The Confederation of Tomorrow surveys show that, while many Canadians continue to be concerned about climate change, public priorities overall have shifted over time. Across five different measures, opinions have moved toward an emphasis on job protection and economic development, as opposed to a more single-minded focus on addressing climate change. At the same time, regional differences have narrowed, with public opinion becoming more consistent across regions today compared to the early 2020s.
The bottom line is that Canadians, on average, are moving more toward balancing environmental goals with economic realities, rather than rejecting action on climate change altogether – suggesting perhaps that the new prime minister’s own balancing act may, for the moment at least, be in sync with the public’s mood.
2026 Survey Details
The 2026 study consists of a survey of 5,696 adults, conducted between February 14 and March 28, 2026 (92% of the responses were collected between February 19 and March 7); 91 percent of the responses were collected online. The remaining responses were collected by telephone (both landline and cell phone) from respondents living in the North or on First Nations reserves, or from francophone respondents in New Brunswick. The sample includes 1,247 residents of Quebec, 1,034 of whom have French as their home language.
Partners
The Confederation of Tomorrow surveys give voice to Canadians about the major issues shaping the future of the federation and their political communities. They are conducted annually by an association of the country’s leading public policy and socio-economic research organizations:
Authors
This report was co-authored by Jessica Singh, research analyst at the Environics Institute during the summer of 2026, and MPP candidate at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.
Acknowledgement
This project benefits from the financial support of the Research Support Program of the Secrétariat du Québec aux relations canadiennes (SQRC)
Note: The survey data are weighted in three separate ways, depending on the population of interest. First, the complete survey data are weighted by region, gender, age, education, home language (separately for Quebec, New Brunswick and the rest of Canada) and Indigenous identity, so as to be representative of the Canadian population. Second, the territorial sample (when reported separately) is weighted by gender, age and education. Third, the Indigenous sample (when reported separately) is weighted by gender, age, region and education.
The Confederation of Tomorrow surveys give voice to Canadians about the major issues shaping the future of the federation and their political communities. They are conducted annually by an association of the country’s leading public policy and socio-economic research organizations.
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