Consul general reiterates he had no influence on $9M Manhattan condo purchase

OTTAWA — Canada’s consul general in New York doubled-down Thursday on his past claim that he exerted no influence on the decision of Global Affairs Canada to buy a $9 million condo in Manhattan.

Tom Clark was summoned back to testify before a parliamentary committee looking into the purchase.

The decision to recall the former journalist came following media reports earlier this month indicating he had raised concerns about the former residence, despite previously saying he never expressed a desire to move into a new one.

Testifying under oath this time, Clark told MPs the observations he raised were made in passing to a colleague, and he was unaware those remarks had been reported to the department.

“Certainly, they were never, ever intended to sway anything,” Clark told MPs.

“At no time did I ask that we change residences, and I think that’s an important point.”

NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice pressed Clark on why he was adamant that he never expressed a desire to move, despite making offhand comments regarding deficiencies with the old residence.

“I did not talk to anybody about relocating. My comments, casual as they may have been, were directed toward what I had to work with at 550 Park Avenue (the old residence),” Clark said, noting problems with the accessibility of the furniture, and the lack of family space.

“(The lack of family space) is not an uncommon comment for incoming heads of mission to say. It’s a problem with many official residences.”

Boulerice pressed further, asking whether highlighting all the problems with an old residence could have been interpreted as a desire to move.

“The process for relocating an official residence is not in the hands of the local head of mission, nor the staff,” Clark replied.

“It is entirely in the hands of the property division (of Global Affairs Canada) in Ottawa.”

Clark also testified he only visited the new residence on West 57th Street for the first time after the offer to buy was made on it — indicating even if he had issues with it, it wouldn’t have made a difference since the offer was already in.

Conservative MPs, however, weren’t convinced, and several asked Clark if he would resign for lying to the committee.

“For you to get things done, I don’t imagine you need to directly instruct individual members of your team to do them. You need to identify that there’s a problem, and then the team engages to solve it,” said MP Michael Barrett.

“There are now multiple datapoints … that revealed you were involved. That your champagne tastes weren’t being met with the recently-modified shared representational space at the mission.”

Some of the datapoints Barrett referenced include an email from Emily Nicholson, a Global Affairs Canada official, which said Clark was “instrumental” throughout the process, and that Clark had provided the “green light” for the selection of the new residence.

Nicholson has since recanted Clark’s level of involvement, testifying to the committee last month she should have used more precise language.

Other Global Affairs officials have also testified to the committee Clark was not involved in either the sale or purchase of the residences.

“The issue that we are facing here is that you have obviously, and shamelessly, lied to this committee on multiple occasions,” Conservative MP Kelly Block said during her questioning of Clark on Thursday.

“And so my question for you is why don’t you just come clean with this committee, and Canadians, admit you’ve lied, follow in Randy Boissonnault’s footsteps, and resign?”

Clark reiterated a phrase he repeated several times throughout his questioning from MPs of various parties: that he has told “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”

Conservative MP Stephanie Kusie tried to have the colleagues to whom Clark raised the concerns summoned to committee to testify, but did not receive unanimous consent from the committee to do so.

Conservatives have argued the purchase of the luxury condo was an example of the Prime Minister doing a favour to a “media buddy” and an example of unnecessary government spending.

Clark was a longtime broadcast journalist at CTV News, and briefly Global News, before he retired from journalism in 2017. In 2022 the Conservatives tapped him to moderate their leadership race debate, about a year before Trudeau appointed him to the consul general role in New York City.

The government has previously said the purchase of the new residence would save taxpayers about $7.4 million when factoring renovation costs, operating fees and the profit from selling the old residence.

The previous residence, listed at $13 million, has yet to be sold.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 21, 2024.

Nick Murray, The Canadian Press