CANADA (Commonwealth Union)_According to a new poll, the vast majority of Canadians are concerned about how the federal Liberal government’s proposal to significantly boost immigration levels over the next few years will impact housing and government services.
The poll, conducted by Leger and the Association of Canadian Studies, also indicated that many respondents were hesitant to utilise the notwithstanding clause, which allows governments to temporarily override provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Based on an online survey of 1,537 Canadians conducted between November 11 and 13, the findings come only two weeks after Ottawa announced plans to welcome 500,000 immigrants per year beginning in 2025 to alleviate the country’s urgent labour shortfall.
The revised targets, which mark a major increase over the 405,000 immigrants admitted last year, have been regarded by the government and industry as crucial for filling over a million job vacancies across the country and offsetting Canada’s ageing workforce. Nonetheless, 75% of poll respondents said they were very or somewhat concerned that the plan will result in an oversupply of housing, health, and social services.
Despite the fact that Immigration Minister Sean Fraser has stated that the new employees might actually enable the construction of more homes by solving a scarcity of craftsmen, as well as an increase in government assistance and settling services, this is not the case. According to Leger executive vice president Christian Bourque, the poll results reflect the stresses that many Canadians are feeling as a result of a lack of affordable housing and rising inflation rates.
“There’s a lot of anxiety about stretching our tax dollar and stretching our dollar,” he remarked. “These figures could have been different in healthy, prosperous economic times prior to the pandemic. But I believe there is a rising worry about how far and how far we can go.”
Bourque said that the government should do a better job of conveying the benefits of immigration to average Canadians. Opinions on the number of immigrants the government proposes to allow were more mixed, with 49% saying it was too many and 31% saying it was the correct quantity. 5% thought it wasn’t enough, while the remainder didn’t know.
