Hosts Sheila Gunn Reid and David Menzies broke down fresh polling that highlights growing public frustration with Canada’s immigration system on Tuesday’s episode of Rebel Roundup.

Go Ad Free

The news comes as the federal government under Immigration Minister Lena Diab claims to be “taking back control” of the flooded system, citing recent quota adjustments.

Sheila points out that 60% of Canadians across all voter demographics believe there are way too many people coming into this country, according to data from Nanos Research.

There was also internal government polling from the Immigration Department revealing that nearly half of respondents nationwide feel Canada is changing in ways they don’t like because of immigration.

“Two-thirds complained immigrants must do more to integrate,” Sheila noted, adding that the research followed Diab’s most recent cuts to immigration quotas.

The hosts questioned when and how Canada lost control of its borders and immigration system. “Shouldn’t we be in control of it? Like, when did we lose control, Lena? Who lost it? Is it you people?” Sheila asked.

They pointed to a stark disconnect where many residents in high-immigration areas such as the Greater Toronto Area, Lower Mainland, and Montreal say the country has changed too quickly and that newcomers are not integrating, leading to social strain while some of those same voters continue to support the parties responsible for the policy shift.

Sheila contrasted today’s “flood of unskilled immigration” with the more orderly, skills-based system of 2012–2014 that targeted labour market needs. “I just don’t understand the disconnect in someone’s brain who looks back at Canada in 2012, 2013, 2014… and doesn’t pin it on the people responsible when they’re voting,” she said.

Menzies recounted conversations with an Indian immigrant (who uses the pseudonym “Ted Smith”) who arrived legally in the 1990s and no longer recognizes the country, and a Sri Lankan man in Scarborough who said the same.

“He said with the immigration that's happening right now, I don't recognize this country,” David continued. “These were immigrants that got in legally and properly and had a skill set, and they see what the Liberals have done with mass migration, and even they are calling it out.”