An immigration backdoor that’s helping thousands of millionaires move into Quebec is also costing taxpayers in B.C. and exacerbating the housing affordability crisis in Metro Vancouver, according to critics.

Quebec’s popular Immigrant Investor Program gives wealthy foreigners a fast-track to life in Canada provided they fork over an interest-free loan of $800,000 to the province. Nineteen-hundred well-off individuals and their families are expected to get permanent residency through the program this year.

But data collected by lawyer Richard Kurland shows the vast majority of those immigrants – including a whopping 94 per cent of the 2,600 who came through in 2008 – end up living elsewhere, mainly in Metro Vancouver.

“At the end of the day, Quebec’s getting the cash but B.C.’s getting the body,” Kurland said.

Kurland sees the influx of rich foreigners as a net-positive because of the money they spend in B.C., but said having hundreds or even thousands of millionaires scooping up property every year is bound to drive up real estate prices.

What’s more, Kurland believes some of the people admitted under the program pay little in taxes, living off money that’s transferred in from outside the country.

“That’s not income earned here, it’s not taxable here,” he said. “So the family that has that income stream legally is entitled to pay no or low taxes and get all our social entitlements… even though they’re living in a million dollar home with multiple fancy cars.”

So B.C. ends up footing the bill for health care and education, while Quebec reaps the investment rewards. Kurland and others believe it’s time for B.C. to get more aggressive and demand its share.

“I think B.C. should be raising this issue with Quebec,” said David Eby, housing critic for the NDP. “As a matter of fairness, we’ve got some serious settlement issues here in British Columbia that are coming through your program. You’re getting $800,000, can you help us pay for things like language courses and other kinds of supports to help people here, including, potentially, to subsidize some housing here.”

Kurland said B.C. could also lobby the federal government, which used to run a similar program to Quebec’s across the country, to let it accept wealthy immigrants directly, and collect the corresponding loans.

B.C.’s Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training Minister Shirley Bond said there isn’t enough data available on what impact Quebec’s program is having on other provinces, and she wants to see more collected before any big policy decisions are made.

“From our perspective it is important that we get the data,” Bond said. “If British Columbia needs more support in that area, then the federal government should take a look at that.”

CTV News spoke with Immigration Minister John McCallum when he was in Vancouver. McCallum said the government can’t restrict Quebec investors from moving to Vancouver but it’s possible Ottawa could look at adjusting settlement money according to the final destination of the immigrants.  

With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Mi-Jung Lee