Environment Not a Major Concern for Canadians

Even more depressing? Canadians are significantly less worried about aboriginal poverty than gas prices.

Canadians are far more concerned with gas prices, pensions, and even ethics in politics than they are with the environment, as an annual survey concludes it's only the ninth most worrisome concern across the country. Forty-nine per cent of respondents in a Bensimon Byrne survey ranked the environment as “very important,” compared to 60 per cent just three years ago (massive recessions tend to have that effect on people, though). Health care, gas prices, and pensions were the top three concerns, and even “political ethics” was “very important” to 53 per cent of respondents, although given how the last eight months of federal politics have unfolded, that last one seems a little inflated. But hey, at least environmental concerns had more traction than apparently unimportant issues such as pervasive aboriginal poverty and the war in Afghanistan.