Canadians in dark over carbon taxes, poll shows

OTTAWA • Despite the fact carbon-pricing was one of the Liberal government’s commitments during the 2015 election, many Canadians still understand little about the policy, according to a new survey — including whether their own province has put a price on emissions.

The polling, commissioned by Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission, shows a majority of respondents in B.C., Ontario and Quebec did not know their province has a carbon price in place. Ontario’s cap-and-trade system kicked off in 2017, but Quebec’s has been in place since 2013, while B.C. has had a carbon tax for nearly a decade.

The survey, conducted by Abacus Data, shows that only 45 per cent of respondents in B.C., 30 per cent in Ontario and 20 per cent in Quebec knew that their province has put a price on carbon. Most of the rest either said they didn’t know, or that their provincial government is planning to bring in a carbon price.

“I think people have limited capacity to follow all the issues,” said Dale Beugin, executive director of the Ecofiscal Commission, which advocates for carbonpricing. “This is a reminder that there’s lots of competing demands for people’s attention and interest.”

Uncertainty was the most common response from those surveyed in most other provinces as well. In Nova Scotia, which plans to launch capand-trade in January 2019, more than half of those surveyed said they didn’t know what their government has planned. In Manitoba, where a carbon tax will take effect in September, just one in three respondents knew a carbon price is on its way.

The two provinces that bucked the trend are Alberta and Saskatchewan, where politicians have mounted aggressive campaigns against carbon pricing. In Alberta, where United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney has said he wants to scrap the provincial carbon tax, nearly 80 per cent of respondents knew they were paying for emissions. In Saskatchewan, the lone province that has resisted any type of carbon-pricing, more than half of those surveyed were aware where their government stands.

More generally, the polling suggests an increase in polarization on carbon-pricing and climate action. While 60 per cent of respondents want more action to fight climate change, 16 per cent want to see less action — and that figure has doubled in the past three years.

Beugin thinks that has to do with an increase in “misinformation” as the debate about carbon-pricing becomes more politically charged.

The survey results suggest many Canadians are ambivalent about whether carbon-pricing works as it’s supposed to. Nearly half of respondents said a carbon price would simply increase the cost of living and doing business, without changing energy use.

Most respondents preferred regulations requiring emissions reductions and subsidies that support low-carbon technology over carbon-pricing, though the Ecofiscal Commission insists that those measures are much more expensive than a carbon price.

“I think that … there’s increasing support for action and there’s even increasing support for carbon pricing. But there continues to be a lack of understanding … as to how and why and where carbon-pricing works,” Beugin said. “Maybe we’ve spent too much time in the bubble and maybe there’s a need to go back to the basics.”

To that end, the commission has released a new report, called Clearing the Air, to help explain how carbon pricing works.

Despite the uncertainty about carbon-pricing, the results show that 61 per cent of respondents believe there’s solid or conclusive evidence of global warming, while just 11 per cent believe there’s little to no evidence. In total, 84 per cent believe a transition to a low-carbon economy is a good goal, but 60 per cent believe Canada should continue to develop its oil and gas during that transition.

Abacus Data surveyed 2,250 Canadians between Feb. 9 and 15, using randomly selected members of online panels. The margin of error for a comparable random sample is plus or minus 2.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20.