Canadians are worried about climate change. Over half say they are very or extremely concerned about it and 81 per cent believe future generations will be among those most affected. 

Yet many Canadians also support building the West Coast Oil Pipeline. In July 2026, 63 per cent of those polled supported the proposed pipeline. Even among those who described climate change as a crisis requiring urgent action, roughly half supported it. 

How are we to make sense of these seemingly contradictory positions? 

Part of the answer lies in the profound geopolitical and economic uncertainty created by US President Donald Trump’s undermining of the relationship between his country and Canada. A new pipeline would reduce Canada’s dependence on a highly erratic trading partner by expanding access to Asian markets. The appeal is obvious: governments need revenues for public services, workers need jobs and Canadians want to feel that the lives they are building will remain viable.

Yet the ecological future implied by our current trajectory is increasingly difficult to reconcile with that desire for economic security. The recent national climate assessment projects that, under current global climate policies, temperatures in Canada could reach about 5°C above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century. 

Meanwhile, the Canadian Climate Institute estimates the new pipeline could add roughly 20 megatonnes of oil-sands production emissions annually. That’s comparable to putting around four million cars on the road, taking us further away from our carbon reduction commitments.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has called the breakdown of the old geopolitical order a “rupture, not a transition.” The danger is that, in trying to preserve economic stability amid that........

© National Observer