Majority Taking a Dim View To Federal Efforts On Climate
Change
The majority also think provincial
resistance will affect the plan’s success
Toronto, December
3rd—In a random sampling of public opinion taken by the Forum Poll™ among 1541 Canadians 18
years of age or older, more than half (BTM2: 58%) rate the Federal Government’s
efforts on climate change as poor, with a quarter (28%) saying it is very poor.
Respondents most likely to identify the
Federal Government’s efforts as poor (BTM2) include those 35-44 (61%) or 45-54
(61%), males (61%), earning $80-100,000 (68%), the least educated (65%), and
living in Québec (62%), the prairies (MB/SK) (63%), or Alberta (64%).
4 in 10 (TOP2: 42%) say the Federal
Government’s efforts on climate change are good, but only 1 in 10 (9%) say they
are very good.
Respondents
most likely to identify the Federal Government’s efforts on climate change as
good (TOP2) include those aged 18-34 (43%), 55-64 (44%), or 65+ (45%), females
(46%), with some college/university (44%), or a college/university (44%) or post-graduate
degree (42%) and living in Atlantic Canada (51%).
More than half say provincial
resistance make Federal Climate success less likely
The majority of Canadians (TOP2:
57%) say that if the majority of Canadian premiers resist the Federal
Government’s plan to fight climate change, this resistance will hurt the plan’s
likelihood of success, with one-quarter (26%) saying it will hurt the
likelihood of success a lot.
Respondents most likely to say resistance
from premiers will hurt the climate change plan include those aged 65+ (62%),
females (60%), earning $20-40,000 (61%) or $40-60,000 (64%), with a
college/university (59%) or post-graduate degree (61%), and living in Atlantic
Canada (63%) or the prairies (MB/SK) (65%).
Just over one-quarter (BTM2: 29%)
say the resistance isn’t likely to hurt the plan’s success, with about 1 in 10
(12%) saying it won’t hurt the plan at all.
Respondents most likely to say
resistance from premiers will not hurt the climate change plan include males
(32%), the least wealthy (34%), the wealthiest (31%), or earning $80-100,000
(34%), the least educated (35%), and living in Québec (49%).
One-sixth (15%) said that they do
not know.
“The majority of Canadians aren’t
giving the Federal Government a passing grade on its fight against climate
change right now, with more than half rating their efforts as poor,” said Dr.
Lorne Bozinoff, President of Forum Research. “The majority also suggests that
if the premiers resist Federal climate change efforts, that resistance will
hurt the plan.”
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.
