Canada has enough problems, refugee opponents say

Pearson Airport will be the first port of call for numerous 25,000 Syrian nationals that Canada has committed to resettling.

Canada should take care of its own problems before allowing more refugees into the country, say people who are opposed to the government’s refugee plan, according to an exclusive poll conducted for CityNews by Forum Research.

Mr. McCallum said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to announce more details “within hours”.

“We’ve actually invited all opposition leaders to join us in welcoming the new Syrian refugees – the new Canadians – as they arrive at Pearson airport tomorrow night”, he told reporters Wednesday.

The flights will land in Toronto on Thursday and Montreal on Saturday and will consist of military aircrafts.

“Look after Canadians, homeless, elderly people, take care of our own before we start helping everyone else”, said one CityNews viewer. The rest of the refugees arriving in December are expected to be transported on chartered flights.

Syrian refugees have been arriving in Canada for months via commercial aircraft.

WATCH: Highlights from Question Period on Thursday, Dec. 9.

That amounts to a $3.6-million boost specifically to ensure they can support refugees as they are arriving. “But certainly for the moment, I do thank the Government of Lebanon for assisting us in this process”, said McCallum.

And while the federal government has promised these refugees will receive full health coverage, it has yet to reinstate the Interim Federal Health Program cut in 2012.

Social housing is not under federal control, said McCallum, but he said he’s spoken with many mayors who say that Canadians wait for months and years for social housing.

Canadian officials are on the ground in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey screening refugees and overseeing the necessary health and security checks before departure. They also changed the plan so that 10,000 of the 25,00 are privately sponsored.

“Two days ago, we were very anxious about this issue, but thankfully, the Government of Lebanon has responded very well, and we now have exit visas, certainly easily enough for the first two planes to come from that part of the world to Canada”, McCallum said.