Poll Finds 54% of Canadians Support prioritizing Renewable Energy

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - 54% of the respondents to a new poll from Abacus Data stated they think Canada should prioritize the development of renewable energy, 36% would like to see a ‘balanced approach’ and 11% would rather prioritize fossil fuels. 

“ We commissioned Abacus to run this polling for us and see where Canadians stand in terms of their support for renewable energy and around reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. What's clear is that a majority of Canadians want to see government action to phase out fossil fuels and prioritize renewable energy. Canadians know that renewables are a win, win, win. We know that they save people money. They mean lower energy bills. Renewables mean cleaner air. They mean job creation. So the benefits are huge,” explained Julia Levin, Associate Director for National Climate, Environmental Defence.

 “The results around phasing out fossil fuels may be a bit more surprising. More than half of the people we surveyed want to see government action to phase out fossil fuels. What it says to me is that Canadians are really understanding that the production and use of fossil fuels is what's causing the climate crisis and the only way to avoid ever more catastrophic climate disasters is a transition away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy.”

“The extent of support, especially within progressive voters, took me by surprise because this is much bolder climate policy than what we're seeing being proposed, by any government outside of Quebec, and so I think there's a clear lesson to governments at all levels that these aren't just important policies for climate, for the economy. They're popular, Canadians want them.” 

Cortes Currents: I see that 2,700 Canadians were polled, how many of these were in British Columbia

Julia Levin: “ We had a sampling size of 278 BC voters. BC and Quebec were the highest in terms of supporting renewable energy  and prioritizing renewable energy over fossil fuels.” 

Cortes Currents: Looking over the figures I see 65% of the respondents in Quebec, 54% in BC and 52% in Ontario support prioritizing renewables. 

There is a similar alignment when it comes to phasing fossil fuels out: 
60% in Quebec, 55% in Ontario and 54% in BC.

 Julia Levin: “Only about a third of Canadians put any kind of trust in oil and gas companies, and that was similar for BC. It reflected the national average.” 

Cortes Currents: I’m wondering how important is a poll like this? Public opinion seems to fluctuate. It seems like whenever the world takes a step forward, it is followed by a backlash. A lot of governments supported the Paris Agreement in 2015, but that was followed by the election of several Conservative governments including Trump’s first presidency. We’ve seen a similar backlash here in BC, where a government which at least claims to favour climate action only narrowly won the recent election. 

Julia Levin: “ I think there's a  few observations on that. One is to validate  your observation that when we see climate progress, then we see a big backlash.  Part of that speaks to the influence of the oil and gas industry.”

“This is, globally, the wealthiest industry. A lot of political influence, political power here in Canada at all levels and around the world. Any time there's a real threat, the oil and gas industry get creative about how they push back. We see that  in the amount of lobbying that happens here in Canada. At the federal level, oil and gas companies were meeting with federal officials five times each working day last year. We see that in their massive ad campaigns. The coalition of the largest tar sands companies in Canada ran a multi-million dollar ad campaign to lie to Canadians about their climate impact.”