Support for current immigration goals is collapsing. Between 2022 and 2023, the proportion of Canadians who said the country had too many immigrants rose 17 percentage points, sharply reversing a decades-old trend.
Last year, 27% of Canadians felt that “Canada welcomes more immigration.” This year, 44%, a record 17 points increase.
This data was taken A feasibility study was carried out in part by the funding agency Initiative du siècleIt promotes the idea of a population of 100 million by 2100.
“We’ve already seen periods of opinion leaps and bounds, but this is a jump. We can say it’s unheard of,” explains Andrew Parkin, one of the researchers of the study. We have to go back to the early 2000s to observe such reluctance regarding immigration limits.
This shift in opinion affects both wealthier Canadians (+20%) and first-generation immigrants (+20%). It also affects Liberal (+11%), New Democratic (+9%) and Conservative (+21%) supporters.
The economy and the housing crisis
It’s not the cultural uneasiness that new Canadians may arouse that’s causing this about-face in public opinion, the report insists. Rather a difficult economic environment and housing shortage underlie this new reluctance.
“This does not mean that immigrants are to blame for the housing crisis or the lack of affordable housing,” says Andrew Parkin. It’s more: “Is it a good time to get more immigration because there’s a housing crisis?” This is a subtlety. […] The economic climate affects everyone equally. This also affects immigrants, who also want to buy a home. »
Despite all that, a majority (51%) of Canadians still reject the idea that immigration levels are too high. And very few see immigrants as a problem in themselves.
“Some say we are using the housing crisis as an excuse to turn against settlers. not that. Just 9% of Canadians say immigration makes their society worse. In Quebec, it’s 4%. »
Quebec is still open
Quebec follows the Canadian trend, but the general feeling is that the territory is more open to newcomers. About a third (37%) of Quebecers think there are too many immigrants, compared to 50% in Ontario and 46% in the rest of Canada.
Quebec’s views on this issue have evolved greatly since the 1990s. In 1993, fewer than 57% of Quebecers considered Quebec’s culture “threatened”; Today only 38% hold this view.
Canada passed the 40 million population milestone this year, largely due to ever-increasing migration flows.
This report is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative funded by the Government of Canada.
