A new study has found that immigration concerns among Canadians have more than quadrupled over the last two years.
The Angus Reid Institute study released on Wednesday asked Canadians about the country’s various issues and challenges and which ones concerned them most.
In Sept. 2022, only 5% of Canadians listed immigration and refugees as a top concern. The most recent version of the study, conducted online between Aug. 29 and Sep. 3, 2024 with 1,420 Canadian adults, found that 21% of Canadians are now worried about the issue, an increase of 4.2 times from two years ago.
Growing concerns around immigration means the issue is tied with climate change for fourth place. Eclipsing these two are worries about housing affordability, healthcare, and cost of living/inflation, top concerns for 32%, 45%, and 57% of respondents, respectively.
“While the number of Canadians galvanized over the cost of living and inflation is beginning to decrease, their attention is fixating on an issue that was once only glancingly thought of: immigration,” reads the study.
Concerns with housing affordability rose from 27% to 32% between Sep. 2022 and Nov. 2023. It has since remained unchanged.
True North previously reported that housing affordability reached an all-time low in Apr. 2024.
“[Concern surrounding housing affordability] perhaps presents a ripple effect from Canada’s booming population driven by immigrants, both temporary and permanent,” reads the study.
True North previously reported that after accounting for permanent residents, temporary foreign workers, international students, and illegal immigrants, Canada’s annual newcomer intake rises to approximately 2.2 million people.
Concerns with Canada’s healthcare saw a small shift from 45% to 46% between Sep. 2022 and Nov. 2023 and has since fallen back to 45%.
A C.D. Howe study published on Aug. 29 estimated that Canada’s healthcare system will experience a financial shortfall of $2 trillion over the next four decades.
Cost of living and inflation have remained Canadians’ top concern, when it was a top issue for 60% of Canadians in Sep. 2022, rising to 64% in Nov. 2023 and falling to 57% by Sep. 2024.
The 19% of 18- to 34-year-olds who said that lack of jobs was a top issue facing the country cited the temporary foreign workers program as a reason for concern.
Concerns around immigration and refugees were most common among Canadians who intend to vote Conservative, with 36% listing it as a top concern, a 30% rise or a sixfold increase since Sep. 2022.
Cost of living remained the top concern for Conservative voters, at 57%, which saw a 10% decrease since Sep. 2022.
The top concern for those who intend to vote Liberal is healthcare at 60%. Those who intend to vote for NDP and the Bloc Québecois share the same top concern of the cost of living, at 60% and 56%, respectively.
Canadians who intend to vote for the Liberals have been in a freefall since Nov. 2021, falling from 35% to 21% by Sep. 2024. Voting intent for the NDP saw a small change from 20% to 19% in the same period.
The Green Party, the Bloc Québecois, and the Conservatives all saw gains in Canadians who intend to vote for them, none larger than the Conservatives, whose support grew from 29% in Nov. 2021 to 43% in Sep. 2024.
The same day the survey was released, Wednesday, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh announced that he would end his NDP government-backed supply and confidence agreement with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal party.
“The fact is, the Liberals are too weak, too selfish and too beholden to corporate interests to fight for people. They cannot be the change. They cannot restore the hope. They cannot stop the Conservatives. But we can,” Singh said in the video. “In the next federal election, Canadians will choose between Pierre Poilievre, callous cuts, or hope, hope that when we stand united, we win.”
When Parliament resumes in the Fall, the NDP said that they will vote in a way that puts Canadians first instead of propping the Liberals up. While Singh could trigger an election with a vote of non-confidence, no such announcement has been made.
