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An Order Paper Question from Conservative MP Rachael Thomas revealed that annual spending on the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) ballooned from about $66 million in 2016-17 to nearly $800 million in 2024-25.

This program, once intended to provide urgent care and screenings for refugees from war zones, has been dramatically expanded under the Liberals.

Instead of only covering emergency procedures, the IFHP now includes benefits many Canadian taxpayers don’t even get themselves: free pharmaceuticals, dental work, vision care, prosthetics, counselling, physiotherapy, homecare and even nursing home placements. Spending on these “extra” supplemental services alone surged from $35.5 million in 2016 to $456 million in 2024 — a staggering 1,186% increase.

The number of program users exploded from 84,313 in 2016 to over 402,000 in 2024, a 377% increase. Much of this spike followed the Liberals’ infamous 2017 “#WelcomeToCanada” tweet, which triggered a wave of irregular border crossings and ballooned the asylum backlog from under 10,000 cases in 2015 to more than 287,000 today.

Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner blasted the government’s priorities in a Substack post, warning that people with ultimately bogus asylum claims are receiving “better benefits than Canadians do.” She noted that while seniors wait months or even years for procedures — and at least 15,474 Canadians died waiting for health care in 2023-24 alone — asylum seekers can access taxpayer-funded extras that citizens must pay out-of-pocket for.

“Canadians are a compassionate people, but unvalidated asylum seekers should not get better benefits than Canadians do. Immediate reform is needed,” said Rempel Garner.

The IFHP data exposes the true cost of the Liberals’ open-door asylum system: a parallel health-care structure running in the billions, even as Canadian hospitals overflow, wait times grow, and families are forced to ration care.