Majority of Canadians agree with Smith that provinces should have greater control over immigration: poll

A majority of Canadians say they are in favour of granting provinces more control over immigration as a means to curb the inflow of newcomers, with a majority also in favour of the Alberta government’s suggestion of restricting publicly funded social services for temporary residents, according to a new Postmedia-Leger poll.

The results, which come amid public discontent over Ottawa’s handling of the immigration file, suggest that proposals to widen provincial management of immigration enjoy nationwide support that extends well beyond Alberta or Quebec.

According to the Leger poll, 65 per cent of respondents said they favoured the provinces having “significantly more control” over immigration matters, including the ability to set immigration levels or prioritize who they let in based on specific economic criteria. Nineteen per cent of respondents said they opposed granting the provinces such powers, while 16 per cent said they didn’t know.

The poll results come as Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s government has proposed greater controls over its immigration levels in response to the flood of newcomers that have entered the province in recent years. Her United Conservative Party government has proposed several immigration-related questions that will appear on a referendum later this year, including potentially restricting health care and other public services to non-permanent residents.

Andrew Enns, executive vice-president of Leger’s central Canada operations, said the poll results suggest that support for immigration reforms of the kind Smith has floated are widely supported across the country.

“The premier’s policies appear aligned with a broader pan-Canadian sentiment that a majority feel Canada’s social supports for newcomers to Canada are too generous,” Enns said.

Support for giving provinces more control was spread roughly equally across the provinces, with Alberta not even among the most supportive. Quebec respondents were the most in favour of greater provincial control over immigration, with 71 per cent in support, followed by Atlantic Canada (70 per cent); Manitoba and Saskatchewan (64 per cent); and Alberta and Ontario (63 per cent). British Columbia saw the lowest support at 58 per cent.

Bloc Québécois voters were by far the most supportive of greater immigration controls, with 94 per cent in favour of such an initiative. Conservative Party of Canada supporters were 77 per cent behind the idea, while Liberal voters were 60 per cent supportive, followed by NDP supporters (58 per cent). Among those “strongly opposed” to the idea, liberals were the highest with 12 per cent opposed, versus three per cent for conservatives and one per cent for Bloc voters.

Quebec, which has long enjoyed greater control over immigration than other provinces as part of the 1991 Canada–Québec Accord, is also seeking further controls over immigration levels.

Last year, the province’s immigration ministry cut its target for permanent immigrants and cancelled a key program for recruiting foreign students and temporary workers, saying the moves would “restore balance between Québec’s socioeconomic needs and its capacity to receive and integrate, in French, immigrants settling on its territory.”

In an earlier Postmedia-Leger poll conducted in August 2024, respondents at the time were already raising concerns over high immigration rates and the stresses they were causing on health care and other public systems. At the time, more than 70 per cent of respondents said Canada’s health care system was too generous to temporary residents.

Therefore, Enns said, “seeing this level of support for greater control over immigration levels and implementing limitations on services provided is not a great surprise.”

According to Leger’s poll, Canadians are broadly supportive of policies that would restrict some immigrants’ access to public services like health care and education, including some that Smith is proposing in the Alberta referendum. Respondents were 73 per cent in favour of a proposal that would end supplemental health-care services for asylum seekers, while 15 per cent were opposed and 11 per cent didn’t know.

Canada currently offers supplemental health-care services to refugees, which includes coverage for hearing aids, speech language therapists, counselling services, and other things. Ottawa’s Parliamentary Budget Watchdog expects the costs of those services to increase to $1.5 billion by 2030.

Asked whether they would support charging fees to temporary residents who want to use public health-care systems, 69 per cent said they were in favour while 19 per cent were opposed and 12 per cent didn’t know. On whether people should be required to be a permanent resident for at least 12 months before they are eligible for social support programs, 72 per cent of respondents were in favour, with Ontario respondents at the highest rate with 74 per cent.

Alberta has floated the idea of both charging temporary residents for public services and requiring 12 months of permanent residency to access programs as part of its upcoming referendum in October 2026.

The online Leger poll surveyed 1,627 Canadians between Feb. 27 and March 2. A margin of error cannot be determined in an online panel survey, but for comparison purposes a probability sample would have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.43 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

• Majority of Albertans support proposal to restrict temporary immigrants' access to health care: poll
• 'I trust the judgment of Albertans': Smith to hold referendum on immigration, amending Canada's Constitution

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