As a reluctant spring eventually kicks out the last vestiges of winter, the number of asylum seekers entering Canada illegally from the United States will ramp up considerably.

Only a fool—or the Trudeau Liberals who thus far appear to lack any plan—would think otherwise.

Gone will be the emotive images of queue-jumping refugee claimants with legal status in the U.S.—Turks, Somalis, Syrians, Yemenis—trudging through the snow as they hand their bundled-up child into the waiting arms of the RCMP.

Soon it will be a summer walk in the park.

Canadians, however, are growing tired of being used by a loophole in the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement where refugee claimants would be turned back if they crossed at legal border checkpoints, but somehow accepted if they cross into Canada illegally through a back door.

They are tired of being the patsies.

A new Ipsos poll Wednesday commissioned by Global News shows over 90% of Canadians believe the Liberals’ approach to dealing with asylum seekers is in dire need of changes.

As Ipsos CEO Darrell Bricker put it, “For Canadians it’s not either a discussion about compassion or a discussion about security, it’s a discussion about rules.

“Regardless of your views on immigration in general, there’s an overall perspective among Canadians that rules must make sense, and they must be followed.”

That view was unequivocal, with only eight percent of Canadians content with the status quo.

According to the RCMP, upwards of 1,200 asylum seekers crossed the Canadian border illegally in January and February, a number that will only spike as summer beckons.

In fact, as Toronto immigration lawyer Guidy Mamann recently told Macleans, Canadians can expect a more clandestine infiltration as the weather betters.

“We are going to see a steep increase in numbers,” he said. “What you are seeing now is only those people who want to be seen.

“There are other people who are going further down the fence who do not want to be detected, and they’re coming across with the intention of avoiding the system.”

Yet, one of the last times Canadians heard from Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, he was playing the hyperbole game rather than addressing legitimate concerns regarding these illegal entries into our country, insinuating that only the opposition Conservatives were making a big deal of the situation.

“I guess what the Conservatives are saying is maybe we should line up the RCMP at the border, link arms and shoo people away,” Goodale recently told CTV’s Question Period.

“Or maybe use fire hoses, or whatever, to keep people from crossing at the border.”

It was a ludicrous statement, of course, but not unexpected from a party increasingly out of touch with the average Canadian, as the results of this Ipsos poll clearly underlines.

While fire hoses never came up in the poll, Canadians are nonetheless seeking the regulatory equivalent from the Liberals who thus far see asylum seekers as nothing more than a minor nuisance.

“(When) we’re not talking about a couple of people coming across, but busloads coming across, that’s when it becomes problematic,” said Ipsos’ CEO Darren Bricker.

“Because that’s when it will look like the rules are unclear, to the extent that they exist and are being violated, and that the government is out of control.”

Right now, it is not front-page news, but it will be.

In fact, Bricker sees the influx on illegal asylum seekers evolving into “the number one issue facing the country.”

Maybe then Ralph Goodale will break out the fire hoses.

If only to wash away his party’s smug indifference.

markbonokoski@gmail.com