XPost: can.politics, ab.politics, bc.politics   
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   From: ConsRCons@govt.cda   
      
   Postmedia News January 16, 2014   
      
   Environment Canada opinion survey reveals skepticism of government   
   action on climate change   
      
      
   OTTAWA — Not many Canadians can think of things the Conservative   
   government has done to mitigate climate change and some feel the   
   government has done more harm than good, suggests focus group research   
   commissioned by Environment Canada this summer.   
      
   Few focus group participants “could name a specific advancement” the   
   federal government had made in recent years to combat climate change and   
   “indeed, the impressions offered were more often a sense that efforts   
   had been reduced rather than increased in recent years,” says the study   
   report from the Harris Decima research firm.   
      
   Additionally, many participants – particularly those from higher income   
   groups – were “skeptical” the government would put measures in place to   
   mitigate climate change within a year.   
      
   But not all will be concerned by the perceived lack of government   
   action. While most study participants agreed that climate change was a   
   “very real concern” and “almost certainly due to human activity,” the   
   focus group research reveals that not all Canadians are convinced.   
      
   Harris Decima notes that some participants “indicated some doubt or   
   confusion about whether the changes being measures and reported are due   
   to human activity or some uncontrollable, natural evolution.” Some   
   believed that climate change was not occurring at all or that it was   
   part of a natural cycle that would be corrected in a few years.   
      
   The firm conducted 12 focus groups with Canadians in Ontario, Quebec,   
   British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and the Yukon from May 25 to Jun   
   3, 2013 to investigate what issues were important to Canadians and how   
   they wanted the federal government to address those issues.   
      
   Six to 11 participants per group – each paid $75 for their participation   
   – were asked to name the most pressing issues facing Canada. They were   
   then asked for their thoughts on the environment, climate change,   
   pollution and conservation.   
      
   At least one person in every group named the environment as a top   
   priority for government, but job creation was overwhelmingly the most   
   oft-mentioned priority.   
      
      
   Read more:   
   http://www.canada.com/Environment+Canada+opinion+survey+reveals+   
   kepticism+government+action+climate+change/9395919/story.html#ixzz2qcMnC2Et   
      
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