(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Adults in Canada have a clear idea of the issues their immigration system should address, according to a poll by Angus Reid Strategies. 83 per cent of respondents believe it is important to attract high-skilled workers who want to immigrate to Canada, while 81 per cent feel the same way about entrepreneurs and investors who can start a business in Canada.

Having temporary worker programs to address specific skill shortages is an important directive for 72 per cent of respondents, followed by encouraging foreign students to stay in Canada after they obtain their degrees with 67 per cent, offering refugee protection to people who may be at risk in their countries of birth with 66 per cent, and working to expedite the adoption of foreign children by Canadian citizens and permanent residents with 52 per cent.

Less than half of respondents consider reuniting foreign-born residents with family members who live abroad, and attracting low-skilled workers who want to immigrate to Canada as important priorities.

Multiculturalism was adopted as an official government policy in 1971, and ratified under the Canadian Multiculturalism Act of 1988. One of every six residents of Canada was born outside the country.

Canadians renewed the House of Commons in January 2006. The Conservative party—led by Stephen Harper—received 36.3 per cent of the vote, and secured 124 seats in the 308-member lower house. Harper leads a minority administration after more than 12 years of government by the Liberal party.

On Jun. 9, the House of Commons passed the federal budget legislation—which included amendments to existing immigration guidelines—in a 121-90 vote, with most lawmakers from the opposition Liberal party absent from the chamber.

New Democratic Party (NDP) citizenship and immigration critic Olivia Chow expressed disappointment, saying, "The Harper Conservatives’ changes will do nothing to ease the backlog of applicants and will only serve to make it increasingly harder to immigrate to Canada. (...) To truly fix the backlog of applications, we have to come up with new ideas such as introducing technological innovations like electronic filing for our immigration system."

Polling Data

Thinking about Canada’s immigration system, please say whether each of the following directives is very important, moderately important, not too important, or not important at all to you.
(Very Important and Moderately Important listed)

Source: Angus Reid Strategies
Methodology: Online interviews with 1,006 Canadian adults, conducted on Jun. 6 and Jun. 7, 2008. Margin of error is 3.1 per cent.

Other poll highlights:

66% support the proposal to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act
65% believe the new rules will help ease labour shortages in Canada; 49% believe they will lead to unfair and arbitrary decisions affecting immigrants
85% think there are too many immigrants in Canada who are not working in their fields of study or experience

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