A Canadian warship will begin making its way to the waters off of Libya on Wednesday, to assist with evacuation and humanitarian efforts in the North African country.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced during question period Tuesday that HMCS Charlottetown will work alongside a U.S. carrier battle group, which will be led by the USS Enterprise.
"I am proud that the Charlottetown will rapidly be joining Canadian and allied forces to participate in this effort in Libya," Harper told the House of Commons.
It could take about a week for the warship to get to the region from Halifax, said Defence Minister Peter MacKay.
"Given the volatility, given what we've seen unfold in the last number of days, the decision was made to send the ship," MacKay told reporters in Ottawa. "If need be it can be called back to port, but it's our intention at this point to have that ship launch tomorrow."
The announcement of HMCS Charlottetown's deployment followed news that a Canadian Forces C-130J Hercules aircraft was denied landing rights in Tripoli Tuesday and had to return to Malta without the load of oil workers that officials had hoped to evacuate.
The military transport departed Malta on Tuesday for the Libyan capital, but was waved off before it arrived.
"There basically wasn't any ramp space for the Hercules aircraft to land at Tripoli airport," said CTV's Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife.
"It is very, very busy. There are planes coming in constantly and by the time the Hercules aircraft left Malta and got to Tripoli airport there was nowhere for it to land and it had to turn around and go back to Malta."
The plane has now returned to Malta and another flight is scheduled for Wednesday. It isn't clear which company the oil workers are employed by, or how many there are.
Canada has had trouble organizing evacuations for the Canadians stuck in Libya over the past two weeks.
At least two charter planes landed in Tripoli but left empty, because there were apparently no Canadians at the airport waiting to be flown out.
And a C-17 military transport was denied landing rights in Libya last week and sat on the tarmac in Rome for days awaiting the necessary approvals.
Now Canada has two C-17 transport planes and one C-130 stationed in Malta, making rescue efforts much easier, said Fife.
Canada also has a military reconnaissance team and nine combat medics in Malta.
Harper spoke to Malta's prime minister, Lawrence Gonzi, on Tuesday to thank him for hosting Canadian military personnel.
Harper's spokesperson, Dimitri Soudas, said the two men also discussed the need to prevent Libyan Leader Moammar Gadhafi from continuing his violent crackdown on protesters demanding his ouster.
