Canadians want Ottawa to get tougher with green regs

A federal government that gets tough with industry when it comes to cracking down on chemical pollutants would find broad approval from the electorate, according to new public opinion research published by Environment Canada.
Canadians are also broadly in favour of the principle of slapping new taxes on consumer and industrial products that contain chemical substances.
Those are some of the key findings in a report, published in February but just recently made available online by Environment Canada's Public Opinion Research Group.
Here are the key bullet points from the report's executive summary:

• Canadians perceive industry to have the strongest influence on government (38%) when it comes to environmental policies and regulations, followed distantly by the Canadian public (18%). Notably, just 13 per cent of Canadians think environmentalists have the strongest influence on the government's green agenda. Just 10 per cent believe the latest scientific evidence is what drives policy at Environment Canada.
• In instances where Canadian public opinion is at odds with current scientific evidence, Canadians are more likely to prefer that the government base their decisions on scientific evidence.
• When asked to evaluate regulations on the environment, on food products, and on consumer products, in all cases a majority of Canadians feel that current regulations are not strong enough; environmental regulations are seen as particularly weak.
• Most Canadians feel the federal government, as well as companies that manufacture and use chemical substances, are doing only a fair or poor job of preventing or controlling the release of chemicals substances into the environment. The federal government, however, receives marginally higher ratings on this issue.
• The majority of Canadians (58%) are supportive of adopting a new environmental tax added to consumer and industrial products that contain chemical substances.
• Canadians place a high importance on purchasing products that are environmentally friendly.
• Canadian consumers believe that environmentally friendly products perform as well as non eco-friendly brands.
• Although many Canadians believe they cost more, most express a clear willingness to pay more for environmentally friendly products.

The survey was done by Environment Canada with the assistance of private sector polling firm Environics Canada. A total of 2,045 Canadian were surveyed in December, 2006. The report says it is accurate to within 2.2 percentage points 19 times out of 20 for the national sample.