New poll shows nativist, anti-immigrant sentiments growing in Canada

The Canadian elites -- the liberal politicians of the mainstream parties, the lamestream media and the commentariat (Hello, Andrew Coyne, Paul Wells, Rosie Barton, Chantal Hébert -- all of whom appear on CBC's At Issue to tell Canucks what to think) -- have been trying for weeks now to assure the gullible that mass immigration is a non-issue in the upcoming federal election, that all Canadians agree the country needs more immigrants, and that (as Mr Socks used to say) "diversity is our strength."

That, they say, is why it's not necessary to include Maxime Bernier, leader of the People's Party of Canada, in the Leaders' Debates scheduled for October 7th and 10th. "Don't listen to him," they say. "He only represents the opinions of a tiny minority of racists, Islamophobes, and white supremacists."

WRONG! A new Ipsos poll, published today by Canada's Global TV, reveals that the majority of Canadians think politicians aren't concerned with people like them and experts (Hello, Andrew Coyne et al.) don't understand them. They say Canadian society is "broken" and the economy is rigged in favour of elites. Worse yet for the multiculti, pro-immigrant crowd, the poll shows that populist attitudes -- as well as nativist, anti-immigrant sentiments -- have gained new ground across Canada.

Global quotes Darrell Bricker, CEO of Ipsos, as ssaying that the general sentiments "create a series of difficulties for all the parties." With respect to Mr Bricker, he should have said "all the parties except the People's Party of Canada". Maxime Bernier and his party have been excoriataed by the commentariat for daring to suggest that Canada needs fewer immigrants, not more. (See "'No mass immigration' signs torn down, censorship complete", WWW 27/8/19.) Only the PPC has a real alternative to the prevailing orthodoxy on questions of immigration and the cult of diversity which is tearing Canada apart.

According to the survey, conducted at the end of March and early April, 61% of respondents agreed traditional political parties don't care about people like them. That's an increase of 5 percentage points over the result of a poll done in 2016, the first year of Prime Minister Just In Trudeau's mandate. Two-thirds of respondents believe the economy is rigged to benefit the rich (Well, duh!). That's up eight points since 2016. But there's an even more disturbing finding.

The majority of respondents (52%) agreed that society is "broken" -- an increase of 15 points over three years ago. Only 19% disagreed, while 28% said they were neutral [the default Canadian answer? Ed.] and 1% said they don't know. But wait (as Vince Offer used to say), there's more!

The poll also found that 41% cent of respondents believed immigrants are taking away crucial social services (such as health care) from "real Canadians" -- a 6-point increase from 2016. Just over a third said they disagree, while more than fifth chose the default answer.

Global asked Mr Bricker what's fuelling what they called "the shift toward populism". The Ipsos CEO answered that Canadian politics has become more "tribal". Imagine that, in a country whose leader preaches incessantly that "diversity is our strength!" Could it be that that's a lie? That strength comes from unity, not diversity?

Mr Bricker added that the distribution of political support has changed in Canada. "You have a lot of stuff here where it's the downtown Laurentian elite versus everybody else," he said. "If I broke this out and took at look at where these feelings are the strongest, they would be outside of the downtowns of the cities, so that cleavage has been created. Also when you get to Western Canada, the feelings are much stronger."

What does all this portend for the October election, and especially for the future of Mr Socks' gliberal government? All the polls and pundits (named and shamed above) keep saying that the People's Party has only 2% support, and that Max Bernier will be lucky to win his own seat, let alone any others. Walt says -- you read it here first -- that the polls and pundits are WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. Just as a lot of Americans would not disclose to pollsters and reporters from the lamestream media their preference for Donald Trump -- a leader who stood up for the ordinary people -- so a great many of those "neutral" and "don't know" Canadians will choose the PPC in the only poll that counts, making it a very big and vfery real factor. Should be interesting...

Further reading and viewing: "Max Bernier talks about immigration, refugees, hate speech", WWW 3/9/19. Short (6:50) video. More Canucks agree with "Mad Max" than the commentariat would have you believe.