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OTTAWA — Canada’s embattled defence minister took to the airwaves Sunday to make his case that he did not mislead Canadians about the cost of the military mission to Libya.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay said opposition parties and the media have tried to warp his words in recent days over comments he made about the cost of sending Canadian war planes and ships to Libya last year.

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MacKay told two political talk shows he was “crystal clear” that when he told CBCRadio in late October that the cost of the mission was less than $50 million.

In that same interview, MacKay told CBC Radio’s The House “there could be more costs that come.”

MacKay said he was asked about the cost of the mission to that point — not about the $106-million estimate of which the Canadian Forces now says MacKay would have been aware and reported to cabinet.

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As reported by Postmedia News on Thursday, figures buried in a Defence Department report tabled in the House of Commons on Tuesday put the full price of the Libya mission at nearly $350 million, including more than $100 million in “incremental costs.”