Global’s polling partner Ipsos recently completed a survey that looked at the attitudes Canadians have about extreme weather events, climate change and what to do about it. This has been a topic of interest to Ipsos and Global but also the country’s top decision makers: The prime minister, his closest advisors, cabinet, and deputy ministers.
Global News has obtained internal government polls that show the prime minister’s office, as early as March, was taking a keen interest in how Canadians were reacting to floods, wildfires, storms and other extreme weather events. The polls, obtained through an Access to Information request, were part of the weekly Privy Council Office (PCO) polling program.
The PCO program surveys 1,000 Canadians every week through live-agent surveys. It’s one of the key ways that the PMO, cabinet, and senior bureaucrats monitor their own performance and learn how Canadians feel about key issues. The most recent series of polls that Global News has received are from January to June.
The PCO asked about extreme weather events in some of its March polls and then again in June.
Both found that Canadians living on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts were much more likely to believe there will be more weather-related emergencies in the coming years. Meanwhile, despite the wildfires that ravaged northern Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec in the late spring, respondents in those provinces were most likely to think there will be no change in the frequency of such events.
The PCO, in March, also wanted to know if Canadians felt it was appropriate for governments to take measures to adapt to current and future extreme weather events. By and large, they do. But again, there were some significant regional variations here. Those on the coasts and in Quebec were more likely to support such initiatives. Less so in the centre of the country. Nearly one in five in Manitoba and Saskatchewan actually opposed government taking measures to adapt to extreme weather events.
The federal government wanted to know how concerned Canadians were about extreme weather events. That this question was asked in March when the worst of this season’s wildfires had to yet to register and Hurricane Fiona was still a long way off but, again, those on the coasts exhibited significant concerns with Quebecers leading the country. Meanwhile, on the Prairies — Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba — the number of those “not concerned” was greater than those who were “concerned.”
During two of the four weekly polls in June, the PCO asked: “Do you feel that the Government of Canada is on the right track or the wrong track in its response to weather-related emergencies or natural disasters in Canada” and 49.1 per cent said “right track” versus 20.7 per cent who said wrong track.
Finally, in the June polling program, the PCO wanted to know if Canadians chalked up extreme weather events to climate change. Quebecers, who are the most climate-aware voters in the country, were most enthusiastic in agreement while nearly one in three Albertans were a bit sceptical.
The PCO polling program is used by the PMO and cabinet to make decisions and chart policy. Looking at the data here, we see concern and awareness in B.C., Quebec and Atlantic Canada — all regions of the country that the Trudeau government needs to do well in if it hopes to be re-elected. So, it could be assumed this data will guide it as it sets priorities for its Minister of Emergency Preparedness, B.C.’s Harjit Sajjan.
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