Canwest: Tories won't tell future Afghan war costs [View All]

[tuvor]

OTTAWA -- In a significant policy shift, the Canadian government now believes that telling the country's taxpayers the future cost of the war in Afghanistan would be a threat to national security, Canwest News Service has learned.

The Defence Department cited a national security exemption when it censored a request under Access to Information by the federal NDP for the military costs of Canada's military participation in the NATO-led, United Nations-sanctioned military mission to Afghanistan.

When the NDP asked for the identical figures last year, the military made them public. Canwest News Service was able to disclose in April 2008 that the yearly incremental cost of the war would top $1-billion for the first time since Canada's military became involved in Afghanistan in 2002.

But this year, military censors cited Section 15 of the act in blocking out the figure.

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http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1718949