Energy

Poll Finds 54% of Canadians Support Prioritizing Renewable Energy

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.

Julia Levine of Environmental Defence – submitted photo

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

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.” 

“I think there’s also, people feeling  economic anxiety and  there are forces that have taken advantage of that, trying to link that with a refusal of science and evidence, which is a concerning trend.”

“What we need to do more of is position climate policy, climate tools, climate solutions as a way to really get at people’s economic anxieties. We know families will save money if they’re given the option to install a heat pump, so if they’re given government incentives that let them put a heat pump in place, they pay lower bills each and every month. They save thousands of dollars a year. If they have access to transit or electrified vehicles,  they save money. So we have to do a better job of proposing climate solutions really as a way to tackle the affordability crisis, because it’s not just about reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.”

“It’s also about taking care of Canadians. What’s causing  the affordability crisis in large part is our dependence on fossil fuels and the massive profits that  CEOs of these companies are making.  The only way to set us up for fewer of these inflationary crises is to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.”

“We see that also in terms of the geopolitics of the moment. Obviously  if Trump goes ahead with tariffs, that would have devastating  consequences in multiple ways,  but the fact that 80 percent of our oil and gas is exported to the United States makes us incredibly vulnerable to geopolitics. If we’re successful in this transition to renewable energy, we will be less vulnerable to those inflationary shocks, to that volatility, and to the geopolitics of fossil fuels. So the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy is about ensuring we’re not further fuelling the climate disasters we’re experiencing, but it’s also about smart economics.”

“It’s about building a safer economy for the future and it’s about taking advantage of those clean energy opportunities. We know there’s a global energy transition happening, and it’s happening much more quickly around the world than it is in Canada.’ 

“One of the world’s foremost energy experts, the International Energy Agency, are telling us that demand for oil and gas will peak this decade and significantly fall after 2030.  That’s a warning to governments in Canada to diversify. Otherwise we are headed for economic collapse if our governments refuse to see the writing on the wall and refuse to take action.” 

“What  this polling data really confirms is even at this moment of economic, geopolitical instability, Canadians are demanding not just climate policy, bold climate policy. Phasing out fossil fuels is the most bold thing that we can be doing and it’s going far beyond what governments in Canada are putting out as policies.”

“What we’re actually seeing happening is governments like British Columbia enabling more fossil fuel production, even though they know that there’s a supply glut for LNG. These LNG projects will be money losers.  Even though they can see that analysis, the power of this industry is so fierce that we’re not seeing  our leaders  actually move in the right direction.”

“We need to see more Canadians really  putting pressure on their politicians, making sure  their elected members know what their preferences are.”

“Sometimes climate is not an easy subject to bring up to your friends, to your neighbors, to your communities. Sometimes we feel like we’re the only ones who are really worried, or we’re the only ones who want to see fossil fuels be phased out. These results show that, no, you’re not alone. There are millions of people across the country who also want to see governments massively  prioritize renewable energy. We want to see less dependence on fossil fuels. So I hope there’s a message of hope for Canadians in these results as well.”  

Cortes Currents: There seems to be a three way split in the poll results when it comes to trusting gas and oil companies. 35% of the respondents expressed their support, 34% were indifferent and 31% do not trust the oil and gas sector. 

Julia Levin: “Only a third of the respondents put any trust in these companies. That’s not surprising. These companies and their CEOs have spent decades lying to Canadians about their role in driving the climate crisis.” 

Cortes Currents: I’m adding this after our interview, so Ms Levine did not have a chance to respond. There is an important difference between bias and conspiracy. We know that fossil fuel interests funded research linking CO2 in the atmosphere to the potential of climate change as early as 1954. When ExxonMobil finally acknowledged climate change in 2006 it tried to downplay the potential impacts. However I’m more inclined to think of these as the actions of individuals than a conscious industry wide conspiracy. I suspect the industry as a whole tended to not take climate change seriously.

Julia Levin: “Only 30 percent of Canadians strongly distrust the industry. That’s a sign that some of their advertising campaigns are working and that’s why it’s so important that governments in Canada also crack down on advertising rules and make sure that fossil fuel companies are not allowed to spread misinformation and lies about their industry.”

“We’re seeing that at the federal level, but I’d love to see that at the provincial level, just like was done for tobacco. This is an industry that is causing  huge amounts of harm and should not be allowed to greenwash. One interesting finding was that rural respondents had the most distrust of oil and gas companies.  I think that’s because they’re the ones who experienced the harms of industry first hand, like not repairing leaky equipment or not paying municipal taxes.”

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