While Press Gallery members long shunned by Harper government ministers welcomed the new Trudeau era of accessibility today, it was clear that availability doesn’t necessary produce news when six different ministers spoke about the Syrian refugees file after their cabinet meeting without clarifying the status of the government’s plans to bring 25,000 people to Canada by Jan. 1.

Health Minister Jane Philpott was the first to offer no comment on the status of the plan.

“I’m sure you’re all aware we had a cabinet meeting – everything went very well – we had a number of very important discussions on matters of importance to Canadians and I’m sure you’ll be hearing more of the details of the discussion as the days come,” she said, moving aside to allow Immigration Minister John McCallum to take over.

When asked if the plan prepared by the Ad Hoc Committee on Syrian Refugees had been approved by cabinet, McCallum said, “As my colleague said, we had a very good discussion.”

“After today’s meeting, and I’m not saying what was discussed at today’s meeting, but after today’s meeting we are at the same place as we were yesterday — that is to say we are committed to bringing 25,000 refugees into Canada by the end of the year and we will have an announcement in substantial detail on the plan in coming days,” he said.

Transportation Minister Marc Garneau also wasn’t ready to provide an update on the government’s resettlement plan. When asked how the government plans to transport the refugees to Canada, Garneau said he would leave those details to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Treasury Board President Scott Brison was mum on the cost of the program. He said resettling Syrian refugees is a priority for the government, that the prime minister and for Canadians and there’s “a growing sense in the world that Canada’s back and a Canada that was able to lead the world in the past on refugees — you know, the Vietnamese refugees, as an example, in 1979 — is capable to do so again today. And that’s what Canadians want us to do, and that’s what we will do.”

Brison wouldn’t say how much this initiative would cost taxpayers, however.

Minister of democratic institutions, Maryam Monsef, who came to Canada as a refugee from Afghanistan when she was a child, said the government made a commitment and it will do their best to accept 25,000 refugees and in a responsible manner, but she didn’t say what the plan looks like.

Monsef said the immigrant integration process takes years. “I can certainly speak to that, as can millions of immigrants across the country. You can rest assured that the people who are sitting around that table have taken all those facts into consideration,” she said.

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale may have been the only minister to provide answers relating to his portfolio. He said the Canadian Boarder Security Agency and the RCMP would assist the Immigration and Refugee Department in assessing the risk as perspective refugees are identified.

“They would – they would conduct the necessary examination of all the relevant information to make sure that – that Canada’s security is respected,” he said.