Government survey suggests Canadian hearts hardening towards immigrants
October 30, 2012 - 3:42 PM
OTTAWA - An internal government survey suggests there's been a slight hardening of Canadian hearts towards the country's immigrants.
An analysis of the 2012 Citizenship and Immigration tracking survey suggests that the number of respondents who said they believed immigration has a positive effect on the economy was down 10 percentage points from 2010.
The results come as Immigration Minister Jason Kenney prepares to release the government's targets for the number of immigrants Canada will accept next year.
The targets were set after consultations, but the government has also been carrying out the tracking survey for the last 16 years in order to gauge public attitudes towards immigration.
The 2012 survey of 2,700 people was carried out over two polling sessions in February.
Among other things, it found that most Canadians think the level of immigration is just right, though fewer respondents agreed with that statement once informed of the actual number.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2012