Ottawa reserving commercial airline seats to get Canadians out of Lebanon
CBC
The federal government has started booking blocks of seats on commercial flights to help Canadians get out of Lebanon.
"Canada has secured seats for Canadians on the limited commercial flights available. If a seat is available, please take it," Global Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly posted to X, formerly Twitter.
"Canadians need to leave now."
Officials from Global Affairs Canada (GAC) told Radio-Canada the government took this step because commercial flights out of the country are becoming scarce as Israel's military action against what it calls Hezbollah targets in Lebanon continues.
Since October of last year, the government has been advising Canadians in Lebanon to leave while commercial options are still available. Those advisories ramped up over the summer as tensions in the Middle East escalated.
The government says Canadians are responsible for paying the cost of the ticket. In her post, Joly said there is a government program to assist those who can't afford it.
"Please ensure you are registered with our embassy in Beirut and indicate you want help leaving," Joly said.
"If you need financial assistance, loans are available."
Appearing on CBC's Power & Politics Friday night, Joly told host David Cochrane the best way to leave Lebanon is through the Beirut airport.
"Canadians just have to register through GAC online," Joly said. "We've been able to secure priority for Canadians on these flights."
Joly said if an evacuation becomes necessary, Canada has agreements with Cyprus, Greece, and Turkey.
"I've been in contact with all these foreign ministers to make sure these countries are still on board," she said.
"Also we're working with key governments, the Australians, the Americans and also the French governments, to make sure we adapt our evacuation plans together. Because what we learned from the evacuation in 2006 is we can't compete for spaces at the port."
In an interview with CBC's The House, Defence Minister Bill Blair said the flights will "get people to safety" and mentioned Cyprus as an possible destination.
