Embattled Defence Minister Peter MacKay is under fire again, this time over accusations that the prime minister kept him in the dark about the Conservative government's decision to review Canada's Afghan mission.

MacKay took over as head of the Ministry of Defence in August 2007 and the government undertook an independent review of Canada's role in the Afghan war later that year.

According to a new book by Murray Brewster, an Afghanistan correspondent with The Canadian Press, MacKay was blind-sided by the decision.

On Monday, the defence minister denied being kept out of the loop.

"According to a release by the Canadian Press, the defence minister was kept out of key decisions about Canada's role in the Afghan war," New Democrat MP Tarik Brahmi said during question period Monday. "This was our top defence priority, and yet the prime minister was calling all the shots. The prime minister could have used some advice. Most agree our efforts should have focused more on peace talks and diplomacy. So Mr. Speaker is he still making foreign policy and defence decision on his own or does he now let his cabinet room?"

MacKay rose to answer the question, saying: "We have always worked together with the prime minister and cabinet."

He went on to defend the Afghan mission, saying, "the Honourable Member talks now about somehow reaching out to the Taliban or improving co-ordinations inside Afghanistan. Even the Afghanistan government and the president himself has said, as a result of the assassination of (Burhanuddin) Rabbani, it's back to business as usual, Mr. Speaker, which unfortunately buoys the fact that we can't work with a terrorist organization that doesn't respect human rights, doesn't respect women and refuses to disarm, Mr. Speaker. So I'll take no advice from the member opposite."

The book, "The Savage War," includes an interview with MacKay in which he admits that cabinet was not consulted about the decision to review the Afghan mission.

On Monday evening, Brewster posted a tweet about his exchange with MacKay concerning the panel review.

The defence minister also confided to the author that Canada may have agreed to relocate to Kandahar without fully understanding how difficult it would be to oust the Taliban in an area where that group enjoyed widespread support.

The book argues that the prime minister's office exercised a great deal of control over the Afghan mission, in an effort to shape public opinion on the war in the southern part of the country.

MacKay is under fire for spending $2.9 million on 32 flights aboard government-owned Challenger jets since 2008. He has also faced questions recently for vacationing at a fishing lodge owned by the chairman of Crown corporation Marine Atlantic, at the end of which he was picked up by a Cormorant search-and-rescue helicopter.

Documents showed that out of the 35 flights logged on Challenger jets by MacKay, only nine were for repatriation ceremonies and many were for press conferences and political announcements.

Pressed again on Monday to defend his use of the government jets over commercial flights, MacKay said he had done nothing wrong.

"I have always complied with the government rules," he said in the Commons, and said the costs of the VIP flights were "less than a third" of the cost cited by CTV, but he did not elaborate.

CTV obtained details about the flights through Access to Information requests.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper defended MacKay's frequent flier miles on Thursday, saying that the frequency of the minister's flights aboard government jets is low compared to his predecessors.

Opposition parties charge that MacKay's use of the Challenger jets constitutes a waste of taxpayers' money.

With files from The Canadian Press