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More than half of Quebecers are in favour of preventing migrants from entering the country and want them stopped at the Canada-U.S. border.

That opinion is shared by 51 per cent of Quebecers surveyed last week in a SOM-Cogeco Nouvelles survey.

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According to the survey, however, younger respondents, academics and people in the Montreal region do not support such a measure. In all, 37 per cent of respondents do not believe migrants should be prevented from entering Canada directly at the border.

Fifty-six per cent of respondents found it unacceptable that people bypassing normal immigration procedures be treated as a priority. People in the Quebec City area and those who speak French as their mother tongue are more likely to be in this group.

“At the time of the poll, we had very upbeat speeches from our leaders: Prime Minister (Justin) Trudeau, Premier (Philippe) Couillard, the mayor of Montreal, (Denis) Coderre. So we felt like it was ‘come on, come in, it’s the open bar, you’re accepted,’ ” Eric Lacroix, co-chair of SOM, said in an interview in explaining the results.