Liberals try to turn tables on Tories over relocation expenses

The Liberals are trying to turn the tables on Conservatives who’ve had a heyday with excessive moving expenses claimed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s two top aides.

They revealed Friday that former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper’s office paid out almost $325,000 in relocation expenses for 29 staffers _ including a single move for one individual that came in at just over $93,000.

But the Tories shot back that the Harper staffers’ total expense claims were run up over nine years, whereas Trudeau’s PMO managed to rack up $220,564 for five staffers in just nine months.

The tit-for-tat ploy came a day after Trudeau’s chief of staff, Katie Telford, and principal secretary, Gerald Butts, apologized for claiming $80,382 and $126,669 respectively in expenses incurred moving to Ottawa from Toronto.

The duo promised Thursday to reimburse a total of $65,000, attempting to douse the fire that has raged over the issue throughout the opening week of the fall parliamentary sitting.

There was no let-up in the Conservative attack Friday.

Tory House leader Candice Bergen said the reimbursement is an admission by the Liberals “that they have been using the taxpayer as their personal ATM.’’ She noted that Telford and Butts are close friends of the prime minister’s and that he had to sign off on their expense claims, which are paid to political staff throughout government at the discretion of each minister.