71% Of Saskatchewan Residents Oppose Carbon Tax

In not-so-uplifting news, a new study from the Angus Reid Institute has found that 71% of the residents of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan oppose the imposition of a countrywide carbon tax. In other words, only around 29% of people in Saskatchewan support a nationwide carbon tax, according to the study.

Support for a carbon tax in the other provinces varies significantly, going by the study. Support for a carbon tax in British Columbia, for instance, is at around 50%; support in Quebec is above 50%; and support in Alberta is well below 50%.

What was the methodology of the survey? Were the questions too leading? Can it be trusted? “The results are based on an online survey of 5,406 Canadians who are members of the Angus Reid forum. The survey was conducted from June 5 — June 12, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20,” CTV News reports.

“Fifty-five per cent of people in Saskatchewan want the province to, ‘fight the implementation of a federal carbon tax’, in response to the question, ‘How would you like to see your own province react to this federal carbon pricing plan?’

“Meanwhile, 34 per cent of people want the province to, ‘come up with its own plan to put a price on carbon,’ according to the survey.”

So, you can see here that the resistance is strong even without using the term “tax.”

As a reminder here, the Canadian provinces of Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, and Alberta already have carbon tax plans in the works, to some degree or another. Saskatchewan is the only holdout against carbon tax plans, as far as Canadian provinces go.

The Canadian federal government is now planning to impose carbon tax plans on any provinces that don’t impose a price of at least $10 a tonne on carbon by Spring 2018.

Photo by Paul Hamilton (some rights reserved).CC BY-SA 3.0 license