Canadian taxpayers have shelled out more than $300,000 to maintain a luxury 12-room apartment on Park Avenue in New York City, a property that was supposed to house Canada’s Consul General, Tom Clark, who refused to move in.

According to a Global Affairs Canada response to Order Paper Question Q-349, tabled on November 7, the government has been paying staggering monthly costs for the empty residence: nearly $19,000 in condo fees, around $1,000 a month for parking, and tens of thousands in maintenance and repairs, even though the apartment has sat unused for over a year.

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Clark, a former CTV and Global News host, was appointed by the Trudeau government as Canada’s Consul General in New York in 2023. Before his diplomatic posting, Clark made headlines for a fawning 2016 interview in which he asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau what kind of shampoo he uses — a moment emblematic of Canada’s cozy political-media class.

Despite the posting’s generous salary and perks, Clark opted not to live in the government’s Park Avenue residence, leaving the multimillion-dollar suite vacant.

According to the documents, in the condo, like with so much of the Liberal braintrust, the lights are on but nobody is home. 

Government records show the 12-room apartment was used only twice in a year — once for a lunch with a Quebec delegation and once for a breakfast with the Business Council of Canada.

Meanwhile, electricity costs bizarrely fluctuated. One bill hit $3,850, despite no full-time occupant. Add in natural gas, fumigation, and storage costs, and the total annual tab topped $300,000.

Rather than recoup losses through short-term rentals, Global Affairs Canada claimed that co-op and municipal restrictions prevented renting the space, and fretted that tenants might cause “wear and tear.”

Luxury real-estate firm Douglas Elliman was contracted to handle the property, listing it at $9.5 million USD or roughly $13.1 million CAD.

The lavish Park Avenue property now stands as a symbol of Ottawa’s diplomatic waste, disrespect of taxpayers, and opulence never spared on insiders: a $13-million luxury apartment, empty but fully serviced, maintained for a former TV anchor-turned-Trudeau appointee who decided it wasn’t quite to his liking.