The Canadian military had projected last year that the war in Afghanistan would cost $1.009 billion in 2008-09, but this year’s figures show that the actual cost was $1.190 billion.
When the NDP asked for the projected costs for 2009-10 and 2010-11, the military refused to give them citing national security provisions of the Access to Information Act.
Today, the Canwest News Service reports that the Treasury Board has posted these figures on their website.
“The Treasury Board says the military mission will cost $822 million in the fiscal year 2009-10 and $943 million in 2010-11. It also estimates that the mission will cost $178 million in fiscal 2011-12, when Canadian troops are expected to pull out of combat roles in Afghanistan.”
That adds up to another $1.943 billion in projected spending on the war in Afghanistan.
“These latest estimates by Treasury Board are far larger than the Defence Department predicted in April 2008 when it released information to the NDP that showed a $261-million price tag for 2009-10 and $150 million for 2010-11.”
120 Canadian soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since 2002, including most recently Corporal Martin Dube on June 14. The military mission is to continue for another 30 months to December 2011.
Today’s news report is at http://www.vancouversun.com/Canada+Afghan+will+more/1725558/story.html.
The campaign blog on the military refusing to release the numbers is at http://canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=823.
