$200M in single year for P.E.I immigrant program

Financial details of a part of Prince Edward Island's controversial Provincial Nominee Program were released Thursday.

The 2008-2009 annual report of the Island Investment Development Inc. — the corporation that ran the program — contains details of almost $200 million that came into the province during that fiscal year through deposits from new immigrants.

The report shows Island Investment Development Inc. has assets of more than $295 million. About two-thirds of that came through immigration programs run by the Provincial Nominee Program and a federal immigration program called the Prince Edward Island Century 2000 Fund.

"Those funds … are invested with three different companies in low-risk bonds, cash and GICs and that's where the money sits today," said Innovation Minister Allan Campbell.

The Provincial Nominee Program — commonly known as PNP —  was meant to match foreign investors who wanted to immigrate to Canada with P.E.I. companies they could invest in. In return for their investment, applicants would have their immigration application expedited.

The program ran from 2001 to 2008, attracting controversy in its final year, when the province rushed nearly 2,000 immigrants through the application process.

Companies owned by MLAs and senior civil servants received program money, and there were also questions about the quality of the companies approved for investment.

Each immigrant paid $45,000 — the payments were called good faith and language deposits — before the program came to its scheduled end.

The annual report shows the deposits total more than $118 million.

"The good news here is that our refunds are outpacing our defaults, which is a great thing," Campbell said. "That means more of the immigrants are actually remaining in P.E.I. than either not showing up or leaving P.E.I."

According to the report, almost $5 million was paid to the government after some immigrants defaulted on their deposits. An additional $8.4 million in profits was transferred to the treasury.

"This government is certainly investing in the settlement and retention of our immigrants as well," Campbell said.

More than 22,000 immigrants have come to Canada through provincial nominee programs since 2001.