Majority (55%) Say Hot Weather Indicative of Increased Global Warming

Toronto, ON - As Canadians across the country recover from the summer's latest heat wave and Canadian farmers experience near drought conditions, a majority (55%) say that the hot weather conditions this summer are "part of a trend towards increased global warming". This compares to 44 percent who say it is "just an example of a very hot summer that Canada experiences every once in a while". On the topic of global warming, Canadians are split on their Federal and Provincial governments' performance when it comes to issues concerning global warming. Half say the Federal Government (53%) and their individual Provincial (54%) government are doing a "poor" (38% Federal, 38% Provincial) or "very poor" (15% Federal, 16% Provincial) job addressing concerns about this environmental issue.

These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid/CTV/Globe and Mail poll conducted between August 8th and August 12th, 2001. The poll is based on a randomly selected sample of 1,000 adult Canadians. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 177 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian population been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 1996 Census data.

Majority (55%) Say Hot Weather Indicative of Increased Global Warming

While there is no regional difference in how Canadians perceive this summer's hot weather conditions, there are some notable demographic differences.

• Canadians between 18 and 54 (57%) are more likely than those over 55 (48%) to say that the hot weather is "part of a trend toward increased global warming". Half (50%) of Canadians over 55 say that the hot weather is "just an example of a very hot summer that Canada experiences every once in a while".
• Canadian women (61%) are more likely than men (48%) to associate the hot weather with increased global warming.

Half of Canadians Say Their Federal (53%) and Provincial Governments (54%) Are Doing A Poor Job Addressing Concerns About Global Warming

When it comes to issues concerning global warming half (53%) of Canadians say that overall, the Federal government is doing a "poor " (38%) or "very poor" (15%) job, while 37 percent say the government is doing a "good" (35%) or "very good" (2%) job. One in ten (10%) Canadians say they "don't know" how the government is doing on global warming. Canadians are also equally split when it comes to their provincial government. Half (54%) rate their provincial government's job performance on global warming as "poor" (38%) or "very poor" (16%), while 35 percent rate their government as "good" (32%) or "very good" (3%). Again, one in ten (11%) say they "don't know" how their provincial government is performing on the issue.

• The Federal government receives its worst ratings from Western Canada and Ontario, where over six in ten say their performance is "poor/very poor": Alberta (63%), BC (62%), Ontario (60%), and Saskatchewan/Manitoba (58%). This compares to half (53%) of Atlantic Canadians and just 34 percent of Quebecers (16% of Quebecers say they "don't know" how the Federal government is performing on the issue -- the highest among the provinces).
• The Ontario (64%) and Saskatchewan/Manitoba governments (63%) receive the worst provincial ratings on the issue, with over six in ten provincial residents saying their government is doing a "poor/very poor" job. Those governments performing slightly better, but still with a majority indicating a poor performance, are from Atlantic Canada (56%), BC (53%), and Alberta (53%). The government of Quebec receives the most positive rating with nearly half (46%) rating their performance on global warming as "good/very good" and only 36 percent rating "poor/very poor". However, 18 percent of Quebecers say they "don't know" how the provincial government is performing on the issue -- the highest registered among the provinces.
• Among Canadians, criticism of the Federal government and their individual Provincial government on this issue increases with education. University graduates are more likely to say their Federal (58%) and Provincial (63%) governments are doing a "poor /very poor" job compared to those with a high school education or less (45% Federal and 41% Provincial).
• Similar to the trend in education, Canadians with a household income of $60k+ are more likely to say their Federal (55%) and Provincial (60%) governments are doing a "poor/very poor" job addressing concerns about global warming than those earning less than $30k (45% Federal and 46% Provincial).

For more information on this news release, please contact:

John Wright
Senior Vice President
Public Affairs
Ipsos-Reid
(416) 324-2900