Cost of Liberal government's defence plan has jumped by $50B, PBO says

The cost of the Liberal government’s nearly seven-year-old marquee defence plan has jumped by over $50 billion — mostly due to anticipated work on modernizing continental defence and delays in projects that should be underway — the federal budget watchdog said Wednesday.

The Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer released an update to its projections for the impact of Strong, Secure and Engaged, the 2017 defence policy document.

The new assessment shows the projected cost of purchasing new equipment under the plan over a 20-year period has increased to $214.8 billion, up from the PBO’s previous assessment of $164 billion. 

When the federal government initially