Canadians do not want to sacrifice nature for development

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s pledge to build faster — “Build, baby, build” — helped propel the Liberals to victory, but his government’s push to fast-track major development projects by cutting environmental oversight is sharply out of step with Canadians’ priorities.

It is a political miscalculation that could come back to haunt the Liberals at the ballot box.

New polling, commissioned by Nature Canada and conducted by EKOS Research Associates, shows strong support among Canadians for protecting nature and endangered species while building the economy.

Canadians soundly reject the notion that they must sacrifice conservation protections for economic development.

Yet that is what the federal government is proposing.

In a recently released discussion paper — consultations wrapped up in late July — the government outlined sweeping legislative, regulatory and policy reforms that would bypass critical environmental assessments for major projects such as mines, ports, pipelines, highways and nuclear facilities to get shovels in the ground sooner.

The changes proposed would create significant risks, including to species-at-risk, fish and fish habitat, migratory birds, carbon-rich ecosystems, managing the impact of development on ecosystems — cumulative effects management — and Indigenous rights and responsibilities.

They would also undermine the government’s own 2030 Nature Strategy and its recently announced, $3.8-billion Force of Nature action plan.

The proposals also fly in the face of Canadians’ priorities. The Nature Canada/EKOS polling shows that 75 per cent of Canadians believe safeguarding Canada’s natural heritage should be a key consideration in economic development.

The poll surveyed a random sample of 1,022 Canadians aged 18 and older and has a margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

In fact, at a time when Canadians are divided on a range of economic, social and cultural issues, their attachment to nature remains a point of unity — with nature, wilderness, oceans and national parks viewed as enduring symbols of Canada.

The polling shows widespread support for protecting endangered species and conserving natural areas, with more than 80 per cent of respondents saying they believe governments have a responsibility to protect at-risk species from going extinct.

This support cuts across party lines, with even most Conservative voters — who are generally more skeptical of environmental regulation and spending — agreeing that governments have a duty to help prevent species from disappearing.

In fact, in every province, including Alberta, a majority believe the federal government should intervene if provinces are not doing enough to protect endangered species.

Canadians clearly see conservation as important.

More than three-quarters support the government’s commitment to protect 30 per cent of Canada’s land, fresh water and oceans by 2030, with 72 per cent saying protecting nature is essential to Canada’s long-term prosperity.

Two-thirds of Canadians — including the vast majority of Liberal and NDP voters — believe the federal government should continue to fund programs that protect nature and biodiversity.

When it comes to building major infrastructure projects, most Canadians do not believe that speed should take precedence over environmental safeguards and a further 61 per cent believe protecting species should take priority even where it may constrain economic development.

Canadians do not see conservation and economic development as incompatible. They support both.

But they do not appear willing to accept a model whereby biodiversity protections can simply be overridden in the name of urgency or competitiveness.

And, with about half of those polled saying environmental considerations have a strong influence on their votes, it is time for political leaders to pay attention.

Rather than weakening nature protections to speed approvals, we need to craft common-sense solutions that give proponents of major projects the ecological data they need early on.

Just as growing pineapples in Iqaluit only sounds like a good idea if you know nothing about Iqaluit, major project developers need key ecosystem data upfront to understand what they are getting into and to avoid surprises, delays and added costs later.

Politicians and governments must stop treating conservation as an afterthought. Nature protections must be embedded in the very fabric of nation-building projects from the outset.

Polling makes it clear that nature conservation is a core Canadian priority. If they fail to grasp this, political leaders risk building a country we no longer recognize — and could pay a price for it at the polls.

Emily McMillan is the executive director at Nature Canada. Akaash Maharaj is the director of policy at Nature Canada.