Two-To-One, Canadians Think Climate Change Is The Planet's Defining Crisis

Folks in the Great North worry, but in my view, if the planet has a single defining crisis, I would say instead that it is habitat destruction. Extinction is forever, after all:

OTTAWA — Most Canadians think climate change is the planet's defining crisis, a new poll suggests.

That belief is held most strongly in Quebec and less so in the Prairies, a survey conducted by Harris-Decima on behalf of the Munk Debates has found.

The poll asked Canadians if they agreed or disagreed with a resolution to be debated Tuesday during the fourth Munk Debate in Toronto, that: "Climate change is mankind's defining crisis, and demands a commensurate response."

Nearly two thirds of Canadians agreed while 31 per cent disagreed. A tiny fraction had no opinion.

"I think it shows the extent to which not just the environment, but the actual issue of climate change, has ascended up the public agenda to point where it is reminiscent of those other big causes that have shaped a lot of Canadian history," said Rudyard Griffiths, co-organizer of the Munk Debates.

Women were slightly more inclined to agree with the statement than men. Sixty-seven per cent of women agreed, compared with 63 per cent of men.

Across the provinces, more Quebecers and Atlantic Canadians agreed that climate change is the defining crisis, while people in Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan were less likely to agree.