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OTTAWA — National Defence has refused to release information about four troubled, multibillion-dollar military projects to Parliament’s budget watchdog, prompting concerns the department and Conservative government have failed to learn from the F-35 controversy.

The Parliamentary Budget Office asked Defence officials in February to provide cost estimates and planning documents for new armed Arctic patrol ships after opposition MPs asked the PBO to look into the actual costs of the project.

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Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised between six and eight patrol ships for $3.1 billion in 2006, but the project has since faced several delays and there are fears the government will either have to increase the budget or build far fewer vessels.

Yet in a response letter dated June 25 and published on the PBO website Wednesday, the Defence Department’s top civilian, Richard Fadden, wrote that the cost estimates were secret and would not be released.