Environment Canada spent $80,000 on poll tasked with defining 'climate change'

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Environment Canada spent over $79,000 polling Canadians on what phrase they preferred to describe changes in the climate. Among the terms "climate change," "extreme weather," or "climate crisis," a pollster's report posted inconclusive results.

"Preference was split between 'climate change' and 'climate crisis,'" it said.

"Those who favoured staying with 'climate change' felt it is a widely known and familiar phrase and should be used to appeal to a broader audience, and also not to turn off people who are skeptical about the seriousness of climate change," said the report Nature Based Solutions And Cleaner Environment Advertising Campaign Testing.

"Those who favoured 'climate crisis' did so because they believe it is a crisis and should be called as such and that 'climate change' has been around for a long time and has lost emotional impact," wrote researchers. "'Climate crisis' is better at evoking an emotional response and a sense of urgency."

Trudeau says "his friend David Suzuki" warned him that inaction on climate issues would cause the world to end.

That's why he needed to "change mindsets" on the carbon tax costing Canadians more during a cost-of-living crisis.https://t.co/jvF8CGrvC6 pic.twitter.com/CJpg6pOrHp

— Rebel News Canada (@RebelNews_CA) April 11, 2023

According to Blacklock's Reporter, The Guardian launched a worldwide campaign to use more alarming language to describe climate change when it rewrote its Style Guide to replace the reference to "global warming" or "climate change" with "climate emergency" or "climate crisis."

Jonathan Watts, the environmental editor at The Guardian, told a 2021 meeting of the Canadian Journalism Foundation that phrasing the topic is essential. "Let's have language that conveys the urgency of the situation," said Watts.

"You know, climate change, what does that mean?" he said. "Duh, of course, the climate changes. But if we have 'climate crisis,' ‘climate disruption,' we use these terms much more."

According to Blacklock's Reporter, Environment Canada paid $79,015 for the report by Sage Research Corporation, which received the results from eight online focus groups nationwide on how best to describe climate change.

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said he would take a "hard long look" to hit Canada's long-term emissions targets 10 years earlier than planned after global climate scientists expressed concerns with its efforts to combat climate change.

MORE: https://t.co/VY2A2lK0uT pic.twitter.com/jkAlfa27sq

— Rebel News Canada (@RebelNews_CA) March 23, 2023

According to focus groups, the phrase "climate crisis" appeared overwrought. "You might get some people's hackles up," the report quoted one focus group participant. "There are some folks out there who dispute the whole climate change issue in the first place," said another.

"There were also a few participants who felt using the word 'crisis' may discourage belief in individual action because the tasks seem overwhelming for individuals to tackle," said Campaign Testing. "Climate change" was described as "familiar" and more likely to "appeal to a broader audience."

"Those who preferred 'climate crisis' said they believe it is indeed a 'crisis' and therefore should be as such, and the phrase' climate change' has been around for a long time, and they believe it has lost emotional impact," wrote researchers. "'Climate crisis' is better at evoking an emotional response and a sense of urgency."

In 2019, the House of Commons voted 186 to 63 to pass a motion stating "climate change is a real and urgent crisis." 

Rebel News learned that accommodations cost taxpayers $1,077,126.40 for the 2022 U.N. Climate Conference through an access-to-information request.https://t.co/pfM7IWN3Iq

— Rebel News Canada (@RebelNews_CA) March 31, 2023

According to an April 2021 brief by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), climate change "presents a complex, long-term threat to Canada's safety, security and prosperity outcomes."

"There will be no single moment where this threat will crystallize and reveal itself, for it is already underway and will incrementally build across decades to come," it reads.

The brief cites receding ice coverage in the Arctic and "irretrievable loss" of infrastructure and entire coastline communities as sea levels rise. CSIS claimed their modelling demonstrates the potential loss of substantial parts of B.C. and the Atlantic provinces.

They anticipate more frequent pandemics with the loss of biodiversity and habitats, more arable land lost to pollution, human use and desertification, and depleting freshwater resources from environmental degradation.

CSIS also claimed newly uninhabitable territory, extreme weather events, drought and food shortages, and human conflict zones might cause unprecedented human migration.

With the carbon tax set to keep costing Canadians more, Environment Minister/convicted criminal Steven Guilbeault makes a weak defence of the Trudeau Liberals' policy.

Listen to his response (and tell the Liberals "enough" at https://t.co/jvF8CGrvC6) pic.twitter.com/UVgXMXMpCc

— Rebel News Canada (@RebelNews_CA) April 3, 2023