Almost
Two-Thirds Aware of Fed Carbon Pricing Plan
Majority willing to see prices increase because of fight
against climate change
Toronto,
November 30th—In a random sampling of public opinion taken by the
Forum Poll™ among 1541 Canadians 18 years of age or older, almost two-thirds (TOP2: 62%) say they are aware of the
Federal Government’s carbon pricing plan, with a quarter (25%) saying they are
very aware.
More than a third
(BTM2: 38%) say they are not aware of the plan, with one-fifth (20%) saying
they are not at all aware.
More than half say the plan won’t change their behaviour
when it comes to fighting climate change
Half (BTM2: 53%) of
Canadians say that the Federal Government’s carbon pricing plan won’t change
their behavior when it comes to fighting climate change, with a third (33%)
saying it’s not likely to change their behavior at all.
Respondents most
likely to say they are not likely to change their behavior include those 18-24
(59%), males (60%), earning $60-80k (54%), $80-100k (55%), or the wealthiest
(56%), the least educated (57%), and living in Alberta (67%).
4 in 10 (TOP2: 40%)
say the carbon pricing plan is likely to change their behavior when it comes to
fighting climate change, but only 1 in 10 (12%) say it’s very likely.
Respondents most
likely to say the plan will change their behavior include those aged 65+ (49%),
females (45%), earning $20-40k (44%), $40-60k (42%), or $60-80k (44%), with a
post-graduate degree (47%), and living in Québec (54%).
About 1 in 10 (7%)
say they do not know if the plan will change their behavior when it comes to
fighting climate change.
Plurality says they aren’t willing to pay more to fight
climate change, but the majority says they would accept some increase
4 in 10 (40%) say
that they are unwilling to accept any increase in their costs to fight climate
change.
Respondents most
likely to say they won’t accept an increase in their costs to fight climate
change include those aged 45-54 (49%), males (46%), the least wealthy (45%),
the least educated (54%), and living in Alberta (53%).
A third (31%) say
they would consider an increase of 2% or less, per year, acceptable include
those aged 45-54 (32%) or 65+ (35%), females (36%), earning $20-40k (35%) or
$60-80k (34%), and living in Atlantic Canada (38%) or Québec (37%).
One-fifth (18%) say
they would consider an increase of 3-5%, per year, acceptable.
Respondents most
likely to say they would accept a 3-5% increase include those aged 18-34 (18%),
55-64 (20%), or 65+ (20%), females (20%), earning $80-100k (24%) or the wealthiest
(21%), with a college/university degree (19%) or a post-graduate degree (22%).
1 in 20 (6%) say
they would accept an increase of 6-10%, per year, acceptable.
Few would accept
increases of 11-15% (2%), 16-20% (1%), or more than 20% (2%) per year.
“Most Canadians are
aware of the Federal Government’s carbon pricing plan,” said Dr. Lorne
Bozinoff, President of Forum Research. “And while the majority say that their
behavior won’t change in response to the plan, an even higher proportion say
they’d be willing to pay a bit more for things because of the fight against
climate change.”
Lorne Bozinoff,
Ph.D. is the president and founder of Forum Research. He can be reached at
lbozinoff@forumresearch.com or at (416) 960-9603.
