iii) Lack of Trust and Social Cohesion

Inequality and inequity are often brought up by Survey Participants right after - almost in the same breath - as the challenge of climate change. Further, a good number of the Survey Participants explain they see the two challenges as being interrelated. These Survey Participants argue that global inequalities and inequities will worsen moving forward due to climate change while the world’s ability to fight climate change will be weakened by existing inequalities and inequities. It is quite similar to how inequalities and inequities have been worsened due to the COVID-19 pandemic while the response to COVID-19 is rendered more complicated due to inequalities and inequities5 .

iii. Lack of Trust and Social Cohesion

“It’s remarkable to me, in a world where we’ve become so interconnected, that we’ve grown so far apart.” – Walied Soliman, Canadian Chair of Norton Rose Fulbright

“Lack of trust and social cohesion” encompasses different ways people expressed challenges with respect to mistrust within society and in institutions: lack of understanding of each other; geopolitical tension, risks, and uncertainty; polarization, isolation, and populism; and more. It is named the third most often as a top global challenge by Survey Participants. A version of lack of trust and social cohesion is named by 47% of the Survey Participants.

The Survey participants describe this challenge as one being international in scope, but which also applies within Canada. Lisa Kimmel, Chair and CEO of Edelman’s Canadian and Latin American operations, points out that the Edelman Trust barometer shows that in all countries including Canada there has been a steady decline in trust in institutions.

Louis Audet, Executive Chairperson of Cogeco Inc., is of the opinion that the lack of trust and social cohesion is an important problem, “We have become concerned that a significant percentage of the population is on the fringes of the social project. In society, when you have a big percentage protesting instead of participating, you have a problem.” Sophie Brochu, President Figure 8: List of terms used by Survey Participants to describe various challenges related to social cohesion and mistrust and CEO of Hydro Québec (Sophie Brochu was interviewed prior to being named CEO of Hydro Québec), affirms this challenge can have consequential negative impacts, “Canadians feel they no longer have control over their destinies.” She adds that the lack of trust and social cohesion can divide communities, “When the majority feels alone, the minority becomes a threat.”