Canadian Municipal Solutions for a Greener Earth

Providing a closer look at your citizens' environmental attitudes, priorities, and behaviours

The environment has emerged as a key area of public concern in recent years. Lately it seems that everyone, from individuals to politicians to industries, is talking about the fate of our planet and what should be done to ensure a healthy earth for future generations. While there is a significant body of research into public views on the environment, many questions remain unanswered, particularly for municipalities that are looking to green their communities and encourage environmentally responsible behaviour among citizens.

To help local governments better understand citizens' environmental attitudes, priorities, and behaviours, Ipsos Reid is pleased to offer your municipality the opportunity to participate in our annual Municipal Solutions for a Greener Earth syndicated research study. This shared-cost vehicle is designed to explore key issues related to the environment in your community, including:

  • Where does the environment sit on the public's issue agenda?
  • How do citizens rate the overall quality of the environment in their community?
  • How do citizens rate their performance, and the performance of their municipal government, when it comes to preserving and protecting the local environment?
  • What do citizens perceive as the most important environmental issues facing their community?
  • Are citizens prepared to pay increased property taxes to address important local environment issues?
  • How high a priority do citizens place on specific municipal initiatives aimed at preserving and protecting the local environment?
  • What are some of the things citizens are doing to reduce their personal impact on the environment?
  • What can municipalities do to encourage environmentally conscious behaviour among citizens?

In addition to these core questions, Ipsos Reid is also pleased to offer two optional modules that target key areas of concern: pesticides and waste management.

The Pesticide module includes questions around citizens' pesticide usage and support for by-laws banning cosmetic pesticide use in their community. The Waste Management module includes questions around citizens' waste reduction efforts, satisfaction with municipal programs and services, and support for local waste reduction initiatives.

Ultimately, this information will provide municipalities with valuable insight into citizens' environmental attitudes, priorities, and behaviours. Municipalities can then use this information to help citizens reduce their ecological footprint and become a greener community.

Normative Comparisons

In addition to looking at your overall results, Ipsos Reid believes that one of the best ways to understand how well your municipality is performing is to compare your results to those of other Canadian municipalities. As part of the final deliverables for participating in this syndicated research study, Ipsos Reid will compare your municipality’s results to our database of municipal norms for key questions. This will provide valuable context, added insight, greater depth of analysis, and benchmarks against which to evaluate your performance.

Research Methodology

A syndicated study is to research what a car pool is to commuters – it’s a shared vehicle with shared costs. In a syndicated study, subscribers share the cost of data collection for the set of core questions. Thus, the report cost is only a fraction of what it would have been if a custom study had been done just for you.

For Ipsos Reid’s Municipal Solutions for a Greener Earth syndicated research study, we will conduct a telephone survey of 300 citizens aged 18 years or older in each municipality that decides to participate in the research. This will provide overall results that are accurate to within ±5.7% (19 times out of 20) and will also allow for analysis by key demographic subgroups such as age, gender, etc.

To keep the costs low, the same core questions (topics outlined above) will be asked in all municipalities. However, there is also an opportunity to add custom questions or increase the number of interviews for an additional charge.

Your municipality’s individual results will not be shared with other municipalities, although the results will be incorporated into the overall normative score for comparative purposes.


All subscribers to the Municipal Solutions for a Greener Earth syndicated research study will receive:

  • Tele-consulting with Ipsos staff on how to customize the study for your municipality (custom questions, booster samples)
  • PowerPoint slides of the results
  • Detailed Tables (Excel) with cross-tabulations of the major demographics
  • Access to Ipsos Reid’s municipal norms, where appropriate
  • In-person presentation of findings (travel billed extra)