Canada Officially Ends Sea-Borne Evacuations From Lebanon
Posted July 29, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Canada’s evacuation efforts in Lebanon are over. At least officially.
The last of the scheduled ships ferrying Canadian evacuees from the war-torn region disembarked on Saturday, with about 700 passengers en route to Cyprus.
And while they were the last scheduled in 10 days of evacuations, Foreign Affairs went on record as saying any more Canadians wanting to flee will be taken care of.
As of the last ship’s departure, a rough total of 13,000 Canadians have been removed from Lebanon – still less than half of the 40,000 registered with the embassy. The fact is many have simply chosen to stay while others have undoubtedly struggled to reach the processing centers in Beirut.
With that in mind, officials say they’ve remained in contact with several Canadians that weren’t able to reach evacuation ships, and will reassess their strategy in the coming days.
They’re also keeping a running tally of the costs of the evacuation, but refused to divulge the current total.
That number could go a long way in determining how the public perceives the success of the operation, since it started slow and sparked a firestorm of criticism for the government, including accusations of micro-managing in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office.
On Saturday, Quebec Liberal MPs Denis Coderre, Bernard Patry and Marcel Proulx spoke out, arguing it’s too soon to end rescue efforts.
“What are we going to do with the person who can’t get out of a hospital, and the person is a Canadian citizen?” asked Coderre.
Liberal MPs also spent Saturday reiterating calls for an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon, and criticized the Conservative government.
Coderre said Prime Minister Stephen Harper was acting like a “a franchisee of the American Republican Party.”
