Public support for migration in Canada has collapsed as citizens count the accelerating economic and civic damage from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s pro-migration policy.
“It is clear that the age of unlimited supply of cheap foreign labor is over,” Canada’s immigration minister Marc Miller admitted on November 13, adding, “That is a good thing.”
Trudeau’s policy of inflating the nation’s population and economy with migrants has smashed his poll ratings, as well as ordinary Canadian’s wages, productivity, and wealth. For example, in October a fast-food restaurant in Ontario announced it was importing a foreign manager for $28,500 a year plus the right to live in Canada instead of the manager’s home country, such as India. The hours were listed as “Day, Evening, Night, Weekend, Early Morning, Morning.” A growing share of Canadians are relying on food banks and charities.
A September poll by Leger Marketing showed that 65 percent of 1,612 Canadias declared there are too many migrants in Canada. That is up from just 49 percent in September 2023. Just 2 percent said there are “too few migrants,” down from 12 percent in 2019.
Some economists admit that Trudeau’s recent cutbacks in migration will help ordinary people: “The first thing you’re going to see here is a lot of the pressure that we’ve been facing in the Canadian economy starting to get alleviated … specifically pressure on rents,” Robert Kavcic, a bank economist, told CBC News.
Trudeau recently announced he would cut the inflow by 20 percent as he faces electoral annihilation in the pending national elections — prompting a new wave of conflict as penniless temporary migrants demand aid, legalization, and work permits.
The reversal comes nine years after he began replacing the nation’s population, politics, and culture in 2015. ‘‘There is no core identity, no mainstream in Canada,’’ he said, according to a 2015 article in the New York Times. He added:
There are shared values — openness, respect, compassion, willingness to work hard, to be there for each other, to search for equality and justice. Those qualities are what make us the first postnational state.
One-quarter of Canada’s population are now immigrants, which is far greater than the one-sixth share in the United States. The increased diversity ensures many conflicts from India and the Middle East are also being fought out in Canada’s parliament and streets.
Trudeau’s 2015 political revolution was cheered by Barack Obama, whose 2008 goal of “fundamentally transforming” the United States with migration and diversity has been derailed by the public’s support for Donald Trump.
That goal has been pushed since 2021 by President Joe Biden’s border chief, Alejandro Mayorkas, who also worked for Obama. Mayorkas has welcomed roughly 15 million legal, illegal, and quasi-legal migrants into the United States, and has also said he wants to replicate Canada’s migration-flooded labor market. In September, Mayorkas declared:
We look to the north, with Canada. Canada takes a look at its market needs, and it says, “You know what? We need 700,000 foreign workers to address our labor needs domestically.” And, so, they build a visa system for that year to address the current market condition. And they say, “We’re going to bring in a million people.” And it’s market sensitive.
In November, Trump was re-elected largely based on his promise to reduce migration. Canadian polls suggest Trudeau is also facing defeat.
Trump’s success is causing some illegal migrants to leave the United States for Canada. “President Trump will likely pursue criminals for removal and that means that particular group will be the most motivated group to seek sanctuary in Canada,” one migration lawyer told Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper.
“Not everyone is welcome here,” Miller said when asked about a possible exodus from the United States.
In Canada, the main pro-migration lobby for investors is complaining about Trudeau’s reduced inflow, according to Bloomberg:
Lisa Lalande, chief executive officer of pro-immigration lobby group Century Initiative, called Trudeau’s plan a “textbook example of a political shortcut” and warned that the “short-term political fix” could have long-term consequences, including shortages of skilled labor.
“Canada’s challenges require leadership grounded in a forward-thinking vision — not reactive policies driven by shifting public opinion,” she said in a social media post after the government’s announcement last month.
The Century Initiative persuaded Trudeau to launch his high-migration policy in 2015.
But pro-migration activists in Canada say the cuts are needed to preserve shrinking support for even more migration into Canadians’ jobs, housing, and society. “These cuts were essential,” said an op-ed by two university activists:
They were necessary to preserve Canadians’ positive attitudes toward immigrants, maintain public support for the immigration system and ensure its continued strengths and benefits for the country.
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These growing negative perceptions make discrimination against immigrants in Canada more likely and can harm their ability to integrate. Poor integration would, in But some business turn, reinforce Canadians’ negative views of immigrants and the perception that immigration is out of control, creating a cycle of decline.
The September poll also showed that 41 percent of Canadians have a “negative sentiment” towards migrants, up from 28 percent in May 2024.
An August poll of 1,093 Canadians showed that 64 percent of Canadians want fewer immigrants. and just five percent want more migrants. The inflow should be reduced until housing becomes cheaper, according to 72 percent of the respondents, said the survey by Nanos Research.
A second November survey by Nanos reported that 78 percent of Canadians support Trudeau’s pre-election promise to cut immigration by 20 percent. But that cutback before the 2025 election did little for his political support, according to a November 13 Bloomberg report.
Trudeau’s collapse has helped the main rival party — the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada – into the lead. However, the conservative party still supports the use of migration to inflate the economy, raise real-estate prices, suppress wages and salaries, and so grow Canada’s stock market.
A third party, the People’s Party of Canada led by Maxime Bernier, strongly opposes migration.