OTTAWA — Opposition MPs accused Canada’s Consul General in New York of lying to a Commons committee over the fact he’d raised concerns about his official residence as the government purchased a $9-million condo on Billionaires’ Row. Thursday, Consul General Tom Clark was grilled by opposition MPs at the Commons Government Operations committee over whether he did or didn’t influence Global Affair Canada’s (GAC) decision to purchase the new luxury official residence. In previous testimony, Clark had assured the committee that he had played no role in GAC’s decision to purchase a new official residence in New York City, arguing that the process had begun years previous and was well underway by the time he was appointed in February 2023.
GAC claims that the new residence represents up to $7.4 million in savings for taxpayers, since it comes at a lower cost than the $13 million listing price of the current one and will eliminate spending $2.6 million in renovation costs and save $115,000 in annual operational fees.
But in recent weeks, documents released via an access to information request to Politico and the National Post revealed an internal GAC email that noted “the (Consulate General New York) in April 2023 informed ...
senior management that the property is not suitable for representational activities, and it is not suitable as a residence and requires immediate replacement.” Following that reporting, the committee re-summoned Clark to explain the apparent .
