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September 27, 2024 - 6:00 PM
As the provincial election draws closer each day a new poll suggests the majority of people in the southern BC Interior want the next government to get rid of the BC carbon tax if the federal carbon tax is abolished.
A recent study by Research Co. asked 800 British Columbians a series of questions on climate change and the carbon tax through an online survey and the results were released, Sept. 27.
The survey asked if the province should scrap the tax if the federal government does the same, and 16 per cent said BC 'probably' should and another 36 per cent said the province 'definitely' should.
Those responses were more popular in the southern Interior where 24 per cent said the province should probably scrap the tax, and 48 per cent said it definitely should scrap it.
When researchers conducted the same survey a year ago, 41 per cent of British Columbians were in favour of scrapping the provincial tax, and now it’s up nine per cent.
Roughly 53 per cent of British Columbians don’t think the carbon tax has made people more mindful of carbon consumption.
A majority people in the southern Interior, 58 per cent, said the carbon tax has negatively affected their household’s financial situation.
“Most British Columbians who voted for the BC Green Party in 2020, 54 per cent, would retain the provincial carbon tax,” Research Co. president Mario Canseco said in a press release. “Fewer residents who cast ballots for the BC New Democratic Party, 44 per cent, or the BC Liberals, 30 per cent, four years ago feel the same way.”
When asked about climate change, 19 per cent of respondents in the southern Interior said British Columbians don’t need to do anything about it, 18 per cent said climate change is an unproven theory, and 24 per cent said it is mostly caused by natural changes.
Most British Columbians believe climate change is a fact that is mostly caused by humans with 54 per cent submitting that answer on the survey, and 44 per cent said people in the province need to do much more to deal with climate change.
The Research Co. data was statistically weighted according to Canadian census data with a margin of error of 3.5 per cent.
BC election day is Oct. 19.
Click here to register to vote.
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