The Canadian government is waving around Canada’s “public” health-care system like they are handing out free candy trying to entice people from around the world to come here to take advantage of it and the taxpayers who pay for it.
“Thinking about moving to Canada? Did you know Canada has public health care? Learn how it works, who can get it and what services are covered. Get the details and helpful tips,” reads an X post by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) with a link to a government website.
It’s presented like it’s a vacation advertisement trying to encourage people from around the world to come to a resort destination.
The difference is when you book a trip like that, you have to pay for it. In this case, Canadians pay for it. And, boy, the last time Canada did something so irresponsible, did we ever pay for it — and to this day are still paying for it.
INFAMOUS TRUDEAU TWEET
Do you remember then-prime minister Justin Trudeau’s infamous Jan. 28, 2017 tweet that said: “To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada.”
Trudeau put this welcome sign over the front door of Canada in response to President Donald J. Trump’s “Muslim ban” in his first term that was later explained away as a tightening of borders on radical Islamic terrorist being able to get into the country and was a pre-curser to the ICE news cycle of the new Trump term.
The results of this tweet by Trudeau changed Canada forever.
In the years that followed, people from around the world came in great numbers to Canada and not always legally but through porous border crossings like Roxham Road in Quebec.
REFUGEE NUMBERS SOARED
A 2018 story in the National Post revealed “before the tweet, border officials prevented 315 people a month from illegally crossing the border,” whereas “post-tweet in 2017, about 18,149 illegally crossed the border, then claimed asylum as refugees — even after entering illegally — and were allowed to stay, get welfare, education, housing, health care, and work permits.”
Trudeau created a massive immigration crisis that lead to many other problems. This new tweet may just do more of the same.
National Post columnist Diane Francis wrote, “By May 2018, the number of refugee cases pending ballooned to 54,906 from 18,348 in December 2016.”
In the last eight years, millions of new people have arrived in Canada, which has not been booming economically but taking on the financial burden of having more citizens and residents to take care of.
CANADA IS STRUGGLING
Time will tell how many more people will come to Canada on a whim from this government sales pitch over X and other social media platforms but whatever the number is, they will be coming at a time when Canada is struggling with high unemployment, debt, housing, inflationary issues, rising food bank usage, and a crisis on the health-care front.
Many Canadians don’t have a family doctor, the emergency wards are often full of people who just got to Canada, and the cost of medicine is increasing.
This new tweet does not say that the Canadian Medical Association reports “more than one in five Canadians – an estimated 6.5 million people – don’t have a family doctor or nurse practitioner.”
Oops.
NOT COMMON SENSE
So it’s an idea that was not fully thought through, or based on common sense: Advertise to bring even more people to Canada to sign onto a system that is already overwhelmed and not serving the Canadians here who pay for it.
It’s also curious since Statistics Canada shows a plan for 2025 to grant 395,000 new permanent residents while bringing in 367,750 temporary workers and 305,900 foreign students.
Some argue the numbers are higher while others say they are lower, but no matter the political spin or labelling, the number of new people who came into the country in 2025 and who are planned for in 2026 and beyond — and who may be in need of medical or dental care — is significant.
And the system is set up for them to get medical treatment even without status. You add what amounts to a million people a year to this program and it’s no surprise there is going to be cost overruns, waiting lists, and enormous other problems.
This does not seem to be a good time to be advertising a system that the country can’t sustain.
“Opposition Conservative Deputy Leader Melissa Lantsman tweeted: “Read the room, folks. Carney’s government is advertising “free health care” to the world while 6.5 million Canadians can’t see a doctor. ERs are closing; patients are dying, and Liberal Ottawa’s answer is to brag about a broken system. Compassion without capacity is chaos.”
She’s not wrong.
And don’t let the Liberal media arm spin this as a partisan or ideological issue. It’s basic economics.
Under the link from that tweet put out by the IRCC, it is explained to anybody thinking of coming to Canada that under the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) ”you might qualify for short-term health-care coverage in Canada if you’re: a refugee (asylum) claimant, a protected person or resettled refugee, part of certain other groups.” It explains this coverage comes from the IFHP, and in “most cases: You don’t need to apply for the IFHP, your eligibility is based on your immigration status, your health-care coverage is activated.”
When you advertise to the world that this plan is like a lottery win, you are going to end up with many people — many with chronic health issues — lining up to cash in.