New federal data shows Canadians are more divided over record high immigration quotas due to concerns such as housing shortages and foreigners “causing Canada to change in ways they don’t like.”
“Half of Canadians, 51%, agree immigrants need to do more to integrate into Canadian society,” said in-house research by the Department of Immigration, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.
“Just under half of Canadians, 46%, agree Canada should focus on helping unemployed Canadians rather than looking for skilled immigrants to fill labour shortages.”
The Canadians questioned also expressed unease with the social impact of immigration. “About one quarter of Canadians, 27%, agree immigration is causing Canada to change in ways they don’t like,” said the report, title 2024 Annual Tracking Study.
Support for immigration was “accompanied with an attitude of ‘not right now’ or ‘how are we going to make this work?’” wrote researchers. “This sentiment was partly underpinned by concerns about the impact of immigration on infrastructure.”
The immigration department paid Ipsos $295,428 for the study which involved questionnaires with 3,000 people nationwide and 14 focus groups.
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The federal government’s current Immigration Levels Plan sets the 2024 quota at 485,000, a number that those surveyed “could not fathom” how cities would handle.
That quota was “too many” for 52% in Alberta, 51% in Nova Scotia, 49% in Ontario and Prince Edward Island, 47% in Saskatchewan, 46% in British Columbia and Newfoundland and Labrador, 43% in New Brunswick, 38% in Quebec, and 37% in Manitoba.
Asked if immigration had a net “negative effect” on their province, 41% of Ontarians surveyed said yes, while a third of Prince Edward Islanders, 33%, and 27% of Albertans said immigration was a net negative.