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OTTAWA -- Canadians are warming to the idea of paying a tax on activities that cause climate change, but they don't necessarily expect to get the money back in the form of income-tax cuts, a new poll has revealed.
The McAllister Opinion Research survey, commissioned for the Pembina Institute -- an environmental research group -- and obtained by Canwest News Service, revealed that Canadians would be supportive of a federal carbon tax and would like to see its new revenues invested in improving energy efficiency and clean-energy technologies.
When told that B.C. had recently introduced "a carbon tax on fossil fuels to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions," 72 per cent of those surveyed said that this was a positive step. Only 23 per cent thought that it was a negative step. The poll surveyed 1,009 adults across the country between April 29 and May 9.
Jason Doud, a research analyst at McAllister, said he's not surprised at the results since his firm's recent polls have consistently revealed that people are more concerned about the environment than other issues.
"The support for B.C.'s carbon tax is fairly uniform across Canada," he said. "Six out of 10 people definitely support it."
The strongest support comes from Quebec where 81 per cent of respondents said that the B.C. tax was a positive step.
The findings come as political parties in Ottawa are feuding over whether an environmental tax would be the best way to fight global warming. The Conservatives and the NDP have been arguing in favour of a cap-and-trade system that would allow the market to set a price on pollution by capping emissions from large industrial facilities. The trading system would force the biggest polluters to buy permits on a public exchange from companies that are reducing emissions.
The federal Liberals and the Green Party also support such a system, but are also proposing to introduce a "tax-shifting" policy that would impose a carbon tax for everyone in the economy that would be offset by reductions in other areas such as income taxes. The Liberals have not yet explained details of their plan, apart from pledging to come up with a "revenue neutral" policy that would not increase the overall tax burden on individuals.
However, when asked how revenues from a proposed federal carbon tax should be spent, most people told the polling firm they would prefer to see more green spending, rather than income-tax cuts.
For example, 47 per cent said that new revenues should be spent on "renewable energy like wind and solar power" and 16 per cent said they wanted to see more spending on "energy efficiency technologies." Eight per cent said it should be spent on public transit.
Last week, NDP Leader Jack Layton launched new attacks on the carbon-tax proposal, arguing that it would punish low-income individuals who rely on natural gas or heating oil to keep their homes warm in the winter. But environmental groups criticized Layton, arguing that a carbon tax could be introduced alongside regulations for a cap-and-trade system.
"Both put a price on pollution -- they're much more similar than Mr. Layton suggests," said Clare Demerse, a senior climate-change policy analyst at the Pembina Institute. "Our poll does support Mr. Layton's call for investments in energy efficiency programs like home retrofits, but it also shows that Canadians want those investments to be in addition to carbon-tax programs like B.C.'s. Canadians understand the urgency of global warming and they see that we need both approaches."
Mike De Souza, Canwest News Service
Published: Monday, May 26, 2008
© The Vancouver Province 2008
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