Canada's Seven Billion Dollar War
| Author | David Perry |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070200806300317 |
| Published date | 01 September 2008 |
| Date | 01 September 2008 |
| Subject Matter | Over the Transom |
David Perry
Canada’s seven
billion dollar war
The cost of Canadian forces operations in Afghanistan
| International Journal | Summer 2008 | 703 |
In March 2008, parliament voted to extend Canadian military operations in
Afghanistan through 2011. By July of that year, roughly 41,000 Canadians
will have served in the Afghan theatre of operations, 15,000 more than
fought in Korea. Given the seriousness of Canada’s commitments, in terms
of both blood and treasure, informed discussion of the Afghan war is vital to
ensure the public understands the government’s aims and motivations, as
well as when Canadians can expect to see the forces return home. On these
points, there has been significant discussion amongst the public, parlia-
mentarians, and pundits which, while highly partisan, has included sub-
stantive reasoned debates. In contrast, there has been little analysis of the
financial burden for the government of Canada—and the Canadian armed
forces specifically. For a national military only recently emerging from a
decade of budget cuts, the financial cost of such a substantial combat mis-
sion is significant.
David Perry is a PhD student in po litical science at Carleton University and the former
deputy director of the centre for foreign policy studies at Dalhousie University.
| David Perry |
| 704 | International Journal | Summer 2008 |
There has been little reasoned discussion of the short-term financial im-
plications of the mission to date, and virtually no analysis of its long-term im-
pact on the defence budget. To be fair, estimating the financial burden of an
active war effort is made difficult by the ever-changing nature of combat op-
erations, and tracking the finances of the Department of National Defence
over time is complex. Even if one focuses on a specific area of defence spend-
ing, “it is extremely difficult for Canadians to know how their defence dollars
are being spent because of reporting and tracking systems that are as opaque
as they are clear.”1
Although parliamentary committees and the Manley panel have issued
reports on CF operations in Afghanistan, none dealt substantively with the
financial implications, while the auditor general has only examined logistics
support.2In the US, on the other hand, the congressional research service,
congressional budget office, and government accountability office have pro-
duced detailed analyses of the cost of the “global war on terror,” including es-
timates for the future costs of operations. In comparison, no Canadian body
provided a comparable financial analysis of Canada’s current commit-
ment—or the prospective extension—that could have been incorporated
into recent debates over extending the Afghan mission. Instead, the public
is left with two nongovernmental analyses of past operations and scattered
media reports.
The financial impact is vital to the debate over the mission itself, as well
as future defence planning, and it is not subject to operational security con-
cerns. Unfortunately, the government’s reporting does not allow easy assess-
ments of the total costs, future projections, or detailed funding of operations.
Thus, it is left to individuals to make their own calculations.
This article offers an initial examination of the cost of the Afghan mis-
sion focusing on the Department of National Defence, the Canadian forces,
1 David Bercuson, Aaron P. Plamondon, and Ray Szeto, “An opaque window,” Calgary,
CDFAI, May 2006, iii.
2 A senate report quotes a figure of $30 million a month for operations, well short of
official estimates. The Manley panel simply listed the full DND costs of operations be-
tween FY 2000-01 and 2006-07. See “Canadian troops in Afghanistan: Taking a hard
look at a hard mission,” Ottawa, standing senate committee on national security and
defence, 2007; John Manley, “Final report,” Ottawa, independent panel of Canada’s
future role in Afghanistan, 2008; and “Support for overseas deployments: National de-
fence,” in “Report of the auditor general of Canada to the house of commons,” Ottawa,
May 2008.
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