1 in 3 Canadians report being personally impacted by severe weather: poll
Global News
The number of people touched by extreme weather jumped significantly in almost every province but Alberta saw the biggest increase.
A new poll suggests more Canadians are feeling the direct impacts of extreme weather, but that has not changed overall opinions about climate change.
The results from a recent Leger poll suggest more than one in three Canadians have been touched directly by extreme weather such as forest fires, heat waves, floods or tornadoes.
When Leger asked the same question in June 2023, around one in four Canadians indicated they had been impacted by extreme weather.
The previous poll was taken as the record-breaking 2023 wildfire season was just getting underway.
The latest poll, which was conducted online Aug. 16-18, comes midway through another above-average wildfire season, and after news that the beloved Jasper National Park was partially destroyed by fire and as residents of the country’s biggest city are living through the rainiest summer on record.
A major rainstorm in Toronto in mid-July caused flash flooding and nearly $1 billion in insured damages, while another record-setting rainfall last weekend dropped more than a month’s worth of rain on the city in just a few hours.
Some places in Atlantic Canada have also been dealing with flooding in July from the remnants of Hurricane Beryl. Across the country, a heat wave descended on large parts of British Columbia and Alberta in June and July and drought in both provinces has raised the fire risk substantially.
The number of people touched by extreme weather jumped significantly in every province but Manitoba and Saskatchewan, which stayed the same at 21 per cent.
