Cost of Canadian Coast Guard patrol ships jumps by $500 million in less than a year, MPs told

The cost of a project to build two patrol ships for the Canadian Coast Guard has jumped by $500 million in less than a year, this newspaper has confirmed.

The project budget for the two Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ships is now $2.1 billion, up from a previous estimate of $1.6 billion.

Craig Macartney, communications advisor for Fisheries and Oceans Canada, noted in an email that construction of the first of two new coast guard Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ships, or AOPS, started in August at Irving shipbuilding in Halifax, N.S.

How is that possible?