Ottawa paid $31M for part of Lebanon evacuation: documents
Last Updated: Monday, October 30, 2006 | 10:05 AM ET
CBC News
Canadians could learn more this week about the cost of the evacuation of Lebanon. CBC News has learned the federal government paid roughly $31 million for a portion of the transportation costs.
About 15,000 Lebanese-Canadians accepted Ottawa's offer of free passage to Canada from Lebanon this summer during the more than four weeks of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah fighters.
Most were taken from the port of Beirut by ship to either Cyprus or Turkey, where they caught flights to Canada.
Although Foreign Affairs says it is likely to be 2007 before they confirm the final cost, a number of sources from within government and non-governmental organizations tell CBC it could top $100 million.
CBC news has seen eight contracts handed out to transportation companies involved in the evacuation. They include:
- $18 million paid to three separate Cypriot companies for boats.
- $6 million paid to Toronto-based SkyLink Aviation, which brokered a number of flights.
- $6.5 million to Air Canada to operate six flights from the Middle East to Canada.
In total, Ottawa chartered 41 flights to remove people from the region.
Foreign Affairs isn't saying how much it paid for flights not included in the above contracts, which were operated by airlines such as Air Transat and Middle East Airlines, Lebanon's national carrier.
Besides the missing transportation costs, none of the more than $30 million in contracts CBC has seen covers hotel bills, food or water.
They also do not include overtime pay or travel costs for the nearly 400 government employees sent to Lebanon, Cyprus and Turkey to administer the complex evacuation.
Disclosure deadline Tuesday
However, more information surrounding the evacuation could be released this week because of a law passed by the former Liberal government requiring public disclosure of federal contracts worth more than $10,000. The deadline for disclosure for the summer quarter is Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay is likely to face questions about the evacuation when he appears before a Senate committee examining the process.
A spokesperson for CARE Canada who was in Lebanon during the evacuation said it was difficult and expensive to operate there.
"There is a question of supply and demand which makes it very challenging," said Ali-Khan Rajani. "It becomes a costly operation."
Roughly six government departments and agencies involved in the operation are now haggling over who pays for what and which budgets to take the money from.
An earlier news report suggested the evacuation cost $85 million.
