| STEADY STREAM — A shocking week ends with tensions high and all eyes fixated on the Israel-Palestine conflict as Canada scrambles evacuation planes to pull Canadians out of the massive conflict zone. — By the numbers: 128 people boarded the first plane to Athens. The second had 153 onboard when it was taxiing Thursday afternoon. Officials listed another Canadian as missing, bringing the total to four. — Still unclear: How many people will ultimately need to be airlifted out. How long the flights will go on for. How much it will cost. If Canada can reach the roughly 100 Canadians stranded in Gaza through the establishment of a humanitarian corridor. A Global Affairs official described it as a “permissive environment,” meaning anyone left waiting for the next flight should be able to board one and won’t be left stranded. So far, the flight logistics appear to be going well. Last time Canada mobilized relief flights like this in Sudan earlier this year, one of the planes broke down and another flight was scrubbed over gunfire. — Info from the void: You could have missed it entirely, but GAC did hold a behind-the-scenes press conference not for attribution on Thursday, meaning the officials stay nameless. That was something directly challenged by CP’s DYLAN ROBERTSON, who pushed back against the sudden anonymity the department granted itself: “I just want to urge your department to stop with the business of unattributed sources. You're all people who testified publicly yesterday … it's quite ridiculous and this contributes to mistrust and misinformation.” LESSONS LEARNED — This is of course not the first time Ottawa has had to orchestrate something on this grand a scale. Playbook got on the horn with former Foreign Minister PETER MACKAY and Independent Sen. PETER BOEHM, who both headed up the successful 2006 evacuation of 15,000 people from Lebanon, for some insider takes on what it’s like to organize something of this magnitude. It was an early test for STEPHEN HARPER’s government, which had faced similar early criticisms about a slow response. A crisis like this sets Ottawa into a frenzy, with many “four corners” meetings taking place that involve top officials from PMO, Privy Council, bureaucrats and ministerial staffers. Desk workers filled a 24/7 operations center at the Pearson building on Sussex Drive – some slept there on cots. MacKay recalls war-room-like scenarios where his staff convened meetings with the defense minister, chief of defense staff, PMO, public safety and immigration — and a lot of late-night calls due to the time difference and need for negotiating. “My deputy and my chief of staff and several others at the department were literally sleeping on our sofas, staying at the office 24/7,” he said. Boehm, an assistant deputy minister at the time, called it an “all-out effort” that took place over several days that required close coordination with the Israel Defense Forces. — Similar but different: That effort entailed dealing with a war zone and all its hazards as well as coordinating with the local military. But there’s a much bigger war zone this time, and that means the government is “going to have to up its game,” MacKay said. “This to me appears to be a much bigger crisis and challenge.” The two situations aren’t totally comparable. In 2006, conflict was focused along the Lebanon-Israeli border area, which allowed people to come dockside in Beirut and have ships depart from there. Israel had erected a port blockade. Flash forward to now, the Canadian Forces have better air lift capacity. Boehm said Ottawa had chartered aircraft and a lot of boats, including some from northern Cyprus, as other allies tried to do the same. “I do recall making phone calls to Cyprus — and Peter MacKay and I still joke about it — just trying to get a ship: the Blue Dawn,” he said. “We eventually got it, and then the Australians phoned me and were quite upset because they were negotiating to get that ship as well. So, it comes down to inventory that's available, conditions on the ground and to a good degree of patience.” — Better than Uber: Prime Minister Harper traveling through Cyprus at one point even took some people back on his plane. — 4 big things: → Securing the big military planes was the first priority before getting into complicated contract negotiations: “The Canadian Forces have been pretty good in terms of making aircraft or equipment available when they can do it, but you can't turn this on a dime if it's on the other side of the planet,“ Boehm said. → Vet like crazy. It was sometimes very difficult to determine if a person was a Canadian citizen or not, Boehm said. If they didn't have a passport, they would be screened and issued an emergency passport that just covers the trip. → Get ready to handle people used to being pampered by the service industry. "Back in 2006, we had people actually asking for Air Canada points and business class,” Boehm said. “I was rather thunderstruck at the time." Former Canadian diplomat RAMBOD BEHBOODI had a similar takeaway on an X thread defending criticisms of a slow response by Canada: how do officials deal with the unexpected, like people who refuse to board an Airbus and demand a Boeing or can’t “get on board without my morning coffee”? → Catastrophes like these reveal the “understated role” of Canada’s under-resourced armed forces, MacKay said. “It seems only when crisis strikes does it occur to Canadians how important that security that they provide really is in their daily lives.” Did someone forward Ottawa Playbook your way? Click here to sign up for your own edition. It’s free!
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