New York Consul General Tom Clark says he 'had no role' in purchase of luxury condo

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