Green Party: Afghanistan Report Highlights Conservative Secrecy, Manipulation

Green party leader says the new report on the cost of Canada’s Afghanistan mission is a condemnation not only of the Harper government’s misguided policy on the war but also of its congenital secrecy and dishonesty.

Elizabeth May said “The Afghan mission is not some political game. It is life and death, and it is immoral and a tragedy that Harper and his backroom strategists treat it like just another issue to be massaged and manipulated.” Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page reported by 2011, the mission will have cost Canada at least $18.1 billion and could go much higher.. . May said. “But the financial cost is a huge burden for Canadians, particularly when a growing number of military experts and leaders is concluding that the mission is not succeeding.” Page draws the conclusion that his difficulty in getting accurate information from several government departments, combined with, “incomplete information and discrepancies in the financial data from different sources within the (government) hinders effective Parliamentary oversight. Budget reporting to Parliament on the Afghan mission "have not met any appropriate standard or best practice,” Page wrote. Cost estimates “consistently underestimate the costs of the mission.” “This is more than just another example of the Harper government’s incompetence, duplicity and disrespect for democratic government,” May said. “Harper and the Conservatives have been hiding the truth and misleading Canadians about a mission in which our soldiers are giving up their lives, and suffering terrible injuries. That amounts to the worst, most immoral, partisan gamesmanship we’ve seen from this government. “With these kinds of funds it is truly a shame that returning veterans are not getting the help they deserve to deal with physical injuries and mental, post traumatic stress injuries.”