© The Canadian Press / Tom HansonA passenger holds his Canadian passport before boarding a flight in Ottawa, Ont. in this Jan 23, 2007 photo.
The first version of Canada's new electronic passport carries a hefty price tag - an ominous sign that the general version being issued late next year might cost triple or more what Canadians pay today.
Since January 2009 the federal government has issued 40,000 so-called ePassports to senior government officials and diplomats.
The secure document has a computer chip that stores key personal data, including an image of the bearer, that can be accessed with a scanner.
Passport Canada, which is required to run a break-even operation, has not yet announced what Canadians will pay for the more complex, high-tech document.
But an expense claim filed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper indicates the cost of the diplomatic version is far more than the $87 that adult Canadians pay now.
Harper purchased four diplomatic ePassports for himself, his wife and two children late last year, at $225 each, for a total bill of $900.
The cost was picked up by taxpayers through his department, the Privy Council Office, according to documents obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.
Comment: And there you have it. "The cost of the criminally minimal support we give to the used-up cannon fodder we like to call 'our troops' is really putting a crimp into all our plans for future wars."