Majority of Canadians blame climate change for extreme weather: Nanos

Canadians are twice as likely to attribute climate change as the cause of recent extreme weather events than natural variations of weather patterns, according to a new poll by Nanos Research for CTV News.

Canadians are twice as likely to attribute climate change as the cause of recent extreme weather events rather than natural variations of weather patterns, according to a new poll by Nanos Research for CTV News.

Of the respondents, 64 per cent believe that high-intensity storms and extreme weather events, such as wildfire and floods, are a result of a changing cliamte, while over one in four believe extreme weather is a natural result of weather variations. Eight per cent of respondents were unsure, Nanos reports.

According to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, wildfires in Canada have burned more than 24 million acres so far in what’s been described as the worst wildfire season in Canadian history.

The data also showed that only 43.3 per cent of respondents from the Prairies said they attribute extreme weather to climate change, while over 60 per cent of respondents from B.C., Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic regions cite climate change as the cause.

The highest percentage of respondents who blame climate change for extreme weather came from Quebec, at 75.9 per cent.

The survey also found that a majority (59 per cent) of Canadians support establishing a national wildfire department, which would enable teams of firefighters to travel anywhere in the country to battles out-of-control flames.

Twenty-six per cent somewhat support this protective possibility, while one in ten (seven per cent) oppose it.