House committee to investigate purchase of Canada’s new $9M condo in NYC
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A House of Commons committee will look into the Liberal government’s recent purchase of a $9-million condo in Manhattan for its consul general to New York.
The government operations and estimates committee unanimously agreed Wednesday to hold several meetings next month to investigate the purchase.
The committee has directed Global Affairs Canada (GAC) to provide a list of properties, including their addresses and prices, that were viewed or considered for purchase for the consul general’s official residence in New York.
It is also calling several witnesses including Tom Clark, consul general to New York, the deputy minister of Global Affairs, representatives from the Procurement Department and Treasury Board, and a panel of New York City real estate agents.
The committee also says it will call Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly to testify if necessary.
Conservative MPs Michael Barrett and Larry Brock demand parliamentary committee obtain more information on what led the government of Canada to purchase a $9M condo in Manhattan. Liberal MP Ron McKinnon said that it is an asset that is “liquidable.”
Michael Barrett, the Conservative party’s ethics critic, described the apartment purchase Wednesday as an inappropriate expense given many Canadians are struggling with rising rent payments and other housing affordability issues.
He said Clark, a former Global News journalist and host, will be housed in an apartment in the city’s “billionaire’s row” and people deserve “all of the information about this $9-million expense that taxpayers are footing.”
Selling old unit will save money: GAC
GAC has said a previous New York City residence, purchased in 1961, wasn’t up to code and did not meet the department’s standards, prompting last month’s purchase.
The department said there would have been “high renovation costs” associated with any construction project at the older unit and decided instead to relocate to “a new, smaller, more suitable and more economical apartment.”
GAC said selling the existing apartment on Manhattan’s glitzy Park Avenue and moving to the newer apartment further west in midtown will actually result in some $2 million in savings for Canadian taxpayers.
“It will also reduce ongoing maintenance costs and property taxes, support future program needs and meet representational requirements,” the department said in a statement to CBC News.
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