Canada's budget watchdog says a series of improvements to benefits for veterans, introduced in the waning days of the

Harper government, will likely cost the federal treasury $231.6 million over the next decade.

The parliamentary budget office has crunched the numbers on the new retirement income security benefit for veterans over 65 and the higher earnings loss benefit for part-time reservists.

The Conservative government introduced those changes and a series of other measures last spring in an effort to rebuild bridges with veterans upset about gaps in the system — one the new Liberal government has vowed to improve further.

In today's report, the budget office says the improvements will push the overall cost of providing benefits to the country's ex-soldiers to $3.3 billion over the next 10 years.

The report also takes a stab at estimating precisely how much the Afghan war will cost the veterans system — in both physical and mental health payments — between now and 2025.

The budget office pegs that number at $157 million.