Mackay claims he didn’t mislead about Libya cost

OTTAWA — Embattled Defence Minister Peter MacKay claims he didn’t mislead Canadians about the cost of the military mission to Libya.

Mackay said opposition parties and the media have tried to warp his words over comments he made about the cost of sending fighters and ships to Libya last year.

Mackay told two political talk shows he was “crystal clear” when he told CBC Radio in late October that the cost of the mission was less than $50 million.

He also told CBC Radio’s The House “there could be more costs that come.”

Mackay said he was asked about the cost of the mission to that point — not about the $106-million estimate of which the Canadian Forces now says Mackay would have been aware.

As reported by Postmedia News, figures buried in a Defence Department report tabled in the Commons put the full price of the Libya mission at nearly $350 million.

“The actual cost when I was asked at the time was $50 million. Anything else is an estimate and this was exactly to avoid what we’re doing here. ‘Well you said it was going to be $104 [million] and it turned out to be $105 [million],’” Mackay told Global TV’S The West Block.

“The interventions are expensive, ”Mackay told CTV’S Question Period. “In my view, this was money well spent.”

Mackay told Question Period that reporters and opposition parties were taking part in a “deliberate attempt to confuse the public” and blame that confusion on the minister.