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A plan by military brass to spend $107,000 on a change of command ceremony earlier this year sparked a heated battle inside National Defence headquarters in Ottawa over the proper way to spend taxpayers’ money.

Ultimately, deputy Defence minister Jody Thomas refused to approve the expense and the generals were forced to scale back the cost of the May 4th ceremony to around $24,000, Postmedia has confirmed.

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The battle over costs centred on the ceremony to mark the change in leadership at the Royal Canadian Air Force from Lt.-Gen. Mike Hood to Lt.-Gen. Al Meinzinger.

The initial budget was $107,000, according to DND, but Thomas balked at that cost so it was scaled down to $80,000. The deputy minister declined to approve that amount, noting that while such a ceremony was important for military traditions, taxpayers would not look kindly on the high price-tag.

The cost was dropped again, but not before very heated debates between senior military staff, including Hood and the deputy minister, a number of defence sources noted.