Evidence of meeting #153 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was businesses.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
All right.
Did Tom Clark have any influence in the decision?
Acting Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Real Property and Infrastructure Solutions, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
No, Mr. Clark didn't have any impact on or influence over the decision. The decision followed a process that was supervised by a governance body, which had stakeholders from all over the department.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
I understand.
Did Tom Clark approve the decision to sell or buy?
Acting Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Real Property and Infrastructure Solutions, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
No, he did not.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
All right.
Did Tom Clark approve the decision to purchase another residence?
Acting Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Real Property and Infrastructure Solutions, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
No.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
How many other options were available for the purchase?
Acting Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Real Property and Infrastructure Solutions, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
We reviewed 21 apartments when we did the due diligence and the review.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
I know it's a complex process. There are a lot of diversified elements that come to fruition when making a transaction of this size a reality and part of your overall, entire portfolio.
Can you briefly explain, for the purpose of this committee, the process that leads up to that decision?
Acting Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Real Property and Infrastructure Solutions, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
Absolutely. I will certainly ask my colleague, Mr. Hounzangbé, to provide more details—
Acting Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Real Property and Infrastructure Solutions, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
—because he's really the person in charge of the process. What I can say is that there's a very sophisticated process by which we do a full analysis of the whole lifespan of the assets. Then, this analysis goes through different kinds of lenses. There's legal. There's security. There's procurement. There are a lot of—
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
Out of curiosity, if Mr. Tom Clark says, “I don't like that residence,” does that mean it won't be purchased?
Acting Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Real Property and Infrastructure Solutions, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
No. It would not be—
Acting Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Real Property and Infrastructure Solutions, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
It's not up to him.
Liberal
Director General, Policy and Planning, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
Yes. I was very involved in this transaction. I did oversee the transaction from start to finish. I was the chair of the real property governance committee that oversaw the transaction, and I did sign the transaction, so I'm very happy to provide some clarification elements.
It's a three-step process to review these sorts of transactions. The first one is to establish what the requirement is. In other words, what is the problem that we're trying to solve with a given property that is overseen and approved by governance?
The second step is to think about the options analysis. What are the different options that can resolve the problem identified in step one? That is, again, approved by a governance committee.
The third piece is the expenditure authority, confirming that all of the conditions have been met with the property and that it's been thoroughly reviewed by security legal stakeholders.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
Can you explain Tom Clark's involvement, at the beginning and at the end?
Director General, Policy and Planning, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
I've had no interactions with Mr. Tom Clark. He was, to my knowledge, not directly involved in either the decision-making process to dispose of the current official residence or the selection process to acquire the new one. He was aware of our intentions and our plan, and it was clear to us, but his role was limited to making sure that the doors of the unit could be open for appraisals, visits or things of that nature.
Conservative
Bloc
Julie Vignola Bloc Beauport—Limoilou, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for being here again, gentlemen.
We have received or should have received the rules relation to the condominium, but I don't think we have received those regarding the co-op.
Could they be provided to us so we can do a full analysis of the restrictions that have been mentioned at other meetings?
Moreover, I think Canada's current permanent representative in the United States also resides at 550 Park Avenue.
Is that correct?
November 19th, 2024 / 12:20 p.m.
Acting Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Real Property and Infrastructure Solutions, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
Do you mean the United Nations?
Bloc
Julie Vignola Bloc Beauport—Limoilou, QC
Yes, I mean Canada's permanent representative to the United Nations.
