Send the Tamils home': poll
By BRYN WEESE, Parliamentary Bureau
Calgary Sun
Last Updated: August 22, 2010 2:23am
OTTAWA—-If there's one thing Canadians of all political stripes can agree on, it's sending the Tamil wannabe refugees home.
Even a majority of NDP supporters (52%) think the Tamil boat people should be turned away, with 27% saying they should be taken in as political refugees, according to a recent Leger Marketing poll conducted exclusively for QMI Agency.
In fact, a majority of supporters from all political parties except the Liberals think the Tamils should be turned away, even escorted back to Sri Lanka by the Canadian Navy.
Among Conservatives, 74% think the Tamils should be sent home and 10% would accept them as political refugees.
Support to send the Tamils packing is lowest among Liberals at 49% (24% would accept them as refugees), while 65% of Bloc Quebecois and 62% of Green Party supporters would turn the Tamils away.
Only 17% of Bloc and 13% of Green supporters would grant them refugee status.
“Sure, the lines are up and down on the chart, but it's definitely more similar than dissimilar the trend is all in the same direction. The trend is all towards, 'no, don't let them in. Make them leave the country,'” said Dave Scholz with Leger Marketing. “Political lines have been eroded on this issue. Not erased, but eroded.
“There is still a difference between 49% for the Liberals and 74% for the Conservatives in terms of who would turn the Tamils away.”
But Scholz said it isn't likely a racist sentiment being expressed in the numbers, rather Canadians probably want all new Canadians to follow the same rules.
In 2006, Leger participated in a large global study on immigration and 74% of Canadians agreed immigration was a good thing for the country, while only 19% thought it was bad.
“Maybe things have changed in four years, but maybe this is not about allowing people into the country,” he said. “Maybe it's about the method of arrival and the queue-jumping.”
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