John McCallum

[Business of Supply, December 9th, 2015]

Madam Chair, this is a short-term humanitarian act involving donations. In the medium term, it is of great benefit for Canada. Many of the refugees will require some assistance in the short run, on income and on housing, because they have just arrived from a miserable part of the world and they are here. They will require a bit of time, but sooner rather than later they will get jobs. We have already talked about jobs in New Brunswick and elsewhere. They will find jobs, as was the case with refugees in previous times, from Vietnam and other places.

I am very confident that with some assistance from the business community and Canadians that the great majority of our new Canadian friends will become gainfully employed and will be net contributors to Canada. It is a short-term cost for—

[Business of Supply, December 9th, 2015]

Madam Chair, by and large, it is my same answer. As I said, it is a national project. All levels of government are expected to do their share. The federal government is already putting up almost $700 million, which is a lot of money. Provinces are responsible for education, so we expect provinces to pay for education without being reimbursed by the federal government.

[Business of Supply, December 9th, 2015]

Yes, Madam Chair.

[Business of Supply, December 9th, 2015]

Madam Chair, not precisely, but by and large, yes. For example, every refugee family receives an income approximately equal to social assistance. Every refugee receives language training and health care, so that is pretty well proportional per capita to the number of refugees.

[Business of Supply, December 9th, 2015]

Madam Chair, the settlement and community integration is $108.2 million, which will go to resettlement assistance programs. That is a very major part of the expenditure. It is substantially more than $11 million.

[Business of Supply, December 9th, 2015]

Madam Chair, no, not directly. As I said, this is a national project, so we expect all levels of government and all Canadians in all walks of life to do their part. Not every dollar spent by a municipality will be reimbursed by the federal government.

[Business of Supply, December 9th, 2015]

Madam Chair, the general procedure is that the costs borne by the federal government go to settlement agencies, which then provide that funding to the refugees themselves and for language training and things of that nature, and not to municipalities directly.

[Business of Supply, December 9th, 2015]

Madam Chair, yes.

Also, I was right. It is $6 million. That is the right answer.

[Business of Supply, December 9th, 2015]

Madam Chair, it is certainly included. I believe that it is about $6 million, but if that is wrong, I will let the member know in a future question.

[Business of Supply, December 9th, 2015]

Madam Chair, clearly, in our platform, the judge said that it was “cruel and unusual” not to offer it, so we will do it as soon as we possibly can.