When forced to choose between affordability and climate policy, voters prioritize affordability. Emissions reduction policy has to be designed with this in mind.
Key points:
- The Trump threat has forced the Carney government to shift course from the Trudeau era on many fronts, and nowhere is this clearer than on climate policy. But concerns around affordability have also enabled this shift.
- When forced to choose between affordability and climate policy, voters consistently prioritize affordability, which makes creating durable emissions reduction policy a challenge.
- To be effective and durable, emissions reduction policy must be fundamentally designed with these overriding economic realities and voter priorities in mind.
