New Poll: 78% Of Canadians Support The Recent Immigration Cut

In a recent article in the Financial Post, I reported that support for Canadian immigration restriction had reached 72% – a statistical supermajority that includes all major political parties and every age group. In another recent column, I wondered whether this astonishingly high percentage was the ceiling of support, or whether opposition to high immigration would continue to increase. We now have the answer.

In a survey commissioned by Bloomberg News and conducted by Nanos Research, 78% of respondents said they supported or somewhat supported the federal government’s decision to slash permanent resident levels. You can read the full survey here. Here are some of the key results:

78% support the immigration cut

“As you may know, the federal government has recently reduced the target of new permanent residents it plans on accepting in 2025 and 2026, from 500,000 each year to 395,000 in 2025 and 380,000 in 2026, which is expected to result in a population decline of 0.2%. Do you support, somewhat support, somewhat oppose or oppose this reduction in permanent resident targets?”

• Support: 53%
• Somewhat support: 25%
• Oppose: 5%
• Somewhat oppose: 12%
• Unsure: 5%

Majorities of men, women, and all age groups support the cut

• Men: 79.8%
• Women: 77%
• 18-34: 75.7%
• 35-54: 79.3%
• 55+: 79.4%

Majorities of all regions surveyed support the cut

• Ontario: 81.8%
• Quebec: 78.8%
• Atlantic Canada: 77.1%
• Prairies: 74.9%
• BC: 73.1%

So, who exactly doesn’t support the cut?

While 78% of Canadians support the immigration cut, it has come under considerable fire from the business lobby and special interest groups over the last couple of weeks. Here is a small sample of what they had to say about the decrease:

• The Century Initiative, a lobby that wants to expand Canada’s population to 100 million by 2100, condemned the cut, claiming that “Canada’s reputation as a stable, welcoming environment for business and talent is now at risk”.
• 143 civil societies and charities signed a Migrant Rights Network open letter calling for the immigration cut to be reversed. The letter also called for a general amnesty to be extended to illegal immigrants on Canadian soil.
• The Canadian Chamber of Commerce issued a statement saying that the immigration cut was “disappointing for businesses across the country”. The statement went on to argue that reducing immigration would make life harder for employers: “Significantly decreasing our labour pool will impact thousands of these employers across Canada struggling to find the workforce they need to operate and grow”.
• Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) told CBC News that employers are unhappy with the immigration reduction because of its impact on the labour pool: “There’s a bunch of temporary foreign workers in Canada today, working for them, happy in their jobs, but whose visas are about to expire and they’re going to be sent packing. This is such a waste of talent.”