents said their confidence increased.
On the other hand, Canadian confidence in the Boeing Max 8 appears to be waning. Forty-two respondents said they would feel at least 鈥渟omewhat uncomfortable鈥� flying in the aircraft once it鈥檚 fixed and 67 per cent of respondents are least somewhat likely to check the type of plane they will be flying when travelling.
METHODOLOGY
Nanos conducted an RDD dual frame (land-and cell-lines) hybrid telephone and online random survey of 1,000 Canadians, 18 years of age or older, between March 29 and April 1, 2019 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.
Individuals randomly called using random digit dialling with a maximum of five call backs.
The margin of error for a random survey of 1,000 Canadians is ±3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
This study was commissioned by CTV News and the research was conducted by Nanos Research.
