OTTAWA — Two-thirds of Canadians fear Prime Minister Stephen Harper will "compromise" by giving up too much power over immigration, privacy and security to get a deal with the United States on border controls, a new poll has found.
The national survey, conducted exclusively for Postmedia News and Global Television, also finds Canadians are split over whether they "trust" Harper to craft a deal that maintains this country's independence.
Moreover, the poll by Ipsos Reid reveals Canadians want Harper to adopt a much more transparent approach to the "perimeter security" negotiations which are being held in total secrecy.
An overwhelming 91 per cent of Canadians say the negotiations should take place in public so that they can see what is on the table.
The online poll was conducted Feb. 15-17 — nearly two weeks after Harper travelled to Washington to announce with U.S. President Barack Obama that negotiations were being launched for a potentially historic and wide-ranging agreement.
Under the proposal, Canada and the U.S. would adopt common border-security controls that could lead to joint government facilities, sophisticated tracking of travellers, better cyber-security protection and improved oversight of overseas cargo shipped to both countries.
In exchange for greater co-operation and increased U.S. influence over security, the two governments hope to ease the flow of cross-border traffic and boost Canada-U.S. trade.
Critics have accused the Conservative government of negotiating the deal under a shroud of secrecy and contend that Harper is poised to give up too much at the bargaining table.
Ipsos Reid senior vice-president John Wright said Friday the new poll sheds light on the political dynamics that lie ahead.
Wright said he's not surprised at the level of public anxiety: Canadians were worried initially about a proposed free-trade deal proposed by Brian Mulroney, but then gave him a majority mandate in 1988 to implement the agreement.
"I think that when anything crosses the border with the prospect of integration, many Canadians are at the beginning very wary of it," said Wright.
The poll found that 68 per cent of Canadians believe Canada "will compromise too much power over decisions about immigration, privacy and security to get a perimeter security agreement." Thirty-two per cent disagreed.
Wright said the findings about the degree of trust Canadians give the prime minister aren't as troubling for the government as some might think.
The pollster asked Canadians if they "trust Stephen Harper to negotiate a deal that improves border access but doesn't give up powers that are important to Canada maintaining its own independence." Forty-nine per cent trust him, while 51 per cent don't.
Wright said the distrust is most prominent in Quebec and Atlantic Canada, which drags down the national figures. Trust for him is more pronounced in some of the western provinces, particularly Alberta.
"He still gets half the public trusting him. For any political observer, half the public trusting this prime minister is quite a victory."
Wright said that if the security-perimeter deal becomes an election issue, it's clear the opposition parties will attempt to "stoke fears" and capitalize on the public's thirst for more transparency.
"So what do you have to do as a government? You recognize that there is going to be anxiety around this and that the opposition is going to attack you. So you come out with a communications strategy that gets enough information out so that people are satisfied you are going to do the right thing."
In announcing the negotiations earlier this month, Harper and Obama released a generally-worded declaration of intent.
They want both countries to develop programs to better verify the identities of travellers, through common standards for the use of biometrics and through sharing information on travellers in real time.
The plan also envisions far greater co-operation between the military, police forces and intelligences services of both nations.
One of the proposals being negotiated is an "entry-exit" system to track cross-border traffic. Under this system, it is possible that when a Canadian enters the U.S., the Canadian government would be informed of the movement across the border.
The poll found that 63 per cent believe the proposal is "an acceptable measure to enhance border security," while 37 per cent disagreed.
For its survey, Ipsos Reid sampled 1,097 adults from its online panel. The margin of error is three percentage points, 19 times out of 20.