Minister John McCallum and Arrival Schedule

immigration minister: The government will be able to provide an updated arrival schedule next week, Immigration Minister John McCallum said Wednesday, according to Hamilton Spectator. So far, just over 1,100 Syrians have landed in Canada of the 10,000 the Liberals have promised to bring over by year end. The Friday plane will mainly carry government-sponsored refugees. But the pace of screening and other efforts has dramatically picked up in recent days, and the immigration minister says the Dec. 31 target date is still in their sights. "There will be a large number of flights averaging perhaps two per day," he told a news conference. "Some days might have three, some days might have zero, but on average, some two flights per day in the next couple of weeks." McCallum described what the coming arrivals will look like as a "wave," saying as the program got off the ground only three weeks ago it was only natural that mass arrivals would begin spooling up now. "That the way it is, that the way waves go," he said. The Liberals have formally dropped the previous government appeal of a Federal Court decision that found the Conservatives' cuts to health coverage for some refugees and refugee claimants were unconstitutional. Meanwhile, the government has also ended a controversial court battle over refugee health. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.