Vast majority of residents want to keep Canada’s door open for immigrants but with limits: CityNews poll

The vast majority of residents across four major cities in Canada say they want to keep the door open for immigrants to enter the country, according to a new poll.

However, the poll, conducted by Maru Public Opinion exclusively for CityNews, found that almost half would opt for reducing the level of immigrants welcomed over the next two years.

Moreover, 22 per cent of those polled in Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver want the government to fully shut the door to allowing any new applicants into Canada for the foreseeable future.

Residents surveyed were split on those who agree that new immigrants are having a positive impact in their city versus those who disagree with the sentiment highest in Vancouver with 54 per cent agreeing. Forty-nine per cent of those surveyed in Toronto and Calgary agreed followed by 48 per cent in Edmonton.

Currently, there are five immigration application streams that are given consideration for residency: economic immigrants, sponsored family class, international students, temporary foreign workers and refugee/protected persons.

A four cities average found that almost half of residents, 45 per cent, believe that Canada should continue to receive applicants from each of the five streams but at a reduced level for the next two years.

When asked to rank the order of which stream should be prioritized, those same residents placed international students at the top with 49 per cent ranking it first, followed by refugees at 47 per cent, temporary foreign workers and sponsored family at 45 percent, followed by economic immigrants.

Those who want the same number of applicants, 23 per cent of those polled, they believed sponsored families should be prioritized, followed by economic immigrants, international students and refugees/protected persons.

Among those who believe there should be an increase in applications to qualify from various streams, one in 10 of those polled, they selected economic immigrants as their priority stream for entry, followed by all others having the same level of support.

Finally, those who believe the various classifications should not be let into the country for the foreseeable future, which was 22 per cent of those polled, they believe those excluded should be refugees and protected persons at 28 per cent, followed by temporary foreign workers, international students, sponsored families and economic immigrants.

The Liberal government has recently announced they will be bringing back stricter rules to stem the flow of low-wage temporary foreign workers.

According to public data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, 183,820 temporary foreign worker permits became effective in 2023. That was up from 98,025 in 2019 — an 88 per cent increase.

The poll was conducted between August 29-September 6, 2024, among a random selection of 1,801 Canadian adults who are Unlock Surveys online panelists. Respondents were surveyed within the specific cities of Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary. Probability samples of this size have an estimated margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.