Transcript of the Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence, speaking with reporters on the evacuation efforts in Libya

StarBuzz Weekly, Toronto-March 1, 2011 House of Commons Foyer, Ottawa

Question: Minister, can you tell us about HMCS Charlottetown? What’s the role?


Hon. Peter MacKay: Sure. So as the Prime Minister just announced in the House, tomorrow morning we will have the HMCS Charlottetown which is a Halifax class frigate departing for the Mediterranean. We have 240 officers and sailors aboard her. As well there is a Canadian Forces Sea King helicopter and an air detachment that goes with that. And the intention here is obviously to provide the type of command and control in the region, to provide for the continued support of efforts, all efforts to remove Canadians, evacuate Canadians from Libya as well as support, if need be, certain humanitarian efforts.

As we’ve seen in Haiti, this is a very versatile platform. To have this type of capability in the region we feel will further empower our efforts to evacuate Canadians and to prepare for other inevitabilities, whether it’s the enforcement of sanctions and to work with the international community. As you know, it’s not just Canadians who are in peril. There’s other nationalities that – other foreign nationals that we’ve been assisting to evacuate as well.

Peut-être juste en français. Demain matin, le gouvernement du Canada, le Premier ministre a annoncé c’est l’intention d’envoyer un bateau canadienne des Forces canadiennes avec 140 (sic) membres des forces sur le bateau avec un hélicoptère. C’est pour continuer les efforts pour évacuer des Canadiens et des autres personnes qui restent en Libya. Donc c’est consistant avec notre effort de aide des personnes qui restent dans ce pays, dans cette situation difficile.

So that is the intention with respect —

Question: How long will that take?

Question: Quand ce navire se rendra là-bas?

L’hon. Peter MacKay: Approximate une semaine. Six jours en route pour arriver à Mediterranean. So it takes about six to seven days for the ship to sail. But it is ready to go tomorrow.

Question: Isn’t there (inaudible) by the time it gets there the need for it will have dissipated?

Hon. Peter MacKay: Well, that’s the reason we’re taking the step to send it now. Given the volatility, given what we’ve seen unfold in the last number of days, the decision was made to send the ship. If need be, it can be called back to port but it’s our intention at this point to have that ship launched tomorrow.

Question: In what way would they be able to enforce sanctions?

Hon. Peter MacKay: Pardon me?

Question: You said maybe enforcing sanctions. What did you mean by that?

Hon. Peter MacKay: Well, if sanctions deal with certain blockades or certain military, for example, going into the region, we are there for all inevitabilities. And NATO is looking at this as well. We have other countries that have ships in the region as well so this is taken as a precautionary and staged measure.

Question: You said six days. Evacuation efforts would be over.

Hon. Peter MacKay: I would hope so.

Question: So then it gets there too late.

Hon. Peter MacKay: Well, that’s just the reality. It takes six days to get there. That’s why we sent aircraft. The reason that we have aircraft there on the ground, we currently have two C-130 Hercules aircraft on the ground along with a C-17 which is —

Question: Wasn’t it returned today again we couldn’t make it?

Hon. Peter MacKay: If you’ll just let me finish. One of the C-17s has now gone back to Spengalen, Germany. So we had four aircraft. We now have three — a C-17, two C-130 Hercules and one of the C-17s is now back in Germany. So it is still available.

Question: But one couldn’t (inaudible) today because they couldn’t evacuate anybody today again, no?

Hon. Peter MacKay: All right. Our priority remains evacuating as many Canadians as possible, coordinating that through the Department of Foreign Affairs, also coordinating with other countries. What happened today was along with other countries there have been occasions where landing slots have been denied. The reason given was that there was insufficient room on the tarmac at that particular time of day. So the aircraft was in flight. It turned back. A similar flight was taking place out of Italy. They were denied and then later given a landing slot and in the meantime we continue to respond to calls. We continue to coordinate very closely with other countries and of course with Foreign Affairs. And, look, the reality is if you want to get out of Libya, make the call. Call us. Tell us where you are. And we’ll get you out.

Question: JTF2 are apparently on the ground. Can you tell us what exactly their – what their role is?

Hon. Peter MacKay: Well, we don’t talk about special forces operations. What I can tell you is that we have members of the Canadian Forces who are there. Some of them are embedded within an Operations Centre with the British Forces and other countries. We’ve had great cooperation from the Maltese, from their government, from their officials in terms of coordinating our continuing efforts and we’ll continue to work with other countries, to work with like-minded allies.

Question: Have you authorized armed force protection for Canadian troops going into Libya. In other words, when these flights go in are they with troops with guns, they can shoot?

Hon. Peter MacKay: Of course they have force protection. The members of the armed forces that are on these aircraft are members of the Canadian Forces so they are part of the force protection package. They’re there to ensure the safe extraction of Canadians. They’re there to ensure that these operations happen smoothly. But our focus is on getting people out. Similarly, our focus is on aiding other countries in terms of some of the humanitarian relief that’s occurring simultaneously.

Question: Will they fly to other places besides the Tripoli Airport?

Hon. Peter MacKay: Absolutely. And that is the flexibility of that platform. The smaller of the two aircraft, the C-130 Hercules, they can land on shorter, more austere aircraft – or airfields, that is to say some that aren’t paved. That aircraft is a much more flexible type of extraction and we can go to other parts of the country other than Tripoli.

Question: Is the situation in Libya becoming less secure for Canadian soldiers operating there?

Hon. Peter MacKay: Well, look, that is an ongoing assessment. What we’ve determined is that there are still Canadians in the country that have expressed a wish to leave, somewhere between 100 and 200. Some have said they want to leave but not right away so there is varying reports as to the timing of their departure. We continue to work very closely to provide that means of evacuation.