Canadians are showing a late-comers’ zeal on climate change, and government support for oil sands is forcing people to take sides
Canadian attitudes to the environment appear to be changing. And none too soon. Green issues have never occupied a central role in the country’s public debate. A study in December 2011 found that a mere 6% of Canadians saw the environment as the country’s number one challenge. The figure was consistent with the previous 30 years of polling data.
Now findings from the same polling company present a different picture. Three-quarters (74%) of individual Canadians feel they could be doing more to protect the environment, a new poll by Environics Communications finds. As for the “don’t care” camp, it’s only a measly 2%.
The research itself fails to attribute specific causation to why Canadians are now concerned about the environment but activists are in no doubt. For them, it all comes down to oil and politics. They’ll even put a date on it: 9 January 2012.
Canada’s minister of natural resources, Joe Oliver, picked that date to write a wide-publicised public letter endorsing the development of the country’s vast oil sands. In it, he branded environmental organisations as “radical groups [that] threaten to hijack our regulatory system to achieve their radical ideological agenda”. No subtle messaging there.
The letter is demonstrative of the aggressive pro-oil policy of the Conservative-led federal government. Canadian oil production is already at about 2.2m barrels per day. New permits will allow this to more than double. The only limiting factor is pipeline capacity. Hence plans to develop the 1,897km Keystone XL and the 1,177-km Enbridge Northern Gateway pipelines.
For the federal government, the development of the oil sands has become a quasi-patriotic issue, promising to deliver everything from energy security to economic growth and employment. And it dismisses environmental concerns.
The ministry of natural resources highlights a new 2,000-page environmental impact study for the Keystone XL pipeline as proof of its commitment. In March, it launched a multi-million-dollar “Responsible Resource Development” television advertising campaign to ram home the point.
This all makes out environmental groups to be the bad guys. The ruling Conservative party has “gone on the offensive” to demonise green groups as “eco-terrorists”, says Jamie Kneen, from green action group Mining Watch Canada. “They are trying to polarise the debate and they are succeeding. Yet part of that means they are strengthening the opposition as well,” he says.
Suspicious public
Greenpeace Canada campaigner Keith Stewart agrees. The more officialdom defends the oil sands and attacks green campaigners, the wider the divisions become. “People are saying, ‘Well, you must be doing something right if they come out that strong against you’,” Stewart says.
Changes to environmental legislation could also be responsible for radicalising public opinion. Since coming into power in 2006, Canada’s prime minister, Stephen Harper, has pushed through amendments to key environmental laws. Canada’s formal withdrawal from the Kyoto protocol in December 2012 leaves little doubt about where his government stands.
Canadians are being forced to take sides, therefore. “The federal government has been pretty clear that they see economic development and environmental protection as opposed.” It’s one or the other, Stewart laments.
For the activists, it’s not all doom and gloom, though. Greenpeace’s fundraising figures have shot up.
Useful links: