Nearly half of Canadians trust technology to find solutions to replace fossil fuels, according to a new Nanos Research survey.
The survey found that when asked to pick a statement that best describes their view as to how countries will reduce fossil fuels, 47.2 per cent of Canadians said they trust technology will find solutions to replace fossil fuels.
This view was strongly believed in the Prairies (58.7 per cent), and less strongly believed in B.C. (35.9 per cent).
More than a quarter of Canadians said they believe the path forward in cutting fossil fuels is to change our lifestyle (26.8 per cent), and 12.7 per cent believe increasing taxes on fossil fuels is the fastest way to reduce fossil fuel consumption.
Meanwhile, 10.2 per cent of Canadians said they do not believe we can reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.
"What this survey is telling us is that people have a significant amount of trust that technology is a major part of the solution for reducing fossil fuels," Nanos Research Group Chairman Nik Nanos told CTVNews.ca. "They're much more likely to focus on technology than other things."
The survey also found that more than half of Canadians believe it is either realistic (26.3 per cent) or somewhat realistic (28.9 per cent) to think that countries can eliminate the use of all fossil fuels, including gasoline, oil, natural gas, and coal, by the year 2100.
This view was strongly held by Canadians between the ages of 18 to 29, with 61.5 per cent of them believing it is either realistic or somewhat realistic. Ontarians strongly believed this goal is realistic or somewhat realistic (62.9 per cent), compared to Prairie residents (45 per cent).
Nanos said that the issue of reducing fossil fuels may play out in the upcoming federal election.
"It's clear from the numbers that this is a divisive issue," he said. "Canadians are not of one mind, but it does seem that if a party did want to engage on this, talking about technology as part of the solution to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels would probably be well received."
Nanos Research conducted the random survey from June 27 to June 29, 2015, on behalf of CTV News. It surveyed 1,000 Canadians over the age of 18 over the phone and online. The survey is accurate +/- 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
