OTTAWA — Alberta Immigration Minister Joseph Schow says he wants Ottawa to stop turning a blind eye to illegal immigration in Canada and have an honest conversation about the strain he says it’s putting on infrastructure and public services.

“I’m not going to sugarcoat it, we believe there’s 500,000 illegal immigrants currently spread across Canada and these individuals are benefitting from taxpayer-funded services.” said Schow.

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“The federal government is choosing to disregard this number and that’s a real problem.”

Schow, who is also Alberta’s minister of jobs, economy and trade, is calling on federal officials to account for the estimated number of undocumented migrants in the country when setting next year’s immigration targets.

“These illegal migrants must b

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