On Oct. 19, B.C.’s provincial election night, a vicious rainstorm hit the South Coast — bringing a deluge that led to the loss of at least four lives, the latest in a series of deadly climate disasters to hit the region.

But even as British Columbians felt the direct impact of climate change, much of the preceding election campaign focused on flashpoint issues like the cost of housing and toxic drugs.

Polls have consistently shown over the last year that climate change has fallen well behind concern over other issues, like public safety and the cost of living, in B.C.

Environmental activists and the B.C. Green Party say they’ll attempt to bring the health of the planet back to the forefront of British Columbians’ minds.

Helicopters are seen responding to the Shetland Creek wildfire near Spences Bridge, B.C., on July 24, 2024. The province has been affected by a series of natural disasters in recent years. (CBC)

But a pollster says climate change and the environment may simply be too politically unpalatable for parties to campaign on over the next year, especially when the cost of living continues to spiral out of control.

“It’s not the right time to be asking people to sacrifice themselves for the planet,”  said Research Co. president Mario Canseco.

“It’s easier to do when everything is working well. And it’s significantly more complicated to do now.”

One of Canseco’s polls, conducted during the election period, showed the environment ranked fifth among the issues weighing the heaviest on B.C. voters’ minds — with only around four per cent of respondents listing it as the most important to them.

The pollster said there’s a tendency among voters to look at the environment and climate as something that doesn’t affect them immediately, and other things as more significant.

“People aren’t reacting that directly to the threat of climate change,” Canseco said.

“That is part of the complexity, as well, to sell this as a package [political] policy.”

Carbon tax pushback

The fact that climate change was slipping down the list of priorities for voters was perhaps best distilled into one of the election campaign’s major issues — the province’s carbon tax.

The B.C. NDP and B.C. Conservatives made proposals to dilute or remove the tax on major polluters in order to make life more affordable for residents, something that drew significant flak for the NDP in particular, but garnered support in polls.

WATCH | NDP proposes removing consumer-facing carbon tax: 

Canseco said the situation in which B.C.’s carbon tax was first introduced in 2007 was far different than it is now.

“Back in 2007, a survey that I conducted had the environment as the number one issue facing the province … higher than housing, higher than the economy and jobs,” he said. “And this is the moment in which the B.C. Liberal government at the time starts to ponder the idea of a carbon tax.”

But Canseco said the global financial crisis of 2008 immediately saw polls jump in the other direction.

The pollster said a similar situation is occurring now, which is why the B.C. NDP likely decided to roll back its position on the carbon tax, in a bid to stop the B.C. Conservatives from seizing on the issue and gaining momentum.

Isabel Siu-Zmuidzinas, a climate campaigner with non-profit the Wilderness Committee, said the election period showed her that politicians have done a poor job of talking about climate change — by framing it in opposition to issues like affordability.

B.C. Conservatives Leader John Rustad, left, and B.C. NDP Leader David Eby, right, have pledged to remove and dilute the province’s carbon tax. That’s drawn flak from environmental activists. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)

“Climate disasters are costing us, whether that’s in tax dollars that are going toward mitigating climate disasters or reacting to climate disasters,” she said.

“I think we just have to continue to challenge and counter that narrative.”

Greens try to make inroads

Siu-Zmuidzinas said politicians need to connect issues like expanded public transit and heat pump rebates, which are often framed around affordability, to the climate and the environment.

“Housing, health care, the economy, all of these issues that are ranked ahead of climate — they’re all connected to the climate,” she said.

Jeremy Valeriote, the newly-elected B.C. Green Party MLA for West Vancouver-Sea to Sky, said the relative importance of issues like public safety and affordability make sense to him.

“We should be able to solve all these problems at the same time, but we can’t afford to take our foot off the gas on climate for a few years.”

B.C. Green Party MLA Jeremy Valeriote says the party will attempt to present solutions outside of a two-party binary, and says the Greens will no longer simply focus on one issue. (Chad Hipolito/The Canadian Press)

Siu-Zmuidzinas said she’s optimistic that the Greens will be able to push the governing B.C. NDP to halt the Prince Rupert gas transmission pipeline, among other environmental issues, given the delicate balance of the NDP’s 47-seat majority.

A recent accord signed by the Greens and the NDP mentions climate as one of the priorities the parties would uphold as they work together, with Valeriote citing the importance of public transit in particular in hammering out the deal.

WATCH | Greens and NDP hammer out co-operation agreement: 

The MLA spoke about where the Greens need to go if they want to expand their vote share in the next election, saying he hopes the party will aim to offer solutions outside of a binary two-party system.

“We’ll keep offering that as an option with environment as a big, big part,” he said.

“But we’re also no longer a one-issue party. We can talk knowledgeably on many other issues.”

The Research Co. poll referenced in this story was the result of an online study of 801 likely voters run by Research Co. from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2, with a margin of error of 3.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20.