Liberals likely to miss reduced target of 10,000 refugees by year’s end

Theglobeandmail.com
Dec. 23, 2015
By Daniel Leblanc

The Trudeau government is backing away from its already reduced promise to resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees by the end of the year, raising further questions about the feasibility of one of the Liberal Party’s signature election pledges.

Immigration Minister John McCallum acknowledged the operation is facing unforeseen challenges as federal officials “move heaven and earth” to meet their target by the end of 2015.

Mr. McCallum could not unveil a schedule of flights that would allow the government to bring in the planned numbers of refugees over the last eight days of the year. For the first time since the start of the operation, he said it was “not guaranteed” that the target would be hit.

The Liberals had already amended their election promise to bring in 25,000 Syrian refugees by Dec. 31, stretching the target until Feb. 29. However, it is now increasingly clear the government will not meet its interim target of 10,000 refugees by Dec. 31.

On Wednesday, a plane carrying 298 refugees was on its way to Montreal. Another flight carrying 242 refugees is scheduled to land in Toronto on Dec. 26, bringing the total of admitted refugees to 2,409 since the Liberal government was sworn in on Nov. 4.

To meet its interim target, the government will have five days, from Dec. 27 to Dec. 31, to bring in 7,591 refugees - or 25 flights carrying an average of 304 refugees.

There is no indication the government will meet this tempo, with Mr. McCallum only promising “large numbers of flights” before the end of 2015. Mr. McCallum, who spoke about the issue at a news conference on Wednesday, said some days could see two or three flights and that a total of five flights in a single day would be Canada’s maximum welcoming capacity.

The government has announced one flight on Dec. 27 and two flights on Dec. 28.

Still, Mr. McCallum was adamant the government will meet its target of 25,000 refugees by the end of February.

“We are sticking to our target of 10,000 by the end of the year, but there are challenges and it’s less possible to guarantee that than it is the 25,000 target. But we are still committed to it, and we are still working very hard to achieve it,” the Immigration Minister said.

Mr. McCallum said the challenges included weather conditions in Canada, but also human nature. In particular, he said not all refugees are available to leave on a few days’ notice, even when they have cleared all security and medical checks.

Still, he insisted that success remained a possibility. “I would just say that if you do the math, it does add up. I mean, I’m an economist, I can do math,” said the former RBC economist.

But Conservative MP Michelle Rempel said it is now clear the Liberals “pulled the number out of thin air” when they made their electoral promise. She said the problems in bringing the refugees to Canada on time could be just the start.

“This raises questions about what else hasn’t been addressed with regards to this initiative, including housing, screening and support services like language training,” she said. “In order to do something like this, you need a plan.”

Ms. Rempel said the government did a better job of preparing a photo op when the first plane landed in Toronto, where the refugees were welcomed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, than handling the complex humanitarian issues behind the refugee crisis.

“I don’t think they’ve been upfront with Canadians on what is possible on this file. That’s typical Liberal posturing, and it’s of the worst sort when you are dealing with people’s lives,” Ms. Rempel said.

Mr. McCallum did promise that a total of 10,000 refugees will have been processed and awarded permanent-resident status by the end of the year, although some of them could still be in Jordan, Lebanon or Turkey on Jan. 1, 2016.

He added that the government is expected to identify 25,000 would-be new Canadians by the end of the year, and bring them all in by the end of February.

“Our fundamental target will be hit,” Mr. McCallum said on Wednesday.

Mr. Trudeau’s Liberal Party promised during the election campaign to bring in 25,000 government-assisted refugees by the end of the year. Once in office, Mr. Trudeau amended the promise to a total of 10,000 refugees in 2015 and another 15,000 in January and February. The revised numbers included a total of 10,000 privately sponsored refugees, meaning the government will have to make up the shortfall of government-assisted refugees in the remainder of 2016.