More than 70% of Canadians think Liberals’ new refugee target is too high: poll

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More than 70% of Canadians think Liberals’ new refugee target is too high: poll

Dear Immigration Reformer:

Back in the media-fanned hysteria over Syrian refugees, culminating in Justin Trudeau’s pledge to better Stephen Harper’s offer to accept 10,000 Syrians by accepting 25,000, we noted the Nanos Reid poll that showed the silent majority of Canadians — 60 per cent opposed the foolish generosity ($680-million plus) of sweeping in hordes of poorly screened people from one of the most wicked terrorist-producing areas on earth.

Despite shameless media cheerleading and wall-to-wall feel good stories about earnest do-gooders working hard to set up lodging (hard in super pricey Toronto and Vancouver), food, ESL, Arabic translators, medical help, mental health experts [who the hell are we getting?], Canadians aren’t buying into the government-organized invasion.

The National Post (February 19, 2016) reports: “More than 70 per cent of Canadians don’t support the federal government taking in more than 25,000 Syrian refugees, according to a new poll from the Angus Reid Institute. Two in five respondents think Canada should stop taking in Syrian refugees immediately.

As of Tuesday, more than 21,000 refugees had arrived in Canada, according to the government’s website.

In two previous polls by the institute opposition to the plan sat above 50 per cent, while support hovered near 40 per cent.

‘A big driver of that opposition was concern and anxiety around the timelines,’ Shachi Kurl, executive director of the Angus Reid Institute said. The government originally committed to meet their target of 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of 2015, but later backtracked. Extending the deadline to March 1 has taken the temperature down, Kurl said.”

Eventually, a narrow majority of Canadians seemed to approve the previous goal in December but it is clear a solid majority is opposed to any more Syrians. Numbers pouring out of Turkey into hapless, overwhelmed Greece in January — the coldest and least inviting month of the year for invaders is four times the numbers from last year.

If public opinion means anything, Canadians don’t want any more Syrians.

Paul Fromm

Director

CANADA FIRST IMMIGRATION REFORM COMMITTEE

Kelly Hobson | February 19, 2016 8:23 AM ET
More from Kelly Hobson | @kellyhobson

Justin Trudeau, centre, before the arrival of the first government-sponsored Syrian refugees at Pearson International airport in Toronto on Dec. 10, 2015.

Nathan Denette / The Canadian PressJustin Trudeau, centre, before the arrival of the first government-sponsored Syrian refugees at Pearson International airport in Toronto on Dec. 10, 2015.

More than 70 per cent of Canadians don’t support the federal government taking in more than 25,000 Syrian refugees, according to a new poll from the Angus Reid Institute. Two in five respondents think Canada should stop taking in Syrian refugees immediately.

As of Tuesday, more than 21,000 refugees had arrived in Canada, according to the government’s website. The government is working to meet its target of 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of February.

Immigration Minister John McCallum recently promised the Liberals would exceed their original commitment and accept a total of between 35,000 and 50,000 Syrian refugees by the end of 2016. The Angus Reid poll suggests this is at odds with what the majority of Canadians want.


Support for exceeding the 25,000 benchmark is lowest in the Prairies and Quebec, where fewer than a quarter of respondents were in favour. It is highest in B.C., where roughly two in five respondents were in favour.

The poll results come just days after a Calgary school was vandalized with the message “Syrians Go Home and Die.” That is one of several incidents across the country that suggest brewing anti-refugee sentiments. A group of Syrian refugees was pepper sprayed in Vancouver last month; a Peterborough, Ont. mosque was set ablaze in a suspected hate crime shortly after the November Paris attacks.

McCallum has acknowledged the potential for negative attitudes toward the arriving refugees.

“It’s a delicate balance,” he said in January. “We want to welcome all of these refugees with open hearts and with love the way Canadians have, but at the same time we are mindful that we don’t want to offend Canadians who have themselves been waiting for a long time for social housing and things of that nature.”

Despite the grim outlook on the Liberals’ yearlong commitment, this is the first Angus Reid Institute poll that suggests a majority of Canadians support their ambitious refugee resettlement plan. In two previous polls by the institute opposition to the plan sat above 50 per cent, while support hovered near 40 per cent.

“A big driver of that opposition was concern and anxiety around the timelines,” Shachi Kurl, executive director of the Angus Reid Institute said. The government originally committed to meet their target of 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of 2015, but later backtracked. “Extending the deadline to March 1 has taken the temperature down,” Kurl said.

This newest poll shows those numbers have flipped, with 52 per cent of respondents now in favour of the plan, and 44 per cent opposed.

Ernest Doroszuk / Toronto Sun

Ernest Doroszuk / Toronto SunMazen Khabbaz and his family are one of two Syrian refugee families that arrived in Toronto Pearson International Airport in Mississauga, Ont. on Dec. 9, 2015.

….

The Angus Reid Institute poll garnered responses from more than 1,500 Canadians who are members of the Angus Reid Forum, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. The poll was paid for and commissioned by the Angus Reid Institute.

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