Liberals fire back at Conservatives over staff relocation expenses questions

Government House Leader Bardish Chagger told the House of Commons the previous Conservative government spent $300,000 to relocate PMO staffers in response to continued questions about the $1.1 million the Liberals spent to relocate ministers' aides.

The Conservatives say the approval of $207,052in expenses to move Trudeau'sprincipal secretary and close friend Gerald Butts and chief of staff Katie Telfordfrom Toronto to Ottawa as a failure of judgment on the part of the prime minister.

Two more senior Liberal aides the chiefs of staff to Industry Minister Navdeep Bains and Foreign Affairs Minister Stphane Dion announced Friday they would pay back similar amounts.

• Senior PMO staffers say they will return $65,000
• Liberals get painful lesson in perception vs. reality
• TrudeauLiberals spent $1.1M to move political staffers

Butts andTelfordannounced in a Facebook post Thursday night thatthey would repay part of the expenses they claimed. The statementsaid they felt $65,000 of the expenses were "unreasonable," including money they eachreceived under the category of "personalized cash and incidentals."

Conservative House Leader Candice Bergen said it was up to Trudeauto deny those claims if they were inappropriate.

Conservatives lead QP with questions on relocation expenses

8 years ago

Duration 3:35

Conservatives lead QP with questions on relocation expenses

"The prime minister's friends admitted that they claimed tens of thousands of dollars of inappropriate expenses, which the prime minister signed off on," Bergen said. "This clearly shows a lack of judgment on behalf of the prime minister. What other expenses is the prime minister hiding and defending?"

But a former chief of staff to Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper, Guy Giorno, dismissed the suggestion that Trudeau's judgment was even at play.

"The idea that Mr. Trudeau approved any specific item is ridiculous," Giorno said."He would have simply decided that they were covered (under the relocation policy)."

Giorno said that when he relocated from the Toronto area to Ottawa to work in the PMO in July 2008, his relocation was approved and then the entire move and all associated costs were handelled by a third party relocation service that followed the government's policy for moving expenses.

In response to a request from CBC News, the PMO said Trudeau did not sign off on the expense claimspersonally.

Rather, he "approved of the use of the relocation policy," which was administered by staff in Privy Council OfficeFinance according to Treasury Board guidelines.

'Only took the Liberals nine months'

Chagger said the government was following a long-standing policy of reimbursing staff for relocating to work in government.

"The previous prime minister's office approved over $300,000 in relocation expenses including one relocation at a cost of $93,331," Chagger said Friday of moving expenses the Conservatives accumulated over 10 years in office. "Mr. Speaker, we know that these policies need to be updated."

Trudeauhas asked theTreasury Board to create a new policy forrelocation expenses, she said.

"Well, Mr. Speaker, it only took the Liberals nine months to rack up over a million dollars in expenses," Bergen responded.

Bergen says PM's moral compass is "What he can get away with"

8 years ago

Duration 0:29

Bergen says PM's moral compass is "What he can get away with"

The PrivyCouncil Office, or PCO, later clarified that the single relocation of a Conservative staffer cost$92,952.71 and straddled the 2008-09 and 2009-10 fiscal years. The person who claimed the expenses was not named.

Conservative spokesman Jake Enwright said current party staff don't know who it is.

"There are numbers that the Liberals asked non-partisan public servants to dig up for political reasons," Enwright said."Presumably, the Liberals will have the details about these figures."

Giorno said PCO told him it would be Monday before they could get him information about his relocation expenses, which he said was "odd."

"If the $93K is me, why not just say so?" Giorno said in an email.

The PCO is the branch of the civil service that administers non-political aspects of the PMO.

When an agency or entity of the federal government, the RCMP or the Canadian Forces authorizes an employee to be relocated, Brookfield GRS, a third party contractor, manages the move according to three separate policies.

Employees of the federal government fall under the National Joint Council IRP Directive, which lays out a long and detailed list of entitlements and rules for what can and cannot be claimed.

According to theNJC's website, charges that can be expenses range from business calls, shipping a car, childcare, house-hunting trip expenses, mortgage breaking penalties, legal fees, shipping a boat, kennel fees for pets and a host of other expenses.

The PCOprovided the followinginformation on the last 10 years of relocation expenses for the PMO staffers.