The tab for the large-scale evacuation of Canadians from war-torn Lebanon during Hezbollah's conflict with Israel cost taxpayers $85 million, CTV News has learned.

The government won't officially divulge what the running total is, nor will it reveal how many people returned to Lebanon after the fighting stopped in mid-August.

But sources have told CTV News about 7,000 evacuees have returned to Lebanon of an estimated 50,000 Lebanese-Canadians who live there permanently.

Ontario Conservative MP Garth Turner says citizenship rules need to be revamped.

"I think Canadian taxpayers have every right in the world to be ticked at what happened," Turner told CTV News.

"Should citizenship expire after a certain period of time if you don't live in Canada anymore? Should it take longer occupancy to get Canadian citizenship?" he asked.

Turner said he is trying to "raise the alarm" that while Canada took these Lebanese-Canadians away from harm's way, "it was to be expected that they would find their way back when the hostilities ceased."

Others want to see that dual citizens who are living outside the country are paying taxes.

"We should do our tax treaties with other countries and see if we can ensure that the tax is collected so that Canadians holding dual citizenship pay tax," Ontario Liberal MP Yasmin Ratansi said.

Canadian Taxpayers Federation federal director John Williamson agreed, saying that "If you don't want to pay taxes to the government of Canada, you give up your citizenship."

Williamson added that he thinks a lot of taxpayers will find it difficult to digest the sum of "tens of millions of dollars."

"I think a lot of taxpayers across this country are going to be wondering why so much money was spent on people -- (who are) citizens, but who don't reside in Canada. I think there's going to be a lot of questions for the government of Canada," he said.

But many Lebanese-Canadians see it differently.

"Once you are Canadian, it's either you are a Canadian or you are not Canadian. There is no second-class citizenship," said Khalid Hashem of the Canadian Lebanese Cultural Association.

Canada's first evacuees were rescued by boat from Beirut on July 19, days after the beginning of Israeli-Hezbollah hostilities.

A sluggish start to Canadian evacuation efforts triggered a firestorm of criticism of the government's handling of the crisis, including accusations of micro-managing from Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office.

But other observers said the government did its best given it was faced with the largest number of evacuees of any country.

Between July 19 and mid-August, chartered ships and planes ferried approximately 14,000 Canadians out of Lebanon from Beirut and the southern port city of Tyre to Cyprus and Turkey. The passengers were then flown home.

Up to 40,000 Canadians were registered with the embassy -- the largest population of expatriates in the country.

As a rule, Canada asks citizens to reimburse the government for their evacuation from foreign lands.

But the federal government decided in this case that taxpayers would foot the bill for costs related to the evacuation of Canadian citizens from Lebanon.

Ottawa similarly agreed to waive evacuation charges after the devastating 2004 tsunami.

With a report from CTV's Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife