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Three months after voting to undertake air strikes in Iraq, the federal government still hasn’t given a cost estimate for the mission to the Parliamentary Budget Officer.

It also won’t say whether the figures will be contained in its response to a formal question posed in writing by an opposition MP.

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The budget officer, Jean-Denis Fréchette, first asked the Department of National Defence for cost estimates on Oct. 15. In the most recent exchange of letters, DND told the watchdog to wait for the department’s response to an Order Paper question posed by an MP.

But a spokeswoman for the Defence Minister Rob Nicholson wouldn’t say if the estimate will be disclosed when that question is answered in writing.

“In accordance with Parliamentary Privilege, responses to order paper questions cannot be released before they are tabled in the House of Commons,” Johanna Quinney wrote in an email. She said even disclosing whether the cost will be in the government’s response would violate parliamentary privilege.