Ah, the supps.

Never is so much fun had — by so many parliamentary committees — as at the annual vetting of the Government of Canada's supplementary estimates.

The supps, as they're called, are the mid-year fiscal update on government spending, vetted, sometimes line by line, by committees of MPs.

Today, it was Defence Minister Peter MacKay's turn to get the fiscal once over by the House of Commons Defence Committee.

The big supplementary estimate? An extra $340 million for the Department of National Defence to spend on its operations in Afghanistan. That brings the total cost of the mission since 2001 to $3.1 billion dollars. That's the incremental cost and doesn't include the salaries and other equipment fees the military would have to pay whether or not its soldiers were overseas.

While MacKay did a good turn at the table his top general, Chief of Defence Staff Rick Hillier, escaped without having to say much. An odd thing for Hillier, who never misses a chance to sound off into a mic.

While waiting for the committee to begin its hearings, Hillier passed the time with a few reporters showing off his Toronto Maple Leafs wrist watch. The hours of the day are marked with the years Toronto's team has won the Stanley Cup. Twelve o'clock is blank.

"That's for 2008," Hillier said.

Um. Sure, big guy. Sure.