Feds spent $50M+ on hotel stays for immigrants and refugees since 2015.

Since 2015, two federal departments have spent a combined total of $50.6 million on hotel bookings for migrants illegally crossing the Canadian border, as well as for lawful refugee applicants. According to the Inquiry of Ministry recently tabled in the House of Commons, of the 63,700 foreigners that stayed in the hotel rooms, 26,300 were illegal immigrants. In response to an inquiry from Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner, the two departments stated that they had signed contracts with 35 hotel operators in cities across Canada, with the majority being located in Ontario and Quebec. The Dev Hotel and Conference Centre in Cornwall, Ontario, received the largest contract at $30 million.

The inquiry did not specify how many of the migrants staying in the hotels had illegally entered Canada through the unofficial border crossing at Roxham Road in Quebec. The Parliamentary Budget Office estimated in 2018 that the total cost to government of illegal immigration into Canada was likely around $1 billion over a three-year period, averaging $14,300 per illegal immigrant. A sensitivity analysis of future variable costs relating to irregular migration projected that if the number of irregular migrants was higher or lower by 10,000 relative to the number in fiscal year 2017-2018, the costs would reach over $600 million for the fiscal year 2019-2020.