Butts is the principal secretary and Telford is Trudeau’s chief of staff.
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“With so many Canadians struggling for work, how can the Prime Minister possibly justify these incredible payouts?”
It has been the federal government’s policy to reimburse relocation costs of senior officials and their families since the 1970s – a policy most recently updated in 2011.
“When we reviewed these costs, we decided that the amount called ‘personalized cash payout, ‘ which is for miscellaneous moving expenses is unreasonable, and we will both be reimbursing that amount”, the statement says.
Trudeau, elected last fall, faced questions about the moving expenses since they were revealed by the government earlier this week in response to a written question from an opposition Conservative lawmaker.
In the Facebook note, Butts breaks down the costs each of them claimed; Telford’s include $44,149.50 for real estate commission, fees and employer taxes, $10,735 for moving logistics, and $23,373.71 for personalized cash payout and incidentals.
Butts will also reimburse land transfer costs, which is listed at $25,141.
“For our part, we want to make sure that our friends and families know we followed a policy that has been in place for decades, and will only be reimbursed for the hard costs of our families making the move”, Butts finished off by saying.
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They say that Trudeau has asked Treasury Board to create a new policy to govern relocation expenses across the whole of government.
