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An oil refinery under construction in northern Alberta — already dubbed a multi-billion-dollar boondoggle by a former Tory minister — is now even more expensive, triggering calls for an investigation by the province’s auditor general.

A recent report by investment bank AltaCorp Capital estimates the Sturgeon plant near Edmonton, Canada’s first refinery in decades, will cost roughly $9.3 billion, up from the previous estimate of $8.5 billion.

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The provincial government, which was already on the hook to backstop the project with $26 billion in tolling payments, said it will have to pay more after construction costs increased by $800 million.

Alberta Party Leader Greg Clark on Tuesday asked the auditor general to review the risks that the Sturgeon refinery poses to taxpayers, arguing the risks must be evaluated in the current environment of depressed commodity prices.

“Even though there have been some benefits for job creation, those benefits aren’t justified by the costs,” Clark said in an interview.