Ottawa, ON – Today, the Hon. Michelle Rempel Garner, Conservative Shadow Minister for Immigration, released the following statement in response to a massive increase in both claims and costs for some foreign nationals via the Interim Federal Health program (IFHP):

“Today, Conservatives have uncovered the cost of Mark Carney’s broken immigration system for some groups of foreign nationals receiving taxpayer-funded healthcare under the Interim Federal Health program (IFHP).

“Under the Liberals, the IFHP expanded to include services that many Canadians don’t receive or have to pay for themselves, including pharmaceuticals, vision care, counselling, assistive devices, homecare, nursing homes, physiotherapy and occupational speech therapy. This type of coverage has increased to $456 million in 2024, a 1,186% increase since 2016.

“Canadians are a compassionate people, but is it really fair for non-citizens to get healthcare coverage that Canadians themselves pay for and do not receive? 

“Canadian taxpayers have also seen a 376% increase in the total number of user claims and a staggering 1,101% increase in the amounts reimbursed for this program under the Liberals.

“Mark Carney and the Liberals have spent nearly a billion dollars in the past year on IFHP claims – at a time when housing, jobs, and healthcare are under enormous strain thanks to their broken immigration system. This is on top of the $1.1 billion they have spent on hotels for asylum seekers and the $1.5 billion they have given to provinces for refugees.

“Canadians are struggling with the Liberal cost-of-living crisis, the Liberal job-loss crisis, the Liberal crime crisis and, now, we are seeing the further cost of the Liberal immigration crisis, especially on healthcare and housing.

“Canadians have been paying into our healthcare system for their entire lives. Our seniors deserve to reap the rewards of that hard work by getting access to healthcare when they need it. Instead, our healthcare system is already overwhelmed and over-capacity, and Canadian seniors can’t get the treatment they need.

“This is unsustainable. Canadians are proud to be a caring people, but unvalidated asylum seekers should not get better benefits than Canadians do. Immediate reform is needed.”