OTTAWA -- The Liberal government is defending the moving expenses of a handful of staff, pointing out the rules were created under the previous Conservative government.
Faced with repeated queries during question period, Government House Leader Bardish Chagger said many Liberal staff moved across the country with their families to enact the party's platform.
"We built a diverse team of passionate, hard-working, extremely qualified Canadians to deliver the change people voted for," Chagger said.
"The party opposite should know what the current guidelines for relocation are given they wrote them."
The questions were directed to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who remained seated next to Chagger as she took the questions.
Earlier Wednesday, former cabinet ministers Jason Kenney and Tony Clement criticized the $220,564.11 spent on moving by staff in the Prime Minister's Office, most of which covered the cost of two moves.
"I think the most I ever approved for a staff member who came to Ottawa, and that was from Washington, D.C., was about $5,000," Kenney said.
The Calgary MP is stepping down as an MP on Friday, to run for the Alberta PC leadership. He says he's packing up "20 years of stuff" to move it back to Calgary and "it's not going to be a fraction of these six-figure moving costs."
"Like, I don't even know how that's possible."
One unnamed staffer charged $126,669.56 for the move to Ottawa, with another spending $80,382.55. It's not clear whether those costs include legal fees and taxes associated with selling a home.
The three other staff in the PMO who charged for their moves were all under $7,000, with the smallest cost coming in at $419.80.
A spokeswoman for the Prime Minister's Office said the moving costs complied with government policy.
"Any help in relocation was done in accordance within the rules outlined by Treasury Board in the Policies for Ministers' Offices and the National Joint Council Relocation Directive," Andrée-Lyne Hallé said in a statement.
"The current rules outlining relocation of ministers' office staff have been in place since November, 2008 and have applied to every minister's office since that date. The policies of the National Joint Council Relocation Directive are the same policies that were available to both civil servants and staffers in the previous government."
The directive says the policy covers "those basic provisions covering ... real estate commissions and legal fees," as well as expenses ranging from a house-hunting trip to shipping up to 9,071 kilograms of goods.
Conservative MP Tony Clement, who is running for the party leadership, said the Liberals promised to change how things are done in Ottawa but are coming up short.
"They clearly have a sense of entitlement. You can say all you want about Mr. Harper and some of his failings, but he never had that sense of entitlement," Clement said.
