Canadians are becoming more sharply divided over record high immigration quotas, with federal data showing people are worried about housing shortages and undermining Canadian culture. Mass immigration is “causing Canada to change in ways they don’t like,” the in-house research by the Department of Immigration found, per Blacklock’s Reporter. “Half of Canadians, 51%, agree immigrants need to do more to integrate into Canadian society,” said “Just under half of Canadians, 46%, agree Canada should focus on helping unemployed Canadians rather than looking for skilled immigrants to fill labour shortages,” it added.Canadians questioned in focus groups also expressed some 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. General support for the concept of 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.”Findings were drawn from questionnaires with 3,000 people nationwide and 14 focus groups. The immigration department paid Ipsos $295,428 for the study.Cabinet’s current Immigration Levels Plan sets the 2024 quota at 485,000. Canadians surveyed “could not fathom” how cities would cope, said the study. “Too much,” researchers quoted one respondent. “It’s making it harder for the average person who works here,” said another. “Immigration is good but we don’t have the infrastructure,” said a third.Divisions sharpened when respondents were reminded of actual numbers of immigrants let into Canada. A total 52% in Alberta said the 485,000 quota was “too many.” The concern was echoed in Nova Scotia (by 51% of respondents,) Ontario and Prince Edward Island (49%) Saskatchewan (47%), British Columbia and Newfoundland and Labrador (46%), New Brunswick (43%), Québec (38%) and Manitoba (37%).Asked if they considered immigration had a net “negative effect” on their province, 41% of Ontarians agreed. A third of Prince Edward Islanders, 33%, and 27% of Albertans agreed immigration was a net negative.Annual quotas on landed immigrants represent a fraction of the number of foreigners let into Canada. A total 2.3 million foreigners were in Canada last year including 1,040,985 foreign students, 766,250 migrant workers and 471,550 landed immigrants.The Commons last February 12 adopted a Bloc Québécois motion asking that cabinet “plan for revising federal immigration targets in 2024.” An update to the Immigration Levels Plan is due in November.“This used to be a Québec thing,” Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchett earlier told the Commons. “People used to say Québeckers were against immigration because they were racists. Now people in Toronto are saying they are having problems managing the volume of immigrants.”
.jpg?w=480&auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=max)
