An online poll finds first-time foreign-born electors feel uninformed about the process and their voting rights

A majority of Canadian immigrants, who are either first-time voters or have not voted in the past, feel they don't have enough information to vote with confidence in the upcoming federal election, a new unofficial online poll concludes.

The poll, conducted by Canadian Immigrant Magazine, found that 70 per cent of newcomers who are ready to vote for the first time feel like they don't know enough about the electoral process. Almost half of all respondents — which include first-time and repeat immigrant voters combined — also felt that they are not given enough information about the voting process in Canada.

Though the Canadian government has issued election information material in nearly 30 languages, the results of the poll suggest that candidates should reach out to newcomers more effectively to explain the election process and encourage them to participate. This approach could help improve the voter turnout in Canada which has, according to Elections Canada statistics, been decreasing steadily since 1988, especially amongst immigrant communities. Based on the results of survey, conducted by Decima Research in April 2002, a report by Elections Canada noted that electors’ lack of knowledge and information is one of the reasons for this decline in turnout.

As for how parties rank with the participants, according to poll results, the Liberal Party and Conservative Party both had 25 per cent of participants choosing them. The New Democratic Party (NDP) followed in third place with a 23 per cent backing from participants. The Green Party came in last with four per cent. Interestingly, 22 per cent of participants choose none of the above parties.

In the poll, participants were also asked to rank the following issues in order of importance: law and order, childcare, family reunification, healthcare, jobs, economy and environment.

Considering the current financial climate in North America and across Europe, 106 mentions ranked the economy as their first selection the most. Healthcare came in second (105 mentions), job skills and recognition came in third (85 mentions), law and order came in fourth (49 mentions) and family reunification came in fifth (42 mentions) place.

Of the top five mentions, two are key issues for immigrants —job and skill recognition and family reunification.

In its recent release, the Statistics Canada has reported that immigration accounted for a spike in the Canadian population during the second quarter of 2008 — the largest increase in 17 years — with new second-quarter records being set in Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.

Considering the growing immigrant population, perhaps it is time for political parties and their leadership to address newcomers’ social and economic needs, and take the topic of immigration to its rightful place among Canada’s primary political issues.

Given its political and economic impact, the vote of a new immigrant would play a vital role in this election. A 2004 government-sponsored study entitled "Counting and Courting the Immigrant Vote" states that, given the concentration of regional votes, "at no other time in our country's history has the foreign-born elector been so fundamental to whether there will be a majority or minority government in Canada."