environment

Public concerns about climate change notwithstanding, Canadians are placing increasing priority on economic security over the importance of reducing carbon emissions.

Canadians are evenly divided on the relative priority that should be given to protecting the environment versus protecting jobs. The emphasis placed on environmental protection has declined since 2023 across the population.

Prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change had emerged as one of Canadians’ top concerns. The situation a year later is completely different: naturally, the pandemic now eclipses all other issues as the one Canadians see as most important.

The one thing that the October 2019 federal election appeared to make clear was just how regionally divided the country had become. The Liberals were shut out of Alberta and Saskatchewan, the Conservatives fared almost as poorly in Toronto and Montreal, and the sovereigntist Bloc Québécois rebounded to form the third largest party in the House of Commons.

The issue of climate change, and how best to address it, is one that activates a number of society’s underlying fault lines, be they ideological, regional or even generational. In a federation such as Canada’s, however, there is an additional dynamic at play, namely views on the practice of federalism itself.

The 42nd federal election is now over, and the deconstruction of what it was really about will go on for some time. What is already clear is that the outcome was driven primarily by a growing desire for change after almost a decade of Conservative government.

As part of its ongoing Focus Canada public opinion research program, the Environics Institute partnered with the David Suzuki Foundation to ask Canadians about climate change, to determine how perceptions have changed (or not) over the past year or so. 

As global warming emissions reach record-breaking levels, Canada’s environment minister will join world leaders in Lima, Peru, next week for the latest round of UN talks on an action plan to fight climate change.

Where does the Canadian public stand today on the issue of climate change? Have Canadians lost interest or do they remain concerned and want strong actions to address the problem?