Observers gather inside the Bella Centre at Copenhagen's Climate Summit.
Photo: P.J. Partington, The Pembina Institute
Spending all day in Copenhagen's Bella Centre means I feel very far removed from Canadian news these days. So the arrival of a couple of new and interesting climate polls gave us a welcome update on views from home.
Yesterday brought the release of a poll on climate targets from Léger Marketing by the environmental organization Équiterre.
The survey of 1502 Canadians found that 74% support stronger emission targets from Canada. (Respondents were told about the stronger provincial emission targets in Quebec, Ontario and B.C. as part of the question.)
Earlier this week, a new Harris-Decima survey found that 64% of respondents feel that environmental initiatives should retain equal priority to the economy, despite the downturn. Eighty-one per cent want to see Canada develop its own climate change policy rather than waiting to harmonize with the U.S.
But another number from that survey stood out — just 16% of the more than 1,000 surveyed consider Canada an environmental leader.
Of course, the next week or so gives Canada an unparalleled opportunity to change that statistic.
Clare Demerse was the director of federal policy at the Pembina Institute until 2014.
