Climate change a hoax, but UFOs real
On the other hand, many believe in UFOs and Bigfoot, new poll says
One in five Albertans believe Bigfoot is real, and even more think global warming is a hoax.
A new Insights West poll also reveals more than one in three Albertans think the 1997 death of Princess Diana in a car crash was actually an assassination, and 40 per cent of residents think scientists have found a cure for cancer but the government or pharmaceutical companies are withholding it.
That’s not all. Nearly half of Albertans think UFOs exist, 32 per cent believe the JFK assassination was a conspiracy, and one in 10 believe the lunar landings were a hoax.
And no, the poll is not an April Fool’s Day prank.
The results come after Insights West, a Western- based marketing research company, asked both Albertans and British Columbians for their thoughts on several popular conspiracy theories in an online study conducted from March 24 to March 29.
While most of the results were fairly similar for Alberta and British Columbia, one answer stood out to Mario Canseco, vice- president public affairs at Insights West.
“We had 12 per cent of residents ( in British Columbia) who said climate change was a hoax. The number climbed dramatically in Alberta,” he said.
In Alberta, 26 per cent of respondents said they think global warming is a hoax.
“One of the reasons for those numbers to be so high is ( Albertans could) be looking at it from the standpoint of ( their) own benefit,” Canseco said.
Canseco said people could think it’s easier to believe climate change is a hoax than change the way they’re producing energy or question their employment in an industry that could affect climate change, like the oilsands.
Another answer where Albertans’ views differed more than a few percentage points from their neighbours to the west concerned the late Princess Diana.
Thirty- seven per cent of Albertans consider the event an assassination, a view shared by 27 per cent of British Columbians.
“That’s a pretty high number for something that was investigated officially by the U. K. government,” Canseco said.
One- in- five residents ( 20 per cent in B. C. and 21 per cent in Alberta) believe in Bigfoot ( or Sasquatch). The result wasn’t surprising to Bigfoot believer Tyler Huggins.
“That’s probably higher compared to most of North America ... Until there’s scientific proof, I wouldn’t expect the number to be higher,” he said.
Huggins has been on an unwavering quest to uncover the existence of the legendary creature since what he said was an encounter of his own with the apelike beast in 1991 near Lake Louise.
Nearly a third of both Albertans and British Columbians believe a human being has already been cloned, and 40 per cent of Albertans and 32 per cent of British Columbians believe a cure for cancer is being withheld.
“That really speaks to the highest conspiracy level that there is ... There’s that sense of mistrust in the way that specific aspects of our society work, and one is the government,” Canseco said.
Four per cent of Albertans said they believe dinosaurs never existed and just one per cent think Elvis is still alive.
Canseco classified the poll as fun with serious undertones.
“We thought it was a good opportunity to really do something interesting,” he said.
“There’s a way to do fun research but also have that policy component.”
The poll results are based on an online study among 801 British Columbians and 508 Albertans.
The margin of error for the Alberta results is plus or minus 4.3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.