Two-thirds of Canadians agree the next federal government should prioritize action on climate change and protecting nature, a new poll has found.
The national poll was carried out by Leger on commission from the B.C.-based environmental group David Suzuki Foundation. A similar share of respondents supported Ottawa investing in renewable energy over fossil fuels.
Sixty-two per cent of those surveyed said Canada should maintain its commitments on climate change despite the U.S. government’s recent decision to pull out of the United Nations Paris agreement to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
The poll questioned a panel of 1,548 Canadian adults in an online survey from March 7-10.
In a letter sent Tuesday to the leaders of all major federal political parties, the David Suzuki Foundation joined 13 other environmental groups calling on the next government to provide tariff relief measures that don’t lead to the over-harvesting of Canadian forests.
The letter also lobbies the next federal government to craft tariff relief measures that prioritize funding Canadian workers — not foreign-owned forestry corporations.
Accessing European markets, it adds, will soon require falling in line with new regulations that prohibit the importation of forest products linked to deforestation or forest degradation.
“Unsustainable logging practices in Canada put this key export market at risk,” the letter notes. “Canada must acknowledge and reform current industrial logging practices that degrade forest ecosystems.”
Michael Polanyi, a policy and campaign manager at Nature Canada, said his group signed the letter because it’s concerned the $6.5 billion promised to industry last week does not come with guidelines that would prioritize workers and limit harms to nature.
“It’s in Canada’s economic interest in terms of accessing global markets that we’re not further degrading forests,” Polanyi added, pointing to tightening EU regulations.
“There’s a risk of closing market off to Canadian forest products.”
