A new poll suggests 44 per cent of Canadians want to see the temporary foreign worker program scrapped as the country grapples with high unemployment, especially among young people.Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre recently proposed eliminating the program in response to high youth unemployment. The unemployment rate for people aged 15 to 24 hit 14.6 per cent nationally in July, according to Statistics Canada data.The new Abacus Data poll, which was conducted online and can’t be assigned a margin of error, suggests that support for eliminating the program is higher among younger age cohorts, topping 50 per cent of 30- to 44-year-old respondents and hitting 48 per cent of those 18 to 29.Only 37 per cent of respondents aged 60 and over said the program should end.AdvertisementSupport for ending the program is highest in the Prairie provinces and lowest in Québec and Atlantic Canada.The poll suggests most Conservatives are in favour of what Poilievre is proposing, while opinion is divided among respondents who identified as Liberals — 36 per cent said they support eliminating the program and 39 per cent said they opposed the idea.David Coletto, Abacus Data CEO, said this creates the “perfect wedge issue” for the Conservatives.“This could be one of those issues like the carbon tax that the Conservatives could go all-in on and force the Liberals into an awkward position,” he said.Advertisement“I think the lesson of the carbon tax is (the Liberals are) going to have to figure out how to explain why the status quo works for people, it works for the economy and it works for individuals.”Prime Minister Mark Carney last week ruled out scrapping the program, adding that it’s part of a broader immigration policy review.The government’s current goal is to reduce the number of temporary residents in Canada to five per cent of the population. The share of the population made up of non-permanent residents was 7.1 per cent as of April 1.The Conservatives plan to make immigration one of their key issues when the House of Commons reconvenes next week.Immigration critic Michelle Rempel Garner has taken to sharing on the social media platform X daily postings from Job Watch Canada, a website that tracks job postings with pending applications to hire a temporary foreign worker on the Canada Job Bank.Postings recently highlighted by Rempel Garner include several jobs with fast food chains in Edmonton, Vancouver and Ottawa. (ICE TORONTO)

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