Wanting less immigration isn’t inherently a 'backlash' unless the optimal number of immigrants is infinite, which it is not

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Across the political spectrum, there seems to be great angst in this country over what’s commonly termed an “immigration backlash.”

“Justin Trudeau’s legacy will be destroying the Canadian consensus on immigration,” a Globe and Mail headline declared. “Anti-immigrant attitudes have always been present in this country, but never before have they been so prevalent, and so mainstream,” columnist Robyn Urback lamented.

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Bad, unpopular immigration policies with respect to foreign students and temporary foreign workers can be addressed, Sam Routley wrote at The Hub, but “it is yet to be determined whether Canada’s prior immigration consensus can survive these challenges intact.”

“Backlash against immigrants challenges Canada’s welcoming image,” a Reuters headline warned this week. The article cited a Leger poll for the National Post, released last month: “65 per cent of Canadians surveyed believe the Canadian government’s current immigration plan will admit too many people.”

That is certainly one way to interpret the data before us, which include recent polls from the Environics Institute and Nanos Research. But I think it’s actually easier to use those data to argue English Canada’s support for immigration as an overall concept is rock steady — certainly steadier than it was 20 years ago — and that what we’re seeing here is mostly, in fact, an........

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