The Winnipeg Jewish Review just participated in media conference call with the Liberal Federal Minister of Finance Bill Morneau.

On the subject of Syrian Refugees, the Minister indicated that the government plans to allow 10,000 more government-assisted Syrian refugees into Canada by the end of 2016, in addition to the 25,000 refugees that entered Canada as of February 28, 2016.

He explained that the as per the new federal budget, over the next five years $245 million will be spent to help cover the costs of processing, transporting, and resettling the refugee intake target for the remainder of the year.

This means that total spending on Syrian refugees could reach $1 billion, when this amount is added to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s fall 2016 commitment of $678 million for the cost to bring in and accommodate the first 25,000 refugees.

The Finance Minister also noted that the Federal government is committed to find permanent housing for the Syrian refugees. "Minister McCallum [Minister of Immigration] believes that we will be able to find permanent housing for the 25,000 Syrian refugees that are already in Canada by June 2016.