The Canadian Press reports that Canadian Leopard tanks from the Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians) armoured regiment based in Edmonton have conducted their first operations in around Kandahar, Afghanistan. The tanks become the first Canadian tanks deployed to combat operations since the Korean War. In total 15 tanks have been transported to Afghanistan at a cost of $1 million each plus several armoured recovery vehicles.
The first tank and armoured recovery vehicle were transported at the end of September to central Asia on commercial Antonov An-124 and then to Kandahar on separate flights of leased US Air Force C-17s. The Canadian American Strategic Review site has further pages on the threats to Canadian tanks in Afghanistan, which fortunately do not include the latest generation Russian anti-tank weapons that Iran and Syria supplied to Hezbollah.
CTV reported in October that the Canadian military is considering purchasing up to 100 surplus Leopard 2 tanks from the German and Swiss armies for an additional battle group.
Update: December 3, 2006
The tanks quickly saw action, firing shells at a mud walled abandoned grape drying hut, presumably from which Taliban fighters were firing.