The money in the budget is $173.2 million to address all the operational challenges at the Canada-U.S. border and all the downstream effects, including an increase in the capacity of IRCC and all the other agencies as well as the IRB to process the cases. Out of that, we will be receiving over $73 million for IRCC, including, I believe, the IRB, the Immigration and Refugee Board. The efforts we had already made before the budget to increase capacity to conduct eligibility hearings faster and to be able to provide work permits faster for asylum seekers have met with success. For example, work permits for asylum seekers used to take three months and they now take less than three weeks. This is something that the provinces had asked us to do to minimize pressure on provincial social services. When asylum seekers can support themselves financially by working, that reduces pressure on the social programs. Our ability to provide that work permit faster is key to that. Some of that money will also go to the IRB to make sure it can hear cases faster.
This is really important, because when asylum seekers don't have a credible claim, they can be processed faster, and that means they can be removed faster and will be asked to leave Canada sooner. The same goes for people with credible claims. If the IRB can hear the cases of people with legitimate refugee claims faster, they can then spend less time in limbo and move on with their lives and become members of our community.