Statement made on 01 February 2011 by Senator James Cowan
Hon. James S. Cowan (Leader of the Opposition):
Welcome back, honourable senators. My question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate.
Honourable senators, as the eyes of the world focus on the current unrest in Egypt, the government is scrambling to ensure the safe evacuation of Canadian citizens. We are reminded that a similar effort was deployed in Lebanon in 2006, from which lessons should have been drawn. In fact, the Standing Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade initiated a study of the government's evacuation of more than 14,000 Canadians from Lebanon. In its report tabled in May 2007, the committee made a number of recommendations to enable the government to improve its contingency planning in the event of future evacuations of this scale.
In its introductory remarks the report stated:
While the Committee believes that its hearings have shed some light on the events surrounding the Lebanon evacuation, it also strongly urges the Government of Canada to prepare and release to the public a report on the lessons learned by government departments involved in the evacuation effort, and the steps that should be taken as a result of the Lebanon experience.
Was such a report prepared and published by the government? If not, why not?
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