Canada’s Consul General in New York Tom Clark has dismissed the suggestion that he was involved in the decision to buy a new luxury apartment to serve as his official residence in the city, or to sell the old one.
“I had no role whatsoever in either deciding to sell the former residence or buying the new one,” Clark told a parliamentary committee by video conference Thursday. “That was completely undertaken by the property bureau in Ottawa.”
Conservative MP Larry Brock confronted Clark with an internal email between Global Affairs Canada (GAC) officials dated June 17 providing an update on the property purchase.
In that email, the official said both Clark and the consulate staff in New York had been “instrumental throughout this process” and that Clark himself had provided “the greenlight for the selection of the new residence.”
Clark, a veteran broadcaster who took up the job in New York in 2023, said that email was wrong and has since been corrected.
“That was a person who was not involved in the process of this,” he said. “I only became aware of this email 48 hours ago. I too was taken aback by what was in it because it was simply wrong. It wasn’t true.”
NDP MP Taylor Bachrach pressed Clark on the corrected email, asking him why an official would write a memo that was false.
Clark replied that he also was surprised “that something would be written that is so completely wrong.”
The committee then agreed to call the GAC official who wrote the email to appear before them at a later date to answer questions.
A controversial purchase
In previous meetings of the committee, multiple senior officials from GAC said Clark did not offer advice or have any role in the purchase of the new residence. They also said he was not made aware of the apartments GAC was considering as a replacement.
“This was a smart acquisition. This was actually a process that was sound, policy compliant, well-documented and exempt from any influence, including from Mr. Clark,” Stéphane Cousineau, senior assistant deputy minister at Global Affairs Canada (GAC), told MPs last month.
Since the purchase of the $9 million apartment became public in July, it has been criticized by Conservative MPs as overly lavish in light of the cost of living challenges facing Canadians.
Conservative MPs have repeatedly claimed the purchase was made to provide a perk to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s “media buddy” Clark, a veteran broadcaster.
Previous testimony by GAC officials indicated the new apartment is 50 per cent cheaper to run annually and cost $4 million Cdn less than the old residence’s recent list price.
GAC officials previously told the committee that the five bedroom apartment at 550 Park Avenue that had served as the official residence since 1961 was no longer suitable.
Officials said they considered renovating the current residence at a cost of $2.6 million, leasing a suitable unit, or purchasing a new apartment. GAC officials told the committee last month the decision to buy a new residence will save taxpayers more than $7 million over the lifetime of the unit.
During his appearance, Clark said that since becoming consul general he has hosted 38 official functions in the residence, including a recent event where the governor of New Jersey was invited in advance of his trade mission to Canada.
Clark said that diplomatic dinners could not be hosted in the consulate’s New York offices because it does not have a working kitchen and installing one would be against the city’s bylaws.
