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67% believe governments should be doing as much to protect the environment as to tackle economic problems.
Ottawa (25 Aug. 2009) - Canadians are telling governments not to use the recession as an excuse for ignoring the environment.
The finding is one of the key numbers in a new Canadian Press Harris-Decima poll. Other figures also suggest that while voters are worried about the economy they want governments to continue to protect the environment and combat global warming.
On the key question in the poll, 67% of those surveyed said the environment should be as much of a priority as economic problems. Only 26% rated the environment a secondary concern. The result was similar across gender, salary, political and geographic groups.
Men, Conservative supporters and those living in the west were most likely to say the economy is the top priority. Yet even among Conservative supporters a majority of 53% felt the environment should not take a back seat to economic matters.
Also, the vast majority of respondents – 74% – felt governments were not doing enough for the environment. An almost equally high proportion – 73% – said they were personally making an effort to be more environmentally conscious.
The survey of 1,000 respondents was conducted in the last week of July.
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