NDP match Grits; Canadians on Immigration
Angus Reid recently polled Americans, Brits, and Canadians about the effects that immigration (both legal and illegal) is having on their respective countries.
In general, Canadians are about twice as welcoming to legal newcomers than the others. 37% of Canadians think immigration has a positive effect on the country, as opposed to 18% of Americans and 16% of Brits. On the flip side, Canadians are evenly split as to whether they think illegal immigrants take jobs away from Canadian citizens (43%), or rather perform jobs citizens are unwilling to do (40%). This is in stark contrast to the United States and United Kingdom where those numbers look more like 58% and 32%, respectively.
In terms of dealing witht he illegal immigrant population, Canadians are again evenly divided. 43% are somewhat lenient, half of whom think illegal immigrants should have a path to citizenship, and the other half ruling out citizenship but thinking some kind of working visa arrangement is reasonable. 46% believe they should be forced out of their jobs and deported.
Our weekly Ekos federal vote intention poll is in as well. It’s mostly the same as always, although the NDP have gained some momentum. Curiously, polling on Tuesday (and Tuesday alone) showed NDP support equal to support for the Liberals. This is most likely an outlier and thus not credible, but it’s odd to say the least. It’s worht noting that their party convention was held in Halifax this past weekend, which might have had the effect of raising their visibility and support. We’ll have to wait until next week to see if anything comes of it.
