Federal ministers have polled Canadians on whether they would be willing to give up eating meat for the sake of saving the planet. Access to Information documents obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter show the federal government confidentially polled the public and found the notion of giving up meat for climate change is unpopular among Canadians. “Among the suite of personal pro-climate mitigation habits assessed in this survey, efforts to eat a more plant-based diet are among the least common,” wrote researchers in an in-house research report conducted by the Privy Council throughout 2022 and 2023 called Climate Change Mitigation Behaviours.The public was asked, “In the last two months, how frequently or infrequently have you made efforts to eat a more plant-based diet?” Of the respondents, 36% said not at all, while 13%, mainly women, replied, “always.”“Plant-based diets are more common among women than men, and among those with higher than lower levels of education,” wrote researchers. “Plant-based diets also correlate with biospheric values, having a strong willingness to mitigate climate change and believing one’s personal actions can have a positive impact.”Documents did not identify which Member of Parliament asked for polling on vegan diets or whether the Departments of Agriculture or Fisheries were informed. .The concept of giving up eating meat for climate change has been propagated on the world stage. A United Nations report called Healthy Diets For A Healthier Planet blames livestock, poultry and seafood production for emitting greenhouse gasses, reported Blacklock’s.“Red meat, dairy and farmed shrimp are generally associated with the highest greenhouse gas emissions,” the UN report states. “This is because meat production often requires extensive grasslands which is often created by cutting down trees.”On October 26, campaign manager for World Animal Protection of Toronto Lynn Kavanaugh testified before the Commons Agriculture Committee that her group advocated for Canadians to decrease their meat consumption. “There is global evidence,” said Kavanaugh. “We are not alone in this point. We are simply echoing and supporting what the huge body of evidence is saying about emissions from animal agriculture and the need to reduce the amount of animal agriculture that is produced in Canada and globally to help meet our climate target.”Conservative MP John Barlow called the group out on their agenda. “We know the goal of your association is to end animal agriculture,” said Barlow. “Our goal is not to end animal agriculture,” replied Kavanaugh. “We do promote less meat and dairy consumption for climate, more sustainable food production and biodiversity protection, but we do not advocate a vegan diet. That’s number one.”The David Suzuki Foundation in a report Food And Climate Change also encourages supporters to avoid meat. “Meat and dairy production account for 83% of all agricultural land use, take up 30% of the planet’s land surface and are responsible for 18% of greenhouse gasses including methane and nitrous oxide,” the report claimed.
