OTTAWA – A commodore serving in Canada’s Navy racked up the priciest move among his peers over the past five years, according to numbers released by National Defence this week.
Then a commodore, Rear-Admiral Ron Lloyd, moved from Halifax, N.S. to Esquimalt, B.C. at a cost of $97,013 to take on the command of Canada’s Pacific Fleet.
It was the costliest move among general staff between 2008 and 2013, according to numbers released through access to information this week.
Global News received a similar set of numbers regarding generals’ moves in February, but the naval rank of commodore – the equivalent of a brigadier-general – was overlooked by the access to information office in the original disclosure.
“When the report was created only those individuals using the term general were included in the print-out,” said the office in a letter. “The naval ranks were not incorporated into the report and hence the information was not provided.”
The documents show 22 moves over the past five years with prices varying from $97,013 to $5,214, with some international moves and others domestic.
The costs of the moves vary wildly. Lloyd’s cross-country move, for example, cost nearly three times more than a move from London, England to Ottawa, Ont. made by one of his peers.
Lloyd had a subsequent move in 2009 from Esquimalt, B.C. to Ottawa, Ont. and it was half the cost of his first move, coming in at $46,240.
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Calls to Lloyd’s office were forwarded to the department’s public affairs branch. National Defence was not able to explain by deadline exactly why Lloyd’s costs for his 2008 move were higher than other moves, but it said in a statement:
“The department recognizes that each move is different and that costs can vary. Therefore, there are internal procedures in place to review the individual circumstance, which may require additional consideration or review.”
The costs of all work-related transfers are paid for by National Defence and are handled by an independent agency. Individual factors that can influence cost include differences in real estate fees, legal fees, number of people travelling, distance, the amount of belongings, commercial lodging expenses or meal reimbursements.
The department also said paying for door-to-door moves helps offset some of the stress that military life, whether domestic or international, can place on members and their forces.
NDP Defence critic Jack Harris said he couldn’t comment on specific moves without the details, but said most Canadians wouldn’t find such high moving bills reasonable.
“Greater consistency between what’s going on needs to be looked into and the Minister needs to ensure we don’t have these types of anomalies all the time,” said Harris, who has been advocating for 146 military families who lost thousands of dollars when they had to sell their homes in a depressed market without getting full compensation for the loss.
He suggested looking at greater consistency in how much real estate fees should be paid or how much stuff should be moved.
None of the moves listed in the most recent document were within the same city – a type of move that raised controversy in February when media reported the department paid $600,000 to move generals, many of them retired, within the same city or just outside the city limits over the past five years.
The most costly of these moves was expensed by Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Andrew Leslie, now a Liberal party advisor, whose move from one house in an upscale Ottawa neighbourhood to another just four minutes away, cost taxpayers $72,000. That move was also the second-most costly of all moves in the past five years.
Leslie defended the policy, saying it fairly compensates uniformed members for many moves over the course of their service.
Leslie wasn’t alone. Thirteen generals had intra-city moves. Another eight moved within 100 kilometres of their old house.
Click here to see the full list of the moving costs for generals.
As part of the deal for serving their country, all military members can expense one final move post-retirement. The policy is meant to ensure members can choose their final home after being at the whim of the department for decades.
The Conservative government announced in February that it is reviewing the policy for same-city moves after the price tag of the relocations among general staff alone became public.
Here’s a list of the moving costs for commodores over the past five years.
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