The federal government’s reduction in immigration and decision not to extend millions of visas that will expire next year has come as welcomed news to many Ontarians, according to a new poll.
In a One Persuasion poll commissioned by True North, 43.2% of Ontarians said they “strongly agree” that those with expired visas should be deported, while 34.1% said they “moderately agree.”
A smaller cohort of 16.6% said they “moderately disagree” with deportation for those with lapsed visas while an even smaller minority said they “strongly disagree” at 6.1%.
Documents tabled in Parliament by the Department of Immigration said that 4.9 million visas are going to expire between September 2024 and December 2025 and the government said it won’t be renewing many of them.
That message appears to be resonating with the overwhelming majority of those living in Canada’s most densely populated province.
Broken down by region, that sentiment was felt highest in the Greater Toronto Area at 49% and least in Northern Ontario at 34%.
Men were more likely than women to agree with deportation, particularly those aged 35 to 54 at 48%, compared to women of the same age bracket at 40%.
Forty per cent of men aged 18 to 34 and 39 of women in the same age range strongly agreed with deportations.
The data skewed partially along partisan lines based on how respondents voted last election.
Conservative voters were the most likely to “strongly” support deportation at 53%, followed by NDP voters at 33%, with Liberal voters trailing closely behind at 31%.
Those who voted Liberal last election were also the most likely to “strongly disagree” with deportation at 10%, followed by NDP voters at 6% and 2% of Conservative voters.
However, voters of all stripes “moderately agreed” with deportation as both Conservative and Liberal voters tied at 35% with a slight uptick among NDP voters at 36%.
Respondents’ level of education was also a deciding factor in how they felt about the issue, albeit not that it revealed any great disparity between opinions.
Those who attended a trade school or tech community college were the most likely to “strongly” support deportation at 47%, followed closely by those with a high school diploma at 45%.
Post-graduate degree holders were marginally more likely to be in favour of deportation compared to those with bachelor degrees, at 44% and 39%, respectively.
Those with postgraduate degrees were also the most likely to “strongly” oppose deportation at 10%, compared to community college graduates at 3%.
Household income was also a factor.
Households that made $150,000 or more were the most likely to “strongly” support deportation at 54%.
Whereas, that sentiment remained relatively unchanged for those who made anywhere from under $50,000 to between $100,000 and $150,000.
In fact, households earning less than $50,000 a year held the same position as those making over six figures, at 42%.
That sentiment only lowered to 40% for those making between $50,000 and $100,000.
Households making less than $50,000 and between $50,000 and $100,000 were also the most likely to “strongly” oppose deportation at 7%.
Households between $100,000 and $150,000 were the least likely to “strongly” oppose it at 4%.
The poll involved 1,003 Ontarians surveyed November 14-15, 2024 by an online panel.
A poll of equivalent size has a margin of error of 3.1% 19 times out of 20.