OTTAWA — In November, the Liberal government unveiled a program to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of February. The budget for the program was set at $678 million over six years, broken down into five phases.
On Thursday, the government said preliminary estimates put the cost of the first year of the program at $319 million, about $136 million less than expected. Here's a look at the original budget for the program, and what was spent in 2015-2016, by the numbers:
Identification
Budgeted: $17 to $21 million
Spent: $10.1 million
Processing
Budgeted: $36 to $46 million
Spent: $39.7 million
Transportation
Budgeted: $94 to $121 million
Spent: $58.7 million
Welcoming Refugees
Budgeted: $61 to $77 million
Spent: $74.2 million
Settlement and Integration
Budgeted: $325 to $377 million
Spent: $32.6 million
Corporate support:
Budgeted: $31 to $36 million
Spent: $9.1 million
The department also includes $90 million for humanitarian activities in their bottom line for 2015-2016, as well as $4.7 million in costs associated with sending over staff.
