Michael Chan (Canadian politician)

The Honourable Michael Chan MPP
Michael Chan at The Canadian Film Centre Annual BBQ on September 9, 2012 in Toronto, Ontario
Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament for Markham-Unionville Markham (2007)
Incumbent
Assumed office February 8, 2007
Preceded by	Tony Wong
Personal details
Born	1951 (age 64–65) Guangzhou, China
Political party	Liberal
Residence	Markham, Ontario
Occupation	Insurance broker

Michael Chan (traditional Chinese: 陳國治; simplified Chinese: 陈国治; pinyin: Chén Guózhì) (born c. 1951) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He is a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario who was elected in 2007. He represents the riding of Markham-Unionville. He has served as a cabinet minister in the governments of Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne.

Background

Chan was born in Guangzhou, and his father was an official in the Kuomintang.^[1] As the Chinese Communist Party took power in China, Mr. Chan’s family went to Macau,^[1] before moving to Hong Kong and eventually migrating to Canada in 1969, when he was 18.^[2] He has since maintained close ties, and confirmed in a 2008 interview with Xinhua News Agency that he had visited China over 70 times since the early 1980s.^[2] He told the reporter, "strictly speaking, I’m Canadian, but I have been always paying attention to the root of my culture. I am much concerned with Chinese affairs."^[2] Chan has lived in Markham since 1995.

Before entering politics he was president of the federal Liberal Party of Canada riding association for the Markham—Unionville constituency held by MP John McCallum.

Politics

Chan was elected in a February 8, 2007 by-election, necessitated by the resignation of former Liberal MPP Tony Wong, who left his seat in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to successfully run for York Regional Council in 2006. He was re-elected in 2007, 2011, and 2014.^[3][4][5]

In February, 2007 he was appointed to cabinet as Minister of Revenue. In October 2007, after the election he was moved to Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.^[6] In 2010 he was moved again to Minister of Tourism, Culture. A year later the mandate of the ministry was changed slightly to include Sport issues. In November 2012 he assumed the roles Citizenship and Immigration and responsibility for the Pan/Parapan American Games from Charles Sousa when Sousa announced he was running for the leadership of the Liberal Party.

In February 2013, when Kathleen Wynne took over as the new Premier, she confirmed Chan in his roles as Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport and Minister Responsible for the 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games.^[7] In June 2014, Wynne appointed Chan as the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and International Trade.^[8]

Chan has been instrumental in fundraising for the Liberals,^[1] as well as being active in the recruitment of Chinese Canadians to campaign for seats at both the federal and provincial levels.^[1]

Chan lobbied the Confucius Institute to make a deal with the Toronto District School Board for establishing a local branch in Toronto.^[1] Because of concerns about the way the deal was negotiated, as well as the fact that the curriculum and the hiring of teachers would be controlled by Hanban (the Chinese organization that oversees and subsidizes the program), the agreement was cancelled by the TDSB in October 2014.^[1]

Chan has a column in the Today Commercial News and has used the column to defend China's human rights record.^[9]

In June 2015, The Globe and Mail revealed that Canadian intelligence officials suspected Chan was under the "undue influence" of the government of China, prompting CSIS to formally caution the province about the minister’s alleged conduct in a 2010 briefing. Chan denied the allegations.^[10] Federal justice minister Peter MacKay initially said there was an "ongoing investigation" surrounding the allegations,^[11] but later said he never suggested that CSIS was investigating Chan.^[12]

Cabinet posts

Electoral record

Ontario provincial by-election, February 8, 2007: Markham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Liberal	Michael Chan	9,080	49.32%	−2.38
	Progressive Conservative	Alex Yuan	6,420	34.87%	−5.46
	New Democratic	Janice Hagan	1,492	8.10%	+3.02
	Green	Bernadette Manning	999	5.43%	+3.87
	Freedom	Cathy McKeever	159	0.86%	–
	Family Coalition	Patrick Redmond	135	0.73%	−0.59
	Libertarian	Jay Miller	126	0.69%	–
Total valid votes			18,411	100.00
	Liberal hold		Swing		+1.25

Ontario general election, 2007: Markham—Unionville
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Michael Chan	21,054	59.32
	Progressive Conservative	Ki Kit Li	9,581	27.00
	New Democratic	Andy Arifin	2,599	7.32
	Green	Bernadette Manning	1,911	5.38
	Family Coalition	Leon Williams	345	0.97
Total valid votes			35,490	100.0

Ontario general election, 2011: Markham—Unionville
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Liberal	Michael Chan	19,579	52.58	−6.74
	Progressive Conservative	Shan Thayaparan	11,720	31.47	+4.47
	New Democratic	P.C. Choo	4,575	12.29	+4.97
	Green	Myles O'Brien	1,104	2.96	−2.42
	Libertarian	Allen Small	259	0.70
Total valid votes			37,237	100.00
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			284	0.76
Turnout			37,521	40.68
Eligible voters			92,232
	Liberal hold		Swing		−5.61
Source(s)  "Official return from the records / Rapport des registres officiels - Markham—Unionville" (PDF). Elections Ontario. 2011. Retrieved 5 June 2014.

Ontario general election, 2014
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Liberal	Michael Chan	21,517	51.33	-1.25
	Progressive Conservative	Shan Thayaparan	14,241	33.98	+2.51
	New Democratic	Nadine Kormos Hawkins	4,205	10.03	-2.26
	Green	Myles O'Brien	1,509	3.60	+0.64
	Libertarian	Allen Small	444	1.06	+0.36
Total valid votes			41,916	100.0
	Liberal hold		Swing		-1.88
Source: Elections Ontario[5]

References

Notes

Citations

1. Craig Offman (June 17, 2015). "The making of Michael Chan". The Globe and Mail.
2. Ghoreishi, Omid (September 28, 2011). "Ontario Minister Asked Festival to Ban Newspaper to Please Chinese Consul, Says Source". The Epoch Times. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
3. "Summary of Valid Ballots Cast for Each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. October 10, 2007. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
4. "Summary of Valid Ballots Cast for Each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. October 6, 2011. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
5. "General Election by District: Markham-Unionville". Elections Ontario. June 12, 2014.
6. Ferguson, Rob; Benzie, Robert (October 31, 2007). "Premier goes for new blood; Expanded 28-member cabinet has eight ministers from Toronto, three from 905 area". Toronto Star. p. A13.
7. "Ontario's new cabinet". Waterloo Region Record. Kitchener, Ont. February 12, 2013. p. A3.
8. Richard Brennan; Robert Benzie; Rob Ferguson (June 24, 2014). "Kathleen Wynne warns financial cupboard is bare". Toronto Star.
9. Craig Offman and Nathan Vanderklippe (12 August 2016), Chinese Communist mouthpiece the People’s Daily finds an outlet in Canada The Globe and Mail
10. Craig Offman (June 16, 2015). "CSIS warned this cabinet minister could be a threat. Ontario disagreed .". The Globe and Mail.
11. Adrian Morrow (June 17, 2015). "MacKay says probe involving Ontario cabinet minister Chan is 'ongoing'". The Globe and Mail.
12. Canadian Press (June 18, 2015). "Peter MacKay Says He Never Suggested CSIS Was Investigating Ontario Cabinet Minister". The Huffington Post.

External links

• Official website
• Ontario Legislative Assembly Parliamentarian History