Close X
Wednesday, November 27, 2024
ADVT 
National

Canadians support new climate policies: poll

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 09 Nov, 2021 11:06 AM
  • Canadians support new climate policies: poll

OTTAWA - After Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made multiple policy announcements across the pond at the COP26 climate summit in Scotland, a new poll hints at how Canadians feel about those developments.

Sixty-nine per cent of respondents to an online survey by Leger and the Association for Canadian Studies say they support Canada's announcement at the summit that it will cap and reduce pollution from the oil and gas sector toward net zero by 2050.

Some 65 per cent of respondents also say they support the government's new policy to stop exporting coal by 2030, a move which would end the trade abroad of about 36 million tonnes of the resource, currently 60 per cent of what the country produces.

Sixty-one per cent also support Canada's recent policy announcement that it will halt subsidies that assist oil and natural gas companies to run and grow their operations outside the country by the end of 2022.

The online survey of 1,565 Canadians cannot be assigned a margin of error because internet-based polls are not considered random samples.

Despite general agreement on these issues, Leger executive vice-president Christian Bourque says Canadians from fossil fuel-producing regions including Saskatchewan and Alberta tend to agree less on policies related to climate change because those changes directly affect their economies.

Meanwhile, respondents from Quebec led the other provinces in their support of Canada’s recent climate policy commitments, followed by British Columbia.

“In regions like B.C. or Quebec, we see that the level of agreement with reducing production and pollution is always higher because it doesn't directly affect the economy,” said Bourque.

He added that one of the reasons why Quebec agrees more with these climate-related policies has to do with broad consensus in the province on reducing the use of fossil fuels.

“There’s no opposition to that. There’s no voice that’s speaking on behalf of the industry that’s clearly being heard,” Bourque said.

Canadians were split on how they rate the country’s effort to address climate change, with half agreeing that Canada has taken great strides and 40 per cent disagreeing.

The survey also asked Canadians to share how their perception of climate change more generally.

Three in four respondents said they believe there is still time to put measures in place to stop climate change, a rate that is about on par with a cohort of American respondents who answered the same question.

Asked about how they feel about climate change, younger respondents report higher rates of stress compared to older cohorts, with 38 per cent of those aged 18 to 34 saying they are “very stressed.”

“Now that there's something called ‘eco-anxiety’ among young people, it sort of shows in the data,” said Bourque.

Those surveyed were more mixed on former environmental activist Steven Guilbeault's fitness as Canada's environment minister, with almost half saying he's a good choice and a third saying they don't know.

Bourque said he was surprised there was not more resistance from respondents to Guilbeault’s nomination, because the poll question mentioned the minister’s past as a Greenpeace activist.

“The reason why we put that in is we thought if you're an opponent (of Guilbeault), that's the first thing you would raise,” said Bourque. “Even when we include that into the question, people are either waiting to pass judgment or don't see really much of a problem with it.”

 

MORE National ARTICLES

Legion hopes for more normalcy this poppy campaign

Legion hopes for more normalcy this poppy campaign
In the lead-up to Remembrance Day, the organization says it will have more than 34,000 traditional poppy boxes at locations across Canada, where people can donate cash and receive a poppy pin — roughly 9,000 more boxes than last year.

Legion hopes for more normalcy this poppy campaign

Canada moving on promise to cap oil, gas emissions

Canada moving on promise to cap oil, gas emissions
The prime minister was speaking at the 26th meeting of the Council of Parties to the UN climate convention, known as COP26, where more than 120 world leaders have gathered for two days to assess global efforts to address what many see as an existential problem.

Canada moving on promise to cap oil, gas emissions

Man charged in hospital attack, homicides

Man charged in hospital attack, homicides
Mounties say they first found 73-year-old Judy Swain dead in the Rural Municipality of Hanover, south of Winnipeg, and had information that a suspect was headed to the city.

Man charged in hospital attack, homicides

Rogers case heads to B.C. Supreme Court

Rogers case heads to B.C. Supreme Court
The son of late Rogers founder Ted Rogers claims he has the power to fire and appoint board members because he is chair of the Rogers Control Trust, which holds voting control through its ownership of 97 per cent of the company's Class A shares

Rogers case heads to B.C. Supreme Court

B.C. to take next step against tainted drug deaths

B.C. to take next step against tainted drug deaths
Figures released in September from the BC Coroners Service show there were 1,204 illicit drug toxicity deaths between January and the end of July, a 28 per cent jump over the same period in 2020.

B.C. to take next step against tainted drug deaths

Man arrested after video allegedly shows him exposing himself in a school park

Man arrested after video allegedly shows him exposing himself in a school park
According to the complainant, he had seen the unidentified man in the school park on one previous occasion speaking with kids. On October 25, 2021 the complainant allegedly observed the man with his genitals exposed and recorded it.  The complainant reported the incident to school officials on October 27, 2021 who in turn contacted police.

Man arrested after video allegedly shows him exposing himself in a school park