An Alarming Number of Canadians Don’t Believe Climate Change is Caused by Humans

While it may be a stretch to call them deniers, a significant number of Canadians aren’t convinced that humans are ‘mostly’ responsible for climate change.

According to a recent Abacus Data poll, 30 per cent of Canadians do not believe in science that supports climate change.

Even those who recognize that human and industrial activity have impacted our planet’s climate aren’t fully sold on the evidence. Only 28% of those polled said the evidence for human-caused climate change is conclusive, with another 33% describing the evidence as ‘solid’.

Meanwhile, more than one in 10 Canadians claim there is little to no evidence to suggest human-caused climate change is real.

A deeper dive into the data reveals coastal Canadians are greener than those living in the interior. Highest support for more government action on climate change was seen in the Atlantic provinces at 69%, followed by Quebec at 66% and B.C. at 65%.

The data was revealed alongside a report arguing for the effectiveness of a carbon tax, or carbon pricing. According to the data, a growing number Canadians have a less than favourable view of the initiative. Sixteen per cent of respondent said they want government to focus less on policy to reduce emissions, a number than has doubled from three years ago. The survey also found that Canadians mostly have no idea what carbon pricing is all about.

“I think this is another interesting example of economists being different than normal people,” said Dale Beugin, the executive director of Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission. “Economists look at carbon pricing and instinctively see the market forces, they see flexibility, they see lowest cost ways to reduce GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions.”

Only 60 per cent of Canadians want more the government to focus more on reducing emissions. Less than half said they were either very familiar (10 per cent) or pretty familiar (32 per cent) with the concept of putting a price on carbon – a policy imposed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Maybe we’re not as green as we like to believe.