Nearly half of Canadians support eliminating temporary foreign worker program: poll

Almost half of Canadians support Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s plan to abolish the temporary foreign worker program, according to a recent poll.

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Almost half of Canadians support Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s plan to abolish the temporary foreign worker program, according to a recent poll.

After a week of premiers and political leaders calling for an end to the TFW program as youth unemployment rates climb in Canada, a new poll by Abacus Data shows that more Canadians support abolishing the program than those in support of it.

The Abacus Data survey found that among the 3,000 adult Canadians surveyed between September 4 and 7, statistically weighted to represent Canada’s census data demographics, 44 per cent of Canadians said they would be in favour of scrapping the TFW program in its entirety.

Among those who agreed that the program should be removed completely, 22 per cent said they strongly supported the Conservative plan, while the same percentage said they were in “somewhat support” of abolishing the TFW program.

Only 30 per cent of Canadians said they opposed the plan to terminate the program, with 18 per cent saying they had no opinion and eight per cent saying they were unsure.

The TFW program is designed for businesses that are struggling to find labourers to be able to bring in foreigners to fill the labour gaps. Critics of the program say that when unemployment is high, there is no reason why businesses should have to find labour from non-permanent residents.

Conservatives have blasted Prime Minister Mark Carney for seemingly flip-flopping on his support for the program. In 2003, when Carney was the governor of the Bank of Canada, he testified that the TFW program prevents Canadian workers from getting raises. Now, as Prime Minister, he says the program has a “role” in Canada.

When those who said they neither oppose nor support the plan, or “don’t know,” were removed from the count, nearly 60 per cent said they supported Poilievre’s plan while 40.5 per cent said they opposed it.

There were stark differences between younger Canadians and those over the age of 60.

Among those aged 18 to 29, 48 per cent said they support ending the TFW program. While half of the respondents aged 30 to 44 said they would support ending the temporary foreign worker program.

Nearly half of those aged 45 to 59 said they would support Poilievre’s plan. For those 60 or over, however, just over one-third said the program should be ended.

Conservative voters were the most likely to support ending the program, with 61 per cent saying the TFW program should be removed. Over one third, 37 per cent of Liberal voters said the program should be eliminated.

The least likely to support blocking businesses from employing TFWs were Bloc Québécois voters, with only 19 per cent saying the program should be scrapped.

Quebec was also the least likely province to support Poilievre’s plan, with 34 per cent reporting support. Every other province had over 40 per cent support, with the highest likelihood of support coming from Alberta, with 54 per cent of Albertans calling for an end to the program.

According to Abacus, the margin of error for a comparable probability-based random sample of the same size would be no greater than 1.8 per cent 19 times out of 20.