The permits, costing $200, are issued at the discretion of customs officers if the agents are “satisfied the foreign national’s need to enter or remain in Canada is compelling enough to overcome the health and safety risks to Canadian society.”

According to the requirements of the program, applicants must demonstrate “compelling reasons to warrant the issuance of the permit and how it outweighs the risks.”

Fewer than half of the claimants to the program met all the qualifications, as first reported Monday by Blacklock's Reporter. Of the 168 files checked at random:

• “14 percent had no address documented”;
• “24 percent had no description of the compelling reason to warrant issuing the permit”;
• “26 percent did not document the relevant circumstances that prompted the favourable decision to issue the permit”;
• “27 percent did not document the reason for the duration of the permit”;
• “Only 48 percent were fully compliant.”

DOCUMENTS: @CanBorder ignored rules most of the time in awarding thousands of temporary permits to inadmissible foreigners so they can 'access health & social services.'  https://t.co/s4uDIpxQU6 #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/zb5xuj7AjM

— Blacklock's Reporter (@mindingottawa) October 23, 2023

The program has failed four previous audits in 2008, 2017, 2019 and 2021.