The Opposition is demanding Prime Minister Stephen Harper table details of his government's new national defence plan, including the actual costs.

Liberal House Leader Ralph Goodale accused the government during Question Period Thursday of providing no details or analysis of its defence strategy and said the Canadian Forces "deserve more respect than such an obvious political stunt."

On Monday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Defence Minister Peter MacKay unveiled the Canada First Defence Strategy, which they said would ensure the Canadian Forces have the manpower, equipment and support they will need to meet the country's long-term domestic and international security challenges.

But Goodale said the defence plan took over two years to produce and amounts to "nothing more than a letter to the editor."

"They can't give any details and they can't say whether the cost of the plan is $30 billion, or $50 billion or $96 billion," Goodale said. "How could it take years to produce a plan with no details and a price tag that no one over there [on the other side of the House] can explain?"

Harper told the Commons the $30 billion he announced Monday represents what the annual budget of the Department of National Defence will be at the end of his 20-year plan. The current budget, around $18 billion, will be increased every year until it hits that target.

On top of that money, the government will also spend $45 billion to $50 billion in capital investments to buy new military vehicles, airplanes and other equipment over the 20-year period, he said.

"We will increase the regular force strength to 70,000. We will increase the reserve force strength to 30,000. And we will bring in new equipment to replace destroyers, frigates, maritime patrol aircraft, fixed-wing search and rescue aircraft, next generation fighter aircraft and a new family of land combat vehicles and systems," Harper said.

He said the "decade of darkness" the military faced under the previous Liberal government is now over.

But Goodale insisted that at his news conference on Monday the prime minister made a $10-billion mistake.

"The reason is now obvious. No one in this government has a clue what their defence policy actually is or how much it will cost," he said. "The prime minister offered no detailed description of what the forces will be doing or how."

The Bloc Qu?b?cois also challenged the government, saying taxpayers have a right to know how much defence spending is going to cost over the next 20 years and who's telling the truth about the numbers.

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