Election Poll Finds 14% of Canadians Consider Reducing Immigration A Top Issue
As Canada quickly approaches a Federal election, immigration is proving to be a low priority when it comes to how Canadians will cast their votes.
According to an election poll conducted by Ipsos for Global News and La Presse, immigration received among the fewest votes when it came to which election issue will most influence the respondents’ voting decision.
The poll asked respondents to pick three topics they consider to be the most important when it comes to how they plan to vote.
Other issues respondents could choose include:
- Health care
- Affordability and cost of living
- Climate Change
- The economy
- Taxes
- Housing
- Poverty and social inequality
- Senior’s issues/aging population
- Corruption and ethics in government
- Education
- Government deficits/debt
- Unemployment/jobs
So, what were the top issues?
Health care came out on top at 35 per cent, affordability and the cost of living at 27 per cent, climate change at 25 per cent and the economy at 24 per cent. Immigration received 14% of the vote.
The poll also found that those who did indicate that immigration was a key election issue were more concerned with reducing immigration rather than improving the process or bringing in more newcomers.
Among those who selected immigration as a top priority, 49% felt that Canada accepts too many immigrants, 31% were concerned about irregular border crossings, and six per cent had concerns about Canada’s role in aiding in the current refugee crisis. Only five per cent felt that Canada should increase immigration.
However, this anti-immigration rhetoric was not consistent among respondents across the country.
The province of Quebec had the highest number of votes in favour of reducing immigration in all of Canada – 17% – and Atlantic Canada the least.
The poll also found that Canadians planning to vote Conservative, or for the People’s Party of Canada (PPC) or Bloc Québécois are more likely to consider immigration a priority this election.
The Conservative Party has not yet commented on where the party stands on immigration policies, however, the PPC has made public its desire to reduce overall immigration to Canada.
The Liberal Party currently in power has also not officially released its election platform but has a track record of supporting immigration. In fact, back in late 2018, the Liberal government announced its intention to boost Canada’s immigration intake over the next three years by increasing its target to 350,000 newcomers by 2021. The majority of these new immigrants will arrive under economic immigration programs that address gaps and shortages of skills in Canada’s labour market.
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Arghavan Gerami
Arghavan Gerami is the Founder and Senior Counsel at Gerami Law Professional Corporation ('PC'), a full-service immigration law firm in Ottawa, Ontario. Since 2011, Ms. Gerami has focused her practice on immigration and refugee litigation. Prior to that, Ms. Gerami worked at the Ministry of Attorney General and the Department of Justice and had the privilege of serving the Honourable Mr. Justice M. Evans at the Federal Court of Appeal on immigration and administrative law appeals. Ms. Gerami contributes to the Immigration Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association, the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Ms. Gerami has also published numerous journal articles and presented at various immigration and refugee law conferences and events across Canada.