The White Rock Pier, in White Rock, B.C., on July 28.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
British Columbians are now as likely as Albertans to prioritize jobs over the environment, as concerns grow in B.C. over unaffordability and the trade dispute with the U.S., according to a new national survey.
The Confederation of Tomorrow survey of nearly 5,400 Canadian adults was conducted by the Environics Institute and a group of public policy and socioeconomic research organizations. It found that while Canadians are concerned about the impact of climate change, they are evenly divided on which is more important when asked to choose.
Nationally, just under half of respondents (45 per cent) said they either somewhat or strongly agree that protecting the environment is more important than protecting jobs; an equal proportion said they somewhat or strongly disagree. The 2025 results are essentially unchanged from the previous year, which marked a seven -percentage-point drop in those prioritizing the environment compared with 2023.
However, in B.C., 40 per cent of respondents this year said they strongly or somewhat agree that environmental protections are more important – a figure that has fallen every year since 2022, when 60 per cent felt this way.
It also represents a narrowing gap in opinions with neighbouring Alberta, which in 2022 was 14 percentage points less likely than B.C. to prioritize the environment. This year, about the same percentage of Albertans and British Columbians ranked protecting the environment as more important than protecting jobs.
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When asked to identify Canada’s most important problem today without being given options to choose from, 26 per cent of respondents nationally said the rising cost of living, 17 per cent said the challenges posed by U.S. President Donald Trump and the trade war and 17 per cent said other economic issues, such as unemployment. Only 2 per cent said the environment or climate change.
The survey was conducted mostly online between May 1 and June 16. The survey does not include a margin of error.
Katya Rhodes is an associate professor in the School of Public Administration at the University of Victoria who has been researching the issue of real and perceived trade-offs between economic growth and environmental protection. She said the debate is one of many pervasive arguments used to justify inaction on climate change.
“This is a very powerful discourse used by the fossil fuel industry, to suggest that there is this factor,” she said of the perceived conflict. “But the research and evidence from many jurisdictions that decouple their emissions from economic growth show that this is not a trade-off. We can grow the economy while reducing emissions.”
Prof. Rhodes cited as one example Britain, where annual greenhouse gas emissions have decreased by 18.4 per cent since the 2015 Paris Agreement as its GDP grew by 10.2 per cent. Meanwhile, China has become a global leader in electric transportation and has aggressively promoted a national heat pump strategy to cut reliance on coal and gas.
Prof. Rhodes said it is important for governments to design policies that “work in the background” – such as fuel standards that gradually raise biofuel requirements of suppliers – because such initiatives can build public support through demonstrated gains without pitting the economy against the environment.
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B.C.’s Low Carbon Fuels Act resulted in the reduction of 4.9 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in 2024, and a total of more than 27.5 million tonnes between 2010 and 2024, according to the Ministry of Energy and Climate Solutions.
Thomas Green, senior climate policy adviser at the David Suzuki Foundation, likewise dismissed the idea of a trade-off and noted the health impact and immense costs from extreme weather events. The Insurance Bureau of Canada found that insured damage from natural disasters hit a record $8.5-billion last year.
“People have legitimate concerns about affordability right now, so it’s natural that people think, ‘Okay, we’ve got to focus on the economics,’” he said. “But we don’t get affordability by allowing climate change to run rampant and destroy the crops that we need for our groceries.”
Dr. Green said there are “so many jobs in doing the right thing,” citing a report published this month by the Centre for Civic Governance that said Canada’s commitment to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 is projected to permanently boost construction jobs by 20 to 30 per cent.
Denise Mullen, director of environment, sustainability and Indigenous relations at the Business Council of British Columbia, said the province can lead by focusing on global impact.
This includes developing and exporting lower-emissions resources and products, prioritizing cost-effective reductions over unproven technologies and “ensuring investors have the confidence to build in B.C. by providing predictable rules and timely approvals – something our province currently lacks,” she said in a statement.
Sussanne Skidmore, president of the BC Federation of Labour, said workers have been hard hit by disruptive changes in the economy and that government needs to pave a path to a clean economy that puts them at the centre.
“That has to start with a work-force development strategy fully integrated into climate measures,” she said.