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The National Capital Commission spent nearly $4,000 to protect and relocate the Bluesfest Bluesnest last summer, documents released to Parliament reveal.

Roughly half of that — $1,948 — was spent to hire a private security guard from the firm Harris Security, which provided 24-hour protection for the killdeer nest after it was discovered on the Bluesfest grounds in June. It cost another $2,007 for a total of 55.5 hours work by four NCC biologists involved in relocating the nest.

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The cost was released Monday by the Library of Parliament in response to a question posed Sept. 18 by Conservative MP John Nater of the Ontario riding of Perth-Wellington.

Nater asked the government for the total cost, the number of government employees involved and the number of hours dedicated to the relocation.

The killdeer is protected under Canada’s Migratory Bird Act and nests can’t be destroyed or relocated without federal permission. The Killdeer pair built their nest directly in front of where workers were preparing to erect the music festival’s main stage. Construction was halted until the NCC came up with a plan to build a dummy nest that was painstakingly moved to a new safer location out of harm’s way.