5th April 2019 (Ottawa, ON) – Most Canadians (44.3%) think that domestic alt-right groups are the biggest threat to national security, while a majority of Canadians (55.2%) do not think that there is a fair amount of extremism among Canada’s Muslim community.

Those are the findings from Mainstreet Research’s latest UltraPoll, a conglomeration of ten provincial polls. The poll surveyed 8501 Canadians between March 19th and 25th 2019. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 1.06% and is accurate 19 times out of 20.

“We wanted to measure Canadians’ attitudes on these issues in light of the recent terrorist attack in New Zealand,” said Quito Maggi, President and CEO of Mainstreet Research. “We found that 58.3% of decided respondents think that domestic alt-right groups are the biggest threat to national security.”

“This finding, along with the strong belief among Canadians that there is not much extremism among Canadian Muslims, indicates that Canadians are far more worried about the alt-right launching a terrorist attack on home soil.”

A majority of Canadians also think that Canada should be working to limit the power and influence of China (60.1%), and that of Russia (60.2%).

“Canadians likely have the allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election in mind when they are expressing concerns about Russian influence,” added Maggi.

Speaking of the United States, 64.1% of respondents want to see Canada distance itself from the foreign policy of the United States.

“This is no surprise, given the Trump administration’s lack of focus on the alt-right and choosing to instead to cite illegal immigration and the Muslim population as threats to U.S. security,” added Maggi. “Trump’s priorities do not jive with our findings of what Canadians are worried about.”

A near majority of Canadians (48.2%) do not think that Canada’s sovereignty is being threatened by the United Nations, which is a key claim made the yellow vest movement.

“We think this survey shows that many claims made by the alt-right are not in step with the view of most Canadians,” concluded Maggi.

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