Ontario to increase Syrian refugee targets to help meet Trudeau’s goals, Kathleen Wynne says
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne says her government will try to expedite the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the province to coincide with Justin Trudeau’s bold commitment to bring in 25,000 refugees by the end of the year.
“We need to align with what the new government is going to do,” Wynne said in an interview with CBC Radio’s The House.
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Ontario pledged $10.5 million last month to help deal with the Syrian refugee crisis, and Wynne said then that the province hoped to resettle 10,000 refugees by the end of 2016, including an initial 2,500 by the end of this year.
But the province is now looking at a more ambitious timetable after her meeting this week with prime minister-designate Justin Trudeau at Queen’s Park.
“If we can ramp that up because of assistance from the federal government we will do that,” Wynne told host Chris Hall. “Our ministry is getting ready to do more than the 2,500 if we can. but we just have to see what kind of process we can land on with the federal government.”
At the same time, Wynne acknowledged that there are obstacles, including security precautions, that have to be taken into account and the province is trying to determine whether Ontario needs to put people on the ground in the Middle East to help process families.
“Those are the kinds of questions we will be asking the new government,” she said.
New relationship with the provinces
Trudeau has spoken on the phone to premiers since becoming prime minister-designate, but Kathleen Wynne was the first one he met in person since his election victory on Oct. 19.
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