Canadians are getting more worried about climate change
But supporters of one federal party are much less worried than others
This year has been the worst on record for wildfires, with several more months still to come. The increased frequency, scale and intensity of wildfires is driven by climate change – and the public has taken note.
We recently asked Canadians the following question:
If nothing is done to reduce climate change in the future, how serious of a problem do you think it will be for Canada?
One in two Canadians (51%) now say that climate change will be a very serious problem for Canada (if nothing is done to address it). That’s up 14 percentage points from when the question was first asked in 2017.
As the proportion saying the problem will be very serious for Canada has gone up, the proportion saying it will be somewhat serious has gone down. The proportion saying climate change will not be a serious problem remains unchanged, at roughly one in five (this combines those who say it will be “not so serious” and “not at all serious”).
In short, in 2017, most Canadians were already convinced that climate change will pose a problem. But since then, concern has deepened, with more people thinking this problem will be very serious.
This shift in opinion has occurred in every region of the country. Certainly, Albertans (39%) remain the least likely to say that climate change will be a very serious problem. But that figure is up 14 points (from 25%) since 2017. Worrying that climate change, if not reduced, will be a very serious problem for Canada is now the plurality view, even in the province of Alberta.
The extent of concern about climate change is also up among those in every age group, but much more so among older Canadians. The shift again is toward larger proportions in each age group saying the problem will be very serious, and fewer saying it will be only somewhat serious – with the same proportion (1 in 5) in each age group saying it won’t be a serious problem at all. It’s sometimes assumed that younger generations are more worried about climate change, but it appears that it’s the old folks who are growing more concerned – thinking perhaps about the problems they’re leaving behind.
The 2017 survey did not include a question about federal vote intention, so we can’t tell how much the opinions of different partisan groups have shifted over time. But we can confirm that, in 2023, a majority of the supporters of every party represented in the House of Commons agrees that climate change will be a very serious problem for Canada if nothing is done to reduce it – except one. Liberal (65%), New Democrat (66%), Bloc Québécois (63%) and Green (59%) supporters are all more than twice as likely as Conservative supporters (28%) to express this level of concern. Conservative supporters (38%) are much more likely than others to doubt that climate change will be much of a problem at all; still, a majority of Conservatives believe it will be at least somewhat of a problem (62%).
Overall, public opinion is shifting – Canadians, on average, have been concerned about climate change for a while, but the extent of that concern is deepening. And the issue divides the country by region to a lesser degree than some might expect. But Conservative supporters stand apart from supporters of all other major federal political parties. Most Conservative supporters think the issue, if unaddressed, will pose at least somewhat of a problem for Canada, but far fewer think this problem will be very serious.
This difference is enough to ensure that climate change will continue to feature prominently in federal politics, and will help frame the ballot question in the next election campaign.
This post is the first public release of data from the Canadian portion of the 2023 AmericasBarometer. The AmericasBarometer is a biennial comparative survey of democratic values and behaviours that covers countries in North, Central and South America, as well as a significant number of countries in the Caribbean (the 2023 survey covers 25 countries). The project is led by the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) at Vanderbilt University.
The survey is the most comprehensive source of information about support for democracy in Canada. Follow the Environics Institute to catch more reports from this survey.
The 2023 AmericasBarometer in Canada survey was conducted by the Environics Institute for Survey Research, in partnership with LAPOP at Vanderbilt University. It was conducted online with a representative sample of 2,500 Canadians (aged 18 and over) between July 20 and August 4, 2023. The author is solely responsible for any errors of presentation or interpretation.
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