Government research shows Canadians worried about clean energy costs

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OTTAWA – As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tries to make his case that fighting climate change and tackling affordability go hand in hand, the government’s own public opinion research suggests Canadians are worried about how much the transition away from fossil fuels will cost them.

Two recently published reports commissioned by Natural Resources Canada earlier this year explore how Canadians feel about the clean energy shift, as well as their attitudes towards zero-emission vehicles.

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Government departments regularly pay for surveys to be done on a variety of issues. These reports come amid rising anxieties about the cost of living, with the Opposition Conservatives and premiers piling political pressure onto Trudeau to drop his signature climate policy of charging a carbon price for consumers in favour of offering them some financial relief.

Monica Gattinger, who directs the University of Ottawa’s Institute for Science, Society and Policy, which conducts similar research, says when it comes to the issue of addressing climate change, Canadians are “moving from the ‘what’ to the ‘how.’”

What matters is how people view the issue, she said. When they see it as a citizen, they are “ambitious,” but when they look at it as a consumer that’s when questions rise of “who pays for what, when and how.”

At the end of the day, Gattinger says, what really matters is “perception.”

Despite the political fight over carbon pricing, “only a few blamed the ‘carbon tax’” for higher energy bills, according to the study on the transition to renewable energy, which was based on 16 focus groups held back in January and February across eight provinces.

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It found those who were asked had a “limited understanding” as to why their energy bills were rising, with many feeling it’s because “the cost of everything is going up.”

Overall, the report found that while many Canadians support the need to made the switch to clean energy, “the costs of this transition were a concern.”

Participants expressed the belief that “they would take on a large burden of the associated costs,” rather than Ottawa, which they said should step up its funding.

Alex Cool-Fergus, the national policy manager at Climate Action Network, said the report should serve as a “wake-up call” to those in power “to just make things easy for people.”

“One thing that governments should be taking away from this report is that it’s murky. It’s a messy picture. People don’t really exactly know what they need to be doing in order to reduce their own emissions.”

Some of the cost concerns those in the study raised were around home renovations and buying an electric vehicle.

While the government offers rebates to help purchase a zero-emission vehicle and renovate a home to make it more energy efficient, “individuals feel they would struggle with significant upfront costs.”

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They also saw a lack of options for those who are low and middle income or are renting.

“The initiatives seemed to favour higher-income households in general,” the study read.

When it comes to zero-emission vehicles, the survey on that issue noted a decrease in how many Canadians said they had thought about buying or leasing one, from the previous two times the same question was asked.

The change may have reflected the fact the survey was done in January to February, as compared summer when previous ones were done, the study said, adding that Canadians themselves were dealing with impacts from inflation and interest rate hikes.

Still, it suggests Canadians have concerns about how these vehicles perform in the winter and have questions about charging.

“Although there is some interest in (zero-emission vehicles) among Canadians, increased education and awareness efforts will be required to overcome some of the concerns,” the study said.

Joanna Kyriazis, the public affairs director at Clean Energy Canada, said consumer attitudes differ from the actual sales and pointed to the massive increases seen in China, Norway and the United Kingdom.

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Within Canada, 12.5 per cent of new car sales for the first quarter of this year were electric, up from nine per cent in the same period last year, Kyriazis said, with numbers higher in Quebec and British Columbia.

She suggests data showing Canadians are having a change in attitude toward electric vehicles is related to the affordability crisis, which makes paying higher costs for a purchasing a new technology more of a “risk,” even as consumers stand to save money in terms of fuel and maintenance.

Another emerging issue is the fact that electric vehicles have been drawn into culture wars, Kyriazis said, with myths circulating about them catching fire and former U.S. President Donald Trump also using to issue to drive a wedge between him and the Democrats.

“Growing up, how often was it a cold day and your gas car wouldn’t start … but that’s not news. But when it happens with an (electric vehicle), you know then everybody pounces on it.”

In response to the surveys, a spokeswoman for Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson pointed to initiatives the government has funded to help bring down clean energy costs, as well as the rebates Canadians receive for paying the federal carbon price on fuel.

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The federal government has also spent more than $1 billion in charging infrastructure for electric vehicles, wrote Joanna Sivasankaran.

“We hear the concerns of Canadians right now, and are considering affordability at every turn,” she said.

“We are already seeing some of the savings that a clean economy can bring in.”

National Post

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