OTTAWA SPLITS $2.2M SHIP COST
Paid to retain vessel that wasn't used
The federal government paid to have a “high-speed” ship on standby to evacuate Canadians in Lebanon, then later cancelled the $440,000-a-week contract after five weeks, deciding it wasn't needed after all, officials say.
Joining with one or more other countries to put the ship on retainer — and later scrapping the deal — underscores the tricky logistical and political challenges Ottawa faces around the conflict on Israel's border with Lebanon.
More than 17,000 citizens have registered with the Canadian Embassy in Beirut, 17 years after a previous war in Lebanon triggered a controversial rescue of thousands from the country.
Lebanese-canadians and others complained in 2006 that the Conservative government of the day was too slow and disorganized in helping its citizens, while others questioned why Ottawa was rescuing passport holders who in many cases had few ties to this country.
Soon after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel responded with a massive bombing campaign in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah and Israeli troops began trading fire at the Lebanese border. Fears of all-out conflict between them continues.
As part of Global Affairs Canada's contingency planning, “a short-term contracted-retainer arrangement was put in place to secure access to a high-speed vessel operating in the region for guaranteed use, if required,” said spokesman John Babcock.
It then became apparent the fighting was mostly isolated to the de facto border that separates Lebanon from Israel and the Golan Heights, he said.
Five weeks after joining with unnamed “international partners” to pay for a ship to be “gassed up, staffed up and ready to go,” the contract was ended, said a government source who asked not to be named.
“There is no continued need to warrant a contractual agreement to secure assets,” Babcock said.
The cost of having the ship on standby was $440,000 a week, said GAC spokesman Pierre Cuguen — adding up to $2.2 million for the five weeks — though it appears at least one other nation shared the bill. The total price tag will be released by the department with other expenditures as part of its “proactive disclosure” for the third quarter, Cuguen said.
Meanwhile, the federal government has been urging Canadians in Lebanon since October to leave the country, warning them to make use of commercial transport while it's still available.
The National Post asked a number of Lebanese-canadian organizations for comment, but none had responded by deadline.
Louis de Lorimier, who was ambassador to Lebanon during the 2006 evacuation, said it makes sense to cancel the ship contract since neither side seems to want the violence to spread further, and an evacuation of Canadians looks unlikely.
The retired diplomat said the current situation is different than what happened in 2006, when hostilities broke out suddenly after Hezbollah killed eight Israeli soldiers and captured two others. Israel's bombing campaign in response extended as far north as Beirut. Within weeks, the number of Canadian citizens registered with the embassy soared from 11,000 to 39,000. In the end, about 14,000 were evacuated, most taken by ship to Cyprus and flown to Canada from there. It cost the government $94 million.
One of the challenges was finding ships that could get citizens out of Lebanon. A Senate report on the evacuation recommended, among other measures, more advance planning.
There was also debate about the fact that many of the citizens airlifted to Canada had tenuous connections to this country.
“We had people coming in with (citizenship) documents, you had to blow on them to get the dust off,” de Lorimier recalled. “Obviously they hadn't been back to Canada and they had no attachment to Canada for a very long time. That also is problematic. That's what you call a citizenship of convenience.”
The former ambassador said that when he began his career about 50 years ago, Canada assumed that dual citizens living in their country of origin were the responsibility of that other nation. But the mindset has changed since then.
“You have citizens in harm's way, you have to help,” said de Lorimier, a fellow with the Montreal Institute of International Studies. “Citizenship doesn't have grades.”