With a provincial election looming, pollsters are trying to tease out the public mood and the issues that might dominate at the ballot box. By significant margins, the top three issues on the minds of British Columbians are cost of living (64 per cent), health care (51 percent) and housing affordability (41 percent), according to polling by the Angus Reid Institute. Meanwhile, climate change and the environment have fallen from being identified as a top issue by 30 per cent of British Columbians during the 2020 election, to being one for just 18 per cent.
Climate change gets lumped in with “the environment,” which seems logical enough. After all, it’s caused by carbon pollution, and it impacts everything from rivers to forests and wildlife. But narrow-casting climate change as an environmental issue fails to reflect the systemic impacts already being felt by British Columbians due to climate change. In fact, the top-tier issues of cost of living, health care and housing affordability are all being made worse due to climate change.
Let’s start with cost of living. Back in 2022 when gasoline prices jumped by 73 cents per litre on average, the province’s carbon tax was an easy target for blame. But according to a recent analysis, 96 per cent—or 70 cents of that 73-cent price increase—was driven by the global oil market.
While opponents made great hay out of blaming the carbon tax for “driving up the cost of everything,” another analysis by University of Calgary economists concluded “climate policies are not a significant driver of the rising cost of living. Nor will removing policies such as carbon pricing materially improve the situation.” Highlighting the impact on grocery prices in B.C., they found that “the latest estimates from Statistics Canada suggest carbon taxes increased the average cost of food by about 0.33 per cent relative to what they would be in the absence of carbon taxes. That’s the entire effect.” That’s 33 cents on a $100 grocery bill.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Canada has noted that climate-change-fuelled extreme weather “has been one factor driving up food prices in Canada.” A lot of food on Canadian grocery store shelves comes from California and Mexico, both of which have seen negative impacts on harvests due to weather. Similarly, when severe heat and drought impacts Canadian grain harvest, that drives up the price of not only a loaf of bread, but meat, too. Similarly, declining harvests of oranges and olives are driving up the cost of juice and olive oil.
Looking to point the finger for inflation? Try fossil fuels and the climate change that results from burning them.
Health, health care and climate change similarly collide. A recent Health Canada report explored the myriad health impacts of climate change resulting from rising temperatures and extreme heat, wildfires and the expansion of zoonotic diseases into Canada, while also highlighting how these are not just future concerns, but impacts already being experienced today. These kinds of health impacts have a knock-on cost to Canada’s health-care system in the billions of dollars, while also reducing economic activity by tens of billions of dollars over the coming decades.
While the linkages to climate change may not seem quite as clearcut when it comes to housing affordability, there are numerous interactions. A lack of affordable housing in cities encourages urban sprawl, forcing households into the suburbs and exurbs, which are typically underserved by public transit, meaning more driving (and the resulting fuel bills and emissions). Meanwhile, more frequent and intense extreme weather events including wildfires and atmospheric rivers—made more likely by climate change—can further strain the need to build (or rebuild) housing and infrastructure, driving up material and construction costs, while also making house insurance more limited and more expensive.
Cost of living, health care and affordable housing are all very real, very acute issues that British Columbians are experiencing directly. But it’s clear that a changing climate is making them worse, and rolling back climate action will only deepen these and other challenges. If you want solutions to issues like the cost of living, health care, housing affordability, food security or a whole host of other issues, then continued action to cut carbon pollution is a pre-requisite, not a nice-to-have.
Climate change isn’t just another political issue—it’s an era.
Dan Woynillowicz runs Polaris Strategy and Insight, advising companies, organizations and governments on strategy and policy to navigate climate change and the transition to clean energy.
