Former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien talks at the Royal Commonwealth Society in central London during a breakfast meeting with journalists, Tuesday March 30, 2004. (AP Photo/John D McHugh)

Canadian taxpayers will fork out $652,000 for former prime minister Jean Chretien's personal and political papers this year -- almost three times last year's bill, supplementary budget estimates show. The budget documents, which detail additional spending requirements for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2005, from individual departments, shows an additional $2.9 billion is being requested across the board.

The supplemental estimates show that it will cost an additional $189 million for Canada's mission in Afghanistan, $76 million extra cash for the new Public Health Agency and $78 million more for communication activities such as 1-800-O-Canada.

Like other prime ministers, Chretien's documents were purchased by the National Library and Archives and the pricetag is for their "acquisition, processing, and preservation."

Last fiscal year, the pricetag for Chretien's papers was pegged at $240,000.

It's not known how much Chretien received for the donation, and it's unlikely that information will be made public unless the former PM agrees to it. He is eligible to get a tax credit that could be as high as $1 million -- the same tax credit that Pierre Trudeau reportedly received.

Former Tory PM Brian Mulroney reportedly received about $700,000 tax credit for his political papers.

'ATROCIOUS'

Conservative MP John Williams called the additional billions in spending "atrocious."

"There isn't a dime of taxpayers' money the Liberals can't find a way to spend," Williams said.

"I hope (Chretien's papers) are going to be made public soon because they should make interesting reading."