A new public opinion study on the carbon tax finds that the issue polls poorly in ridings across Canada.
While the study, funded by several environmentalist NGOs, found that a small majority of Canadians support the carbon tax, it also found that there is opposition to the carbon tax in all regions of Canada.
As originally reported on by Blacklock’s Reporter, there is at least one riding in every province except Nova Scotia where the majority oppose the carbon tax, most notably seven ridings held by Liberals.
“Fewer than half of voters said yes in seven Liberal seats: Coast of Bays-Central-Notre Dame, Nfld. & Labrador; Egmont, P.E.I.; New Brunswick Southwest; Lac-Saint-Jean, Que.; and Vaughan-Woodbridge, Nickel Belt and Glengarry-Prescott-Russell, Ont.” Blacklock’s wrote last week.
The carbon tax has long been expected to be a major issue this election, as the tax has a considerable financial impact on Canadian families.
Concern over the carbon tax may have increased considerably after environment minister Catherine McKenna hinted in August that the government will raise the carbon tax if re-elected, this despite promising the opposite when the carbon tax plan was announced.
Matto Mildenberger of the University of California Santa Barbara, who helped create the study, says that much of the opposition to the carbon tax is cost.
“The point is that with policies like a carbon tax, a lot of the politics revolves around the cost on consumers,” he said.
The election of anti-carbon tax governments in Ontario, Manitoba, New Brunswick, and Alberta over the past few years can also be partially attributed to backlash against the federally imposed carbon tax plan.
Whether their study is actually indicative of how Canadians will vote is not clear, Mildenberger pointed out, noting that the issue is complex.
“Our data show people really care about climate change issues, but we shouldn’t use public opinion as a predictor of the future,” he said.
“I’m not in the business of predicting who will win the election or why.”
