Ipsos: Majority (58%) of Canadians Believe Carbon Pricing Will Be Effective in Lowering Canada’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Changing Canadians’ Behaviour (55%)

Canadians Conflicted on Brewing Spat Between Provinces and Feds

Friday, October 21, 2016

Toronto, ON – A majority of Canadians believe the federal government’s proposed carbon pricing will be effective in lowering Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions and motivating Canadians to change their behaviour, but they’re skeptical that the tax won’t just turn into another cash grab. Moreover, they’re conflicted about the spat brewing between the Federal Government and provinces, believing that the feds shouldn’t impose their will on the provinces, while at the same time thinking it’s a shame that the provinces are using the announcement as a bargaining chip.

According to an Ipsos poll conducted exclusively for Global News, nearly six in ten (58%) believe that a price on carbon will be ‘effective’ (12% very/45% somewhat) at lowering Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions, overall, while four in ten (42%) believe it won’t be (14% not at all/28% not very).

Further, a similar proportion (55%) of Canadians believe that it will be ‘effective’ (15% very/39% somewhat) at motivating themselves to change their personal behaviour so that they will create fewer greenhouse gas emissions, while 45% believe it won’t be effective (16% not at all/29% not very) at motivating individual Canadians like themselves to change their behaviour.

The Federal Government recently announced that if the provinces do not place a price on carbon it will place a mandatory price on carbon starting at $10 a tonne in 2018 climbing to $50 a tonne by the year 2020. Experts say that putting a price on carbon sends an economic signal to consumers so that they can decide themselves whether to reduce emissions, discontinue their polluting activity, or continue polluting and pay for it.

Three quarters (74%) of Canadians ‘agree’ (22% strongly/53% somewhat) that the price on carbon and the increased costs that will be passed down to consumers means they will change how they travel, heat their homes, etc., while one quarter (26%) ‘disagree’ (7% strongly/19% somewhat).

But if it were only that simple. Some provincial governments are now using their position on carbon pricing as a bargaining chip to try and extract money or other favours from the Federal Government. Canadians are conflicted, believing the Federal Government shouldn’t impose its will on the provinces, while at the same time believing that the provinces shouldn’t use the announcement as leverage.

Six in ten (60%) Canadians ‘agree’ (25% strongly/35% somewhat) that they think the Federal Government imposing a carbon price on those provinces who do not want a carbon price is the wrong thing to do’, while four in ten (40%) ‘disagree’ (12% strongly/28% somewhat) with this position.

In response to this argument, even more (75%) ‘agree’ (27% strongly/48% somewhat) that it’s a shame that some of the provinces are using the issue of a carbon price as a bargaining chip, saying they will agree to it only if they get something else from the Federal Government. Albertans (60%) are the least likely to agree with this – although still a majority – while significantly more Canadians in Manitoba and Saskatchewan (70%), Quebec (75%), Atlantic Canada (77%) and British Columbia (78%) agree. Overall, just one in four (25%) ‘disagree’ (7% strongly/17% somewhat) that it’s a shame the carbon pricing has become a political bargaining chip.

Even if the carbon pricing is eventually supported and enacted by all provinces, Canadians are skeptical that its original intent will be preserved and that it won’t just turn into tax grab. Most (78%) agree (36% strongly/42% somewhat) that the price on carbon is like any other designated tax such as taxes on cigarettes to discourage smoking or on tires to support recycling. They start with good intentions but eventually just become another source of revenue that do not achieve their goals. Just two in ten (22%) ‘disagree’ (6% strongly/17% somewhat) with this premise.

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between October 11 to 14, 2016, on behalf of Global News. For this survey, a sample of 1,000 Canadians from Ipsos’ online panel was interviewed online. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample’s composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within +/ – 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadian adults been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Darrell Bricker, PhD
CEO
(416) 324-2001
Ipsos Public Affairs
darrell.bricker@ipsos.com

About Ipsos

Ipsos ranks third in the global research industry. With a strong presence in 87 countries, Ipsos employs more than 16,000 people and has the ability to conduct research programs in more than 100 countries. Founded in France in 1975, Ipsos is controlled and managed by research professionals. They have built a solid Group around a multi-specialist positioning— Media and advertising research; Marketing research; Client and employee relationship management; Opinion & social research; Mobile, Online, Offline data collection and delivery. Ipsos has been listed on the Paris Stock Exchange since 1999. www.ipsos.com

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