Trudeau’s refugee crisis to cause delays at airports

Justin Trudeau's failure to deal with the border crisis could mean delays for air travelers.

Justin Trudeau said processing tens of thousands of illegal border crossers would not take resources away from another part of the system. There is now proof that is not true.

The Globe and Mail is reporting on memos from the federal border agency, and Air Canada, warning of delays for travelers. Not only are officers being moved from the Toronto area to the illegal Quebec crossing, it could delay flights.

A Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) memo, obtained by The Globe and Mail, says agents in the Greater Toronto Area will be dispatched to Quebec to alleviate the pressure from “a significant increase in the number of refugee claimants arriving in Canada without passing through a port of entry.”

CBSA agents will be shifted from Toronto to Montreal and the crossing at Roxham Road. In a memo put out by Air Canada to pilots, the airline tells staff how to deal with delays.

The May 7 Air Canada memo includes an announcement to be read on the public-address system, telling passengers that: “customs is currently dealing with a staff shortage and the custom hall is at capacity. The GTA airport authority has therefore asked that we delay the fight and remain on board.”

The Globe quotes a pilot saying people could be forced to wait on the tarmac for an hour after landing. Government officials insist there will be no delays. The head of the border guard’s union, Jean-Pierre Fortin, sees it differently.

“Obviously they are anticipating there will be a significant number [of asylum seekers] coming up in the next few weeks,” Mr. Fortin said in an interview. “The wait times will increase [because] we do not have enough officers to deal with the flow of planes or land-border traffic in summer when we are extremely busy.”

Huge numbers.

Last year Canada saw a little over 20,000 people cross the border illegally and get intercepted by the RCMP. Almost of them came across in Quebec. That surge last year put a huge strain on the system, everything from processing times to emergency housing.

This year we are on track for numbers three times as high, possibly more.

That means we could see 60-80,000 people coming across illegally and the Trudeau government has no real plan. They have blamed the Conservatives for this mess, even though is started last year under Trudeau.

There clearly is no plan to stop this.

Instead Trudeau and company have decided to ship people to Ontario to help ease the burden on Quebec. They are also making this all very permanent.

First there was the announcement in the budget of $173 million to help process more people. Then there is the building of the permanent structures for the processing centre and the actual refugee camp ordered up for the border.

We are spending all this time, money and energy even though Trudeau’s government knows the vast majority of asylum claims made here are not accepted.

So what is the plan?

I posted the other day on Stephen Harper’s comments on illegal immigration not being popular anywhere at any time. Harper is right but Trudeau will still use this issue to his advantage in the next election.

My prediction is that Trudeau will leave the border open and frame anyone critical of this as an anti-immigrant bigot. The NDP and most of the media will side with Trudeau and he will have the wedge issue he wants.

How does that grab you?

Millions if not billions spent on a fake crisis, created by Trudeau, so that he can use it come election time.

  • Canada has gone down the tubes within three years under Trudeau Gov and we are not going to get out of it until or unless the general public come together as one in support of our country against the forces of evil. But so far canadians have been betrayed and manipulated by the media from the actual true news of Trudeau Gov detriment and disaster and abuse of power. Narcissist Trudeau has been given the privelege by the media to destroy our way of live for the sake of evil.

  • So if you sit on the tarmac for an hour or more in all proability will this force the airline ticket prices to go up too for extra staff time and fuel ??? More good reasons to fly places from the states. At least you can sit in your car and wait to get back into your country in comfort not standing even longer in lines to clear customs?????? Once again the liberals are all about accommodating no Canadians first???!!!!

  • Brian, I don’t agree that Trudeau will be able to use this to his advantage at election time, even with the help of the media, which has the trust of no one. Most Canadians are against the madness of encouraging and allowing illegal immigration while thousands wait in line to gain entry legitimately. By the time the election rolls around, billions will have been spent accommodating these illegal border crossers and who knows, there may even have been a violent event by then that gets traced back to the “irregulars.” I think it will be quite the opposite, in that Andrew Scheer will be able to hammer Trudeau over this issue, and he might as well start now.

    • The issue atleast in Ottawa and the Gta is there are many powerful groups thata re not subject to election laws in terms of spending.

    • Andrew “Milquetoast” Sheer is not hammering JT on this issue or any other – in fact, he is invariably MIA whenever an important issue arises and/or there is an opportunity to hold JT’s feet to the fire. I’m afraid the CPC chose the wrong person to lead the party. Nice guy, but probably too nice.