Carbon pricing survey results met with criticism in Saskatchewan

A new survey on climate change and carbon pricing is being met with criticism in Saskatchewan.

According to a survey conducted for Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission, 42 per cent of respondents are so-called “climate believers,” meaning they feel climate change is real, human-caused and should be a top priority for government.

However, among the believers, less than half said they are very familiar or pretty familiar with carbon pricing.

“We’re still relatively new in this policy, but there’s a fair amount of misunderstanding and lack of familiarity with the policy,” Ecofiscal chair Chris Ragan said.

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According to the findings, a price on carbon still received more support than doing nothing at all.

Todd MacKay, prairie director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, is critical of the survey’s findings. In order to have an opinion on carbon taxation, respondents must first know how much it will cost them and what the environmental impact would be, according to MacKay.

“Unless you’re going to put that out there, you’re really not getting a particularly useful response,” MacKay said.

The Saskatchewan government has been a vocal opponent of a federally imposed carbon tax to the extent that Premier Scott Moe recently stated the province will take the matter to court.

If the lawsuit fails and the province continues to refuse to implement a tax, the federal government will impose a $10 per tonne price on carbon and eventually a $50/tonne price in 2022.

A statement from the premier’s office stated “the clear question of whether Canadians support or oppose a carbon tax was not included in this report.”

“This report shows that, while Canadians want to see governments take action on reducing emissions, there is not a consensus on whether they believe that a carbon tax is the way to do that.”

The provincial government is advocating for its own climate change strategy, which includes reducing methane emissions and emissions from electrical generation by 2030.

Abacus Data conducted the survey for Ecofiscal online, asking 2,250 Canadians aged 18 and over, from Feb. 9 to Feb. 15.

With files from Global’s David Baxter