Feds spent over $50 million since 2015 on hotels for refugees and unauthorised immigrants, according to government statistics
According to new government data, two federal departments have spent more than $50 million since 2015 on hotel reservations for those who cross the Canadian border illegally as well as for people who are applying for asylum lawfully.According to Blacklock's Reporter, the Department of Public Works and the Department of Immigration stated in a recent Inquiry of Ministry that they had paid a total of $50.6 million since November 2015 on the hotel room reservations.
According to the investigation, there were over 63,700 foreign guests at the hotels, including over 26,300 illegal immigrants.
Michelle Rempel Garner, a Conservative lawmaker, asked for the details.
She also demanded a breakdown of the hotel bookings "by city or municipality" and for the contracts relevant to each. "How many hotels has the government engaged for lodging asylum seekers or refugees?" she questioned in the inquiry.
The two departments claimed to have signed contracts with 35 different hotel operators across Canada, the majority of which were in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec.
The Dev Hotel and Conference Centre in Cornwall, Ontario, earned the largest contract, valued over $30 million. The Quality Hotel & Suites Toronto Airport East received the second-highest contract, valued at almost $3 million.
A deal of little under $2 million was given to the Travelodge Montréal Airport, and a deal worth $1.2 million was given to the Marigold Hotel in Brampton, Ontario.
Feds spent over $50 million since 2015 on hotels for
When entering Canada "irregularly" through the unauthorised border crossing at Roxham Road in Quebec, Rempel Garner also wanted to know how many of the migrants living in the hotels had requested asylum. However, the inquiry did not provide any information on this.
Unusual Migration
No federal institution or agency has yet to assess the total cost of illegal immigration to Canada to the federal government.
Nevertheless, the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) estimated in 2018 that the amounts were probably over $1 billion over the course of three years, which equates to a cumulative average of approximately $14,300 for each illegal immigrant.
The 2018 report, titled "Costing Irregular Migration across Canada's Southern Border," stated that "there has been a recent increase in the number of asylum applicants entering Canada via its southern border."
"The PBO estimates that the cost to the federal government for an irregular migrant who entered Canada in 2017–18 can range between $9,915 and $33,738."
To forecast how costs would vary in the near future, the PBO said in the study that it "undertook a sensitivity analysis of anticipated variable costs due to irregular migration.".
The PBO predicted that the costs would increase steadily year over year and reach above $600 million for the fiscal year 2019–2020, depending on whether the number of irregular migrants is 10,000 higher or 10,000 lower than it was in fiscal year 2017–2018.
