Two-thirds of Canadians call the influx of illegal immigrants at the border a “crisis,” and that realization could cut deeply into Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s support, according to a new poll.
As CTV News reported, the Angus Reid Institute poll suggests that a solid majority of Canadians do not believe the Trudeau government when it insists it has the border situation well under control.
The poll was released Friday, just after the revelation that the Trudeau government has spent $270 million on administrative costs alone to process illegals since February 2017. That doesn’t include the added costs of food, accommodation, public health care and free legal aid.
Also on Friday, Trudeau’s border security minister, Bill Blair, handed Toronto Mayor John Tory $11 million to put illegal immigrants into hotels because they have crowded everyone out of the city’s homeless shelters and even some university dorms. (RELATED: Trudeau Government Provides $11M To Put Illegals In Hotels)
The poll suggests Trudeau’s border policy could become a seminal issue in the 2019 federal election, with 70 percent of respondents indicating that they are discussing the issue regularly. Fully, 67 percent described the free-flow of Illegal border crossers as a crisis while only one-third believed that the federal government was managing the situation prudently.
The poll is good news for the official opposition Conservatives who have been critical of Trudeau’s policy towards illegal immigration. Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel asked Friday how much money the federal government is prepared to pay to accommodate illegal immigrants in hotels. As CTV News noted, she also cited a Canadian Border Services Agency report that said illegals are now “acting as an ‘anchor relative’ for other qualifying family members.”
In a statement to the media Friday, Rempel said, “Instead of presenting a fully costed, long-term plan to Canadians, Justin Trudeau has instead chosen to set up a permanent hotel program to deal with the influx of illegal border crossers.”
Angus Reid surveyed 1,500 Canadians from July 25 to 30, 2018. The results are considered accurate with plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
