Minister John McCallum and Military Housing

maximum budget: The budget set out for the program last November was $678 million spread over six years, according to National Observer. It was divided up into five phases — the first three focused on the identification, processing and transportation of refugees. Transportation was cheaper than expected, temporary military housing was never used and neither was a contingency fund, Immigration Minister John McCallum told a House of Commons committee in explaining the cost savings."The reason we spent dramatically less than we said we would is because we were dramatically efficient," he said. The maximum budget for those three streams was $188 million. But the lion share of the budget — the cost to actually settle the refugees and provide income support, language training, job services and the like — remains to be spent. Those phases are over and figures released Thursday estimate $108.5 million was spent. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.