07-19-2006, 12:03 PM
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#13 (permalink)
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Pissing in the cornflakes
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Quote:
Harper heads for Cyprus; taking 120 evacuees from Lebanon home on his plane
By Bruce Cheadle
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PARIS (CP) - Prime Minister Stephen Harper is flying to Cyprus where he intends to take up to 120 evacuees from Lebanon home to Canada on his Canadian Forces plane.
Harper announced the surprise side trip on his week-long European diplomatic tour after a meeting with French President Jacques Chirac at the Elysee Palace on Wednesday afternoon.
"Because of the seriousness of the situation and our relative proximity to Cyprus, we have decided to take the Canadian Forces aircraft we have been travelling on to help airlift evacuees back home," Harper said in a statement. "The aircraft will be stripped down to a skeleton staff."
Media travelling with the prime minister have been bumped to commercial flights for their return home to Canada.
Only Harper's wife, Laureen, a couple of his communications staff and his official photographer, will join him on the 3 1/2-hour flight to Cyprus where the first boatload of Canadian evacuees from Beirut was expected to arrive in the port of Larnaca sometime on Wednesday.
The surprise change in itinerary came as the Harper government was under intense criticism for perceptions that Canada has been slow to ensure the safety of its estimated 50,000 citizens in Lebanon.
Despite having one of the largest groups of nationals in Lebanon of any country in the world, Canada was only getting its first group of evacuees out of the war-torn country on Wednesday.
Several other countries began evacuating their nationals as early as Sunday - albeit in only small numbers. Canada has already lost eight citizens to an Israeli air strike.
A Harper spokeswoman says Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called Harper in Paris on Wednesday expressing his "sincere condolences" for the deaths.
In response to questions, Harper denied the trip was a photo opportunity.
"It's more than a symbolic trip," he said. "There's a need for air support in Cyprus. Freeing up seats, we will have a significant number of seats to help the situation.
"I think criticism in this type of situation, given all the complexities, is inevitable one way or another," Harper added. "We believe there is a real need here. . . . We believe it's the right thing to do."
It wasn't known when the plane would be returning to Canada or its exact destination.
"Our goal is to return as soon as possible," said Sandra Buckler, Harper's communications director.
She did not give details on how they would determine which evacuees would get a ride back to Canada on Harper's plane.
Neither did she confirm reports that some of the Canadian-chartered ships would go from Lebanon to a port in southern Turkey.
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http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/19072006/...ome-plane.html
Well I can't say I expected that, but it sure beats not taking a stand on the issue to look good.
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Last edited by Ustwo; 07-19-2006 at 12:05 PM..
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