John Bolton - February 18, 2026


$1 billion for people who should be GONE - Seniors struggle to afford food - This is Canada


Episode Stats


Length

12 minutes

Words per minute

173.43056

Word count

2,188

Sentence count

184

Harmful content

Misogyny

3

sentences flagged

Hate speech

11

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Canadians now spend $1 billion per year to cover the healthcare costs of refugee claimants. And this should outrage you. This is a five-fold increase from just six years ago when the program was costing $211 million per year.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Hi, it's John and welcome to the channel. It is 3.45 a.m. Wednesday, February the 18th. I hope
00:00:09.020 you're having a great start to your Wednesday morning with the Big Blue Mug of Coffee, of
00:00:13.560 course. I appreciate you being here. Thanks for subscribing to the channel if you have done that.
00:00:18.180 If you haven't done it, please click on subscribe. I really would appreciate it. You'll help me get
00:00:23.420 to 50,000 subscribers. And remember, clicking on the Big Blue Mug does not subscribe you to
00:00:28.860 the channel. Please do that below. So I've got a bit of a wry grin today. W-R-Y grin. I see a bad
00:00:38.560 situation. I find it slightly amusing. And it's really, is it amusing? I don't know. It just
00:00:43.100 reinforces the fact that the government is incompetent. And they're incompetent when it
00:00:48.120 comes to your money. And they don't care about your money. So what I'm going to do today is I'm
00:00:53.340 going to read part of an article from the National Post. And I think this article will prove
00:00:58.660 that a lot of people don't read beyond the headlines. The headline is bad enough here.
00:01:03.420 But if you get into the nitty gritty of this story, you should be outraged about this. In fact,
00:01:07.320 you should be on the phone or writing to your MP after I tell you this story today. Okay. But people
00:01:13.700 don't read the whole story. Kind of hard too. If you're online, things are behind a paywall. And
00:01:18.040 this National Post story might be behind a paywall for you if you went to it today. But what I'm going
00:01:23.920 to do is I'm going to start off, I'm going to actually bookend this with a couple of quotes
00:01:27.300 from Thomas Sowell. Brilliant man. Brilliant American. You should read some Thomas Sowell if
00:01:33.300 you have a chance. But I'm going to include some other quotes in here as well. And those of you
00:01:36.740 who have been on the channel here for a long time know I like quotes. You can learn a lot from a little
00:01:41.440 short passage from the past. So we're going to start off with this quote from Thomas Sowell. And it's
00:01:45.660 really the first part of this quote that is the most important part for what we're going to talk
00:01:51.620 about today and how I'm going to link a couple of things together today. But the second part is
00:01:55.540 certainly true. And here is the quote from Thomas Sowell. There are few modest talents so richly
00:02:01.280 rewarded, especially in politics and the media, as the ability to portray parasites as victims
00:02:07.280 and portray demands for preferential treatment as struggles for equal rights. It's the first part
00:02:13.180 there. The ability to portray parasites as victims. And we're going to be talking about,
00:02:18.200 for the lack of a better term, parasites today. Because that's what this is. That story is about
00:02:24.640 parasites. And here it is right here. Canadians now spending $1 billion per year to cover healthcare
00:02:32.720 costs of refugee claimants. And this should outrage you. This is ridiculous. A lot of these people 1.00
00:02:38.980 shouldn't be in the country. But it's actually the story below it that's the worst part. So hold on
00:02:45.120 to your hats. Let's read a little bit of this story again. Link in the description below. Paying the
00:02:50.400 healthcare premiums of refugee claimants will cost Canadians a record $1 billion this year,
00:02:55.700 with some of the beneficiaries continuing to receive free healthcare despite their claims having
00:03:00.560 already been rejected. That's according to a new analysis by the Office of the Parliamentary Budget
00:03:07.240 Officer. And it's just one of several ballooning costs wrought by the unprecedented number of foreign 1.00
00:03:12.640 nationals currently living in Canada by virtue of a claim of refugee status. This is a five-fold
00:03:19.820 increase from just six years ago when the program was costing $211 million per year. All told, between
00:03:26.460 now and 2030, Canadians are on track to spend $6.2 billion on healthcare for refugees or refugee
00:03:32.840 claimants. The worst is to come, folks. The worst is to come. Listen to this. Quote,
00:03:38.820 Rejected asylum claimants are now receiving better healthcare than many Canadians, who have paid into 0.97
00:03:45.320 a system their entire life. Unquote. Read a joint statement by Dan Mazier and Michelle Rumpel-Garner,
00:03:51.260 the shadow ministers of health and immigration, respectively. You may have known this,
00:03:56.160 but this is just reinforcing what we already knew. It added,
00:03:59.280 At a time when 6 million Canadians cannot find a family doctor and are waiting for care, it's unacceptable
00:04:05.200 that bogus asylum seekers are receiving better health benefits than Canadians. It doesn't get any 1.00
00:04:10.620 better. Let's read a little bit more. As of the most recent count by the Immigration and Refugee Board,
00:04:17.360 there were 299,614 foreign nationals in Canada waiting for their refugee claim to be reviewed. So,
00:04:25.560 we're paying more for these people for their healthcare and other services in Canada than
00:04:30.880 Canadians are getting. My question to you is, and it doesn't say this in this article,
00:04:34.320 how much is it costing us to process 300,000 foreign nationals? How many billions of dollars does that cost
00:04:42.480 us? It's also a more than 1,800% increase from the 16,058 who were in the country when the Trudeau
00:04:51.560 Liberals first took power in 2015. The figure includes tens of thousands of illegal border
00:04:56.960 crossers who entered the United States on tourist visas before entering Canada illegally to make a 0.78
00:05:02.740 refugee claim. It also includes a recent spike in foreign nationals who entered Canada on student visas
00:05:08.860 but claimed refugee status as soon as their visas expired. Another example is the Interim Housing
00:05:14.940 Assistance Program, which pays the shelter costs and even food bills of asylum claimants. Folks,
00:05:20.200 it doesn't get better. In 2024, Conservative MP Leanne Rood published disclosures from Immigration,
00:05:28.760 Refugees and Citizenship Canada finding that some asylum claimants were receiving room and board benefits
00:05:35.420 in excess of $200 per day. While the benefits were not universal among asylum claimants, those accepted to
00:05:43.780 receive food and shelter supports were getting the equivalent of $84 per day for meals and $140 per day
00:05:51.460 for hotel rooms. That's over $200 a day. Do the math, right? It's probably around $1,500 a week. Do the
00:05:59.380 math over 52 weeks. These people are making a pretty good wage and they don't even belong here. And this was in
00:06:05.020 addition to a whole latticework of additional federal payouts to asylum seekers, including one that gave
00:06:10.140 $3,000 cash payouts to Gazans entering Canada. Doesn't get any better. Resettled Gazans received 0.98
00:06:17.260 $41 million in various benefits. The Interim Housing Assistance Program was given $400 million
00:06:22.860 and $66.4 million was described as funding temporary accommodations to asylum seekers. In 2016, about 130,000
00:06:32.060 people were accessing some form of benefit from the Interim Federal Health Program. As of the new report by the
00:06:38.060 Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer, this is more than quadrupled to $611,000. As to why the number
00:06:45.100 of beneficiaries is much higher than the total number of asylum claimants, it's partially because, as the
00:06:49.980 Conservatives stated in the response, the IFHP also covers asylum claimants who have had their claims
00:06:56.220 rejected. Does it get better? Let's go on here. The current 24-month backlog of the Immigration and Refugee
00:07:03.900 Board of Canada means that even an ineligible asylum claimant can expect at least two years of free Canadian
00:07:10.460 health benefits before their claim is rejected. The Kearney government recently announced reforms to the
00:07:16.380 Interim Federal Health Program intended to curb its ballooning cost, although the coverage still remains far
00:07:21.980 more generous than that enjoyed by the average Canadian. And what I just said there, folks, is a conspiracy theory, or at least
00:07:28.940 that's what you've been told. Over the years, people have said, people who come here illegally to the country or claim
00:07:35.100 refugee status in Canada get paid more than the average Canadian. The Parliamentary Budget Office is saying that's true. 1.00
00:07:40.980 As a matter of fact, the thing that you normally hear is that people who come here illegally into Canada or claim
00:07:46.600 refugee status, they get more than senior citizens. Senior citizens who are in their 60s, 70s, 80s, who worked their whole
00:07:54.380 life, who paid taxes, and when it comes to their CPP and OAS, they get nothing from this government. They're
00:08:00.700 getting less than people who come here illegally or claim refugee status in this country right now. It's criminal. 0.64
00:08:09.580 But folks, you're told that's misinformation. You're told that is a conspiracy theory. Isn't it funny how
00:08:15.500 conspiracy theories always end up being true? And let's just put a bow on this story. Starting May 1st, asylum
00:08:21.500 claimants will have to pay $4 per prescription instead of nothing. Well, isn't that nice?
00:08:29.040 Do you get that? You have an expensive prescription? Listen, I'm lucky enough to have a good
00:08:33.480 benefits program through my wife's work. It hasn't always been that way. I've had to pay a lot for 1.00
00:08:38.620 prescriptions over the years, but they're going to get off with $4. And if they access supplemental
00:08:43.200 health products, such as counseling or dental care, they'll have to cover 30% of the bill themselves.
00:08:47.960 Wow, wow. Isn't that nice? How are they accessing these things? They shouldn't be here
00:08:51.440 at all. Give them a plane ticket home. But then again, the other side will throw around. Ists and
00:08:58.040 phobes say we have to be compassionate to these people. They're claiming refugee status. No, 1.00
00:09:03.160 they're coming here because we give them free stuff. Here's a breakdown of the numbers. Let me get
00:09:10.000 myself out of the way here. This is how it's going to go up. Right till 20, 29, 30. It's going to go up.
00:09:16.720 Asylum claimants and others. Annual average cost per beneficiaries. And let me throw something else 0.99
00:09:23.140 at you here. Is this a result of the first story. Juno News. Muhammad, the most popular baby name in
00:09:33.420 Alberta last year. I'm asking for a friend. Is this a good thing? You're going to be told that this is
00:09:41.140 wonderful. This is diversity in action, folks. And if you don't agree that this is the most wonderful
00:09:46.420 thing ever, you're an ist or a phobe. Question. How many different ways can you spell cultural
00:09:54.800 decline? Well, there it is on the screen right there, folks. And here's the thing. You need to
00:10:01.260 understand this. I don't care where you're coming from. You can be blonde haired and blue eyed. If 0.68
00:10:07.380 you're coming over here to get a free lunch on my dime, I want you to go home. You should be getting a 0.68
00:10:12.800 plane ticket. So we got all these people coming over here claiming refugee status 1.00
00:10:17.460 or here illegally. I did the math in my head. It's something like $60,000 per person per year
00:10:24.600 that you're paying for these people. Are you making $60,000 a year?
00:10:30.360 Meanwhile, you can't afford food. Here's the latest from the food professor. Food inflation hits a
00:10:35.840 staggering 7.3% in January, including 4.8% for food purchased from stores. Even accounting for last
00:10:42.380 year's GSD holiday base effect. Remember that. Food inflation would still be around 6.3%, the highest
00:10:48.860 among G7 countries. GSD holiday base effect. You know, the answer for the liberal government for
00:10:54.480 everything is to throw money at it, your money. Band-Aid solution never actually heals the problem,
00:11:00.620 which is food prices are too high in this country. The problem with putting a Band-Aid on something is
00:11:06.260 if it doesn't heal, you got to pull that Band-Aid off and it hurts. But the answer is to spend more
00:11:11.600 money. And here it is right here. You know about this new federal grocery rebate will cost $12.4
00:11:16.500 billion, PBO estimates. That's the government's money, right? No, it's your money. I'm not going
00:11:22.000 to benefit from this. Conservatives say they'll work with the liberals to fast track the bill. Well,
00:11:27.700 of course they will, because they have to be compassionate, don't you know? Throwing around
00:11:31.980 more money, that's compassionate. We don't have any money. We're broke. Let's go back to the quotes.
00:11:37.600 Alexis de Tocqueville, the American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it
00:11:45.400 can bribe the public with the public's money. Isn't that what the liberal government's doing
00:11:48.660 right now with the help of the conservatives? My apologies to Tocqueville. All due respect,
00:11:55.240 I changed it a little bit. Canada will endure until the day Parliament discovers that it can bribe
00:11:59.340 the public with the public's money. It has discovered that. And you're told everything's
00:12:04.920 fine, folks. I'm going to end with another Thomas Sowell quote here. This is a good one. You'll like
00:12:12.820 this one. I said I would bookend this with Sowell. One of the sad signs of our times is that we have
00:12:19.140 demonized those who produce, subsidized those who refuse to produce, and canonized those who complain.
00:12:26.200 I'll just leave it at that. Thank you very much for watching. If you like the video, give it a
00:12:32.160 thumbs up, subscribe to the channel, ring the bell for notifications. I'll see you in the next one.