Government turned travel agency: inside Canada’s repatriation efforts

With the operation to bring far-flung Canadians home in the face of COVID-19 about ’80 per cent’ done, Liberal MP Rob Oliphant reflects on the Herculean task.

Liberal MP Rob Oliphant, parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs, has spent most of his days since February consumed by consular affairs since COVID-19 prompted a massive repatriation effort from cruise ships to chartered flights.The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

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BY SAMANTHA WRIGHT ALLEN

May 6, 2020

At the peak of Canada’s effort to repatriate tens of thousands of Canadians, Liberal MP Rob Oliphant’s consular responsibilities filled his inbox with 1,600-plus emails and pushed his work days past 15 hours as the go-between the government and MPs dealing with constituents in crisis abroad . F...

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