The bill for rolling out the welcome mat to 492 Tamils who not-so-subtly tried to “smuggle” into Canada is finally in, and boy, is it ever a whopper:
The arrival in Canada of hundreds of Tamil migrants aboard the MV Sun Sea from Thailand cost the federal government $25 million, according to supplementary budget estimates released by Ottawa.
[...]The government said the operation cost the Canada Border Services Agency $22 million, the Immigration and Refugee Board $908,000 and the RCMP $2.1 million.
Here’s what else we could have bought for $25 million (all figures 2009-10):
- The entire budget for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights
- Almost half the budget for the entire CRTC
- Nearly 80 per cent of the budget of the office of the Status of Women
- Twice the budget of the Public Service Labour Relations Board for Canada
- Almost the entire transportation and communications budget of Immigration
- The entire equipment and machinery budget of immigration
- A third of the entire personnel budget of the Immigration and Refugee Board
- Three quarters of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency budget
- 88 per cent of the transportation and communications budget for Parks Canada
- For the department of finance: 440 per cent of the transportation and communications budget; 134 per cent of the information budget; 174 per cent of the professional services budget
- 227 per cent of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal budget
- Twice CIDA’s entire communications and travel budget
- 132 per cent of the office of the Governor General of Canada
- 58 per cent of the machinery and equipment budget for all of Health Canada
- 111 per cent of the entire kangaroo Canadian Human Rights Commission
- 86 per cent of the entire budget for the Supreme Court of Canada
- Over 5 times the budget for the Military Police Complaints Commission
- 45 per cent of the entire budget for the National Energy Board
- 37 per cent of the personnel costs for the entire Upper Chamber of the House
- 61 per cent of the Library of Parliament budget
- 117 per cent of the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
- 53 per cent of the entire budget for the National Parole Board
- One third the budget of all of Canada Post
- 89 per cent of the budget of the Canadian Transportation Agency
- 74 per cent of the transportation and communications budget of Veterans Affairs
Well, I guess that’s enough food for thought for now.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Eva Miranda, Adrian MacNair. Adrian MacNair said: Adventures in multiculturalism: http://bit.ly/hAayKe (Or, how a fool and the taxpayers who fund the fool are soon parted) [...]
Adrian:
Thanks for the morning smile with my coffee/Sarc. Still in my Jammys, coffee in hand and already I feel like going back to bed.
A good overall short list report on this fiasco and more to follow I’m sure. It’s very distressing to realize this is actually happening and the ordinary Canadian in the street (you and I) have very little or no control of the situation other than to report it.
Every one of concern hears, but nobody listens, hence this scenario will be repeated in the future. How many times, before we “get it right?”
Lord knows, but one can only hope – “Real soon.”
I digress.
E Mac
This story misses the big picture! Virtually the entire shipload of people started collecting welfare, language training, and other benefits a few days after arriving and will continue to do so for probably a decade to come. THAT bill will be far, far higher than $25 million, as will the cost of supporting all their family members brought from back home under Canada’s “family reunification program.” The people on that boat just won the lottery, and we’re paying for it.
Well, THAT ruined my day! I double dare,in the way we used to as kids,the Dept. of Immigration, to track these illegals for the next five years,to calculate just how much of a return we get on our forced investment.
If most (75%?) of them are gainfully employed in real, not taxpayer supported jobs by 2016,then I guess criticism isn’t valid.
Harper’s announcement that Canada will increase the number of family class immigrants is the most disappointing thing he’s done since he gained the PM’s office. That is pure and simple pandering to the ethnic vote,something I had hoped at least ONE Party would have the integrity NOT do.
Family class immigration has flooded our medical system with elderly people from third world Countries who suffer the effects of poor diet and health care back home.
Diane Francis did a column on this in the National Post about ten or more years ago,and was the last journalist I’ve seen that had the courage to speak out about it.
Add to this the fact they are entitled to the Old age pension after five years, soon to be reduced to three years if Ruby Dhalla has her way,and the costs soar into the billions.
We DO need immigrants in this Country,but let’s be sensible about who we let in for a bloody change! How about educated professionals and tradesmen who are young and employable,instead of unskilled immigrants who may have been members of terrorist groups in their homeland?
Too radical,I guess.
Download the pdf file from Martin Collacott at the Fraser Institute for a good report on the situation in family class immigration.
“Martin Collacott is a Senior Fellow with the Fraser Institute. He is a former Canadian Ambassador in Asia and the Middle East, former Citizenship Advisor to the Ontario Ministry of Education, and CIDA Advisor on the Teaching of English in Chinese Schools in Sabah, Malaysia”
What about the numbers for the Department of National Defence and Canadian Coast Guard? Both would have been involved but their costs would have been taken out of their normal operating budgets.
All that money spent by unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats and sundry ‘officials’ and condoned by our conservative government. Still no clear policy to stop these boats from landing, no policy to use the navy to protect our shores. So we just put up with it and forget until the next boat arrives. And it will.
» Adventures In Multiculturalism Unambiguously Ambidextrous…
Here at World Spinner we are debating the same thing……
Damn but that list is depressing. If I had my way I would scrap every dept. on it.
Not much Harper can do with a minority government.
So true, and it wont take long for the word to get back that the door here is wide open if they can get here.
[...] Adventures In Multiculturalism [...]
[...] the costs Canadians are bothered with in the first place. The recent MV Sun Sea incident has been revealed to have cost us $25 million, and the new bill would only serve to increase such costs if a new boat [...]