Canadians Don't Really Care About Climate Change

In a story by Margo McDiarmid -- apparently now the "Environment Reporter" at CBC News (Canada's state broadcaster) -- the findings of a recent survey on the views of Canadians towards climate change are reported. The survey results, which can be obtained directly online, were done by the Environics Institute for Survey Research in partnership "with the David Suzuki Foundation, which helped to pay for the cost of this year's research."

McDiarmid's article notes the following findings:

"The survey of 2,020 people revealed 50 per cent of respondents are 'extremely' or 'definitely' concerned about a changing climate."

Fair enough. As further details, only 17 percent said they were "extremely concerned" about climate change, leaving 33 percent as "definitely concerned." But the devil is always in the details on these types of issues. Concern about climate change is like concern about poor governance and hunger in some small, distant part of the world -- sure, we're almost all concerned about it to varying degrees, but not concerned enough to do anything serious about it. In other words, we're not really concerned. Instead, the public is just saying they are concerned in order to be politically correct, in large measure because the issue is a mainstream media driven guilt complex. Left out of the CBC story, but included in the original survey report, is the following useful piece of information:

"The 'extremely concerned' group is a leading indicator of public concern as it encompasses those with the strongest emotional connection to the issue and therefore most predisposed to act in response. The size of this group has in fact been declining steadily since 2007 and is now at the lowest level yet recorded."

In short, the vast majority of Canadians aren't really concerned about climate change, and the small subset that do truly care is shrinking -- not growing -- to its lowest level on record. This is consistent with the results of recent federal and provincial byelections in Canada, where voters clearly rejected climate alarmism at the ballot boxes.

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It goes without saying that "concern about climate change is higher among urban Canadians than those living in rural areas." Generally, people who are most in touch with the natural world (i.e., rural residents) know that the wild claims made in the media about our supposedly rapidly changing climate are generally nonsense. But if you live in a concrete jungle, getting in touch with climate reality is much more challenging. Another claim from this CBC story regarding how Canadians purportedly feel about climate change:

"The survey also suggests Canadians are increasingly willing to shoulder the cost of helping to fight the effects of a changing climate. Support for a B.C.-style carbon tax continues to 'inch up,' with 56 per cent now strongly or somewhat supporting a tax on carbon emissions ... Prime Minister Stephen Harper has consistently refused to impose a federal price on carbon, calling it a job killer. But [Keith] Neuman [executive director of the Environics Institute for Survey Research] says the most recent poll shows Canadians are willing to consider it. 'What we are seeing is a basic openness to this kind of policy among citizens... saying, here's something that probably won't cost me that much and I do feel like I should do something.' ... 'It's clear that Canadians want their government to do more,' said Neuman. 'But they may not be judging it that harshly because they don't know or appreciate what has been done elsewhere.'"

Note the language: a federal price on carbon "probably won't cost me that much." Wrong. It'll cost a lot. It is much easier to convince the public to support a carbon tax if you are not honest with them and tell them the true cost. But if you are truthful with the public about the actual costs of carbon pricing, support drops like a rock. If you want clear evidence regarding the superficial support for carbon pricing in Canada, the following result from the survey report -- not discussed in depth within the CBC article, of course -- provides it. When asked "is it reasonable for households to pay $100 per year for climate change actions?," only 49 percent said this was "reasonable," compared to 45 percent saying it was "unreasonable" and 6 percent saying "it depends/don't know." In other words, less than half the Canadian public thinks it is reasonable for households to pay $100 per year on climate change action, and support for even this small level of action has declined substantially from the prior polling data in late 2012. The real joke is the idea that carbon taxation will cost an entire household -- which is generally assumed to be two adults and two children -- only an extra $8 per month (or $2/month/person). In reality, the real costs of carbon pricing would be much, much higher. In other words, if we told the public what the true costs of carbon pricing were, support would be minimal. And this supposed support for British Columbia's carbon tax? Only 18 percent of respondents in the province strongly supported it. The remainder (i.e., 82 percent) do not. Back in November 2012, 25 percent of BC residents strongly supported their carbon tax, meaning that real support for the tax is waning fast. That is because, in contrast to the incorrect claims in the media, the evidence is clear that BC's carbon tax has harmed its economy since it was brought in during 2008. Similarly, only 18 percent of respondents in other provinces want a "BC-style carbon tax" in their own province. Translation: Canadians outside British Columbia do not really want to see the BC carbon tax fiasco repeated in their province. As proof of the climate change irrelevance to Canadian politics: "The bottom line, said Neuman, is the new poll shows the Conservative government's handling of climate change is not going to turn into a ballot box issue." Exactly right. The dominant majority of the Canadian public doesn't really care about climate change, and it certainly won't be a core issue when voters cast their ballots in the 2015 federal election. If the Conservative Party moves to impose a formal federal carbon tax (we already have a number of "backdoor" effective carbon taxes at the federal level -- such as emissions limits for coal-fired power plants, vehicle emissions standards, etc.), all it will do is anger the conservative base and shift voters left into the waiting arms of the Liberal Party. The best approach that the Harper government can take between now and the next election is to do absolutely nothing. As for the CBC's reporting on this survey, it was a failure as well.