Michael Chan (Canadian politician)
Michael Chan | |
---|---|
陳國治 | |
Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament for Markham-Unionville Markham (2007) | |
In office February 8, 2007 – June 7, 2018 | |
Preceded by | Tony Wong |
Succeeded by | Billy Pang |
Personal details | |
Born | 1951 (age 71–72) Guangzhou, China |
Political party | Liberal |
Residence | Markham, Ontario |
Occupation | Insurance broker |
Kwok Chi (Michael) Chan[1] (traditional Chinese: 陳國治; simplified Chinese: 陈国治; Jyutping: can4 gwok3 zi6; pinyin: Chén Guózhì) (born c. 1951) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2007 until 2018. He represented the riding of Markham-Unionville. Chan served as a Cabinet Minister, during his entire tenure in politics in the governments of Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne. Michael Chan presently serves as a Senior Business Advisor for the law firm Miller Thomson LLP in Vaughan. Chan also serves as a member of the board of governors at the Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology.[2]
Background
Chan was born in Guangzhou, and his father was an official in the Kuomintang.[3] As the Chinese Communist Party took power in China, Mr. Chan's family went to Macau,[3] before moving to Hong Kong and eventually migrating to Canada in 1969, when he was 18.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]
Political career
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.[4][5][6]
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.[7] 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.[8] In June 2014, Wynne appointed Chan as the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and International Trade.[9] Chan was instrumental in fundraising for the Liberals, as well as being active in the recruitment of Chinese Canadians to campaign for seats at both the federal and provincial levels.[3]
In 2015, Chan sued The Globe and Mail for a report that claimed he was the subject an investigation by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) for ties to officials in Beijing and susceptibility to influence by the Chinese government.[10][11][12][13] Chan responded that his engagement with the Chinese government was an appropriate aspect of his role as the Minister of Immigration and International Trade in Ontario. Former Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne also rejected the accusations against him.[14] Toronto lawyer Ping Tam suggested that Chan was being targeted because he was encouraging young Chinese-Canadians to engage in politics and had supported a failed 2013 agreement between the Toronto District School Board to install Confucius Institutes in local schools.[15][16] Chan also threatened Alberta premier Jason Kenney with a lawsuit over criticism of Chan's support for Beijing.[17]
Chan announced his retirement from provincial politics in April 2018, a few months before the next Ontario election.[18] During the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, Chan publicly condemned the pro-democracy protesters and supported the Hong Kong Police Force's response, while attributing the protests to alleged manipulation by foreign actors.[19][20]
In August 2022, Chan registered as a York Region council candidate.[21] He was elected to York Regional council in the 2022 municipal elections.[citation needed]
Cabinet posts
Electoral record
Markham | Ontario provincial by-election, February 8, 2007:||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 |
2007 Ontario general election: 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 |
2011 Ontario general election: 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. |
2014 Ontario general election | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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[6] |
References
- ^ @ONPARLeducation (13 July 2022). "Within the halls of the Legislature are walls that contain the names of every Member of Provincial Parliament elected to Ontario's Legislature since 1867. The names for the 42nd Parliament were recently added. For the first time a Member's name was inscribed in Oji-Cree syllabics" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "Michael Chan". Miller Thomson LLP. Archived from the original on 14 February 2019. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
- ^ a b c Craig Offman (17 June 2015). "The making of Michael Chan". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 13 June 2017. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
- ^ "Summary of Valid Ballots Cast for Each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. 10 October 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 October 2009. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
- ^ "Summary of Valid Ballots Cast for Each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. 6 October 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 March 2013. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
- ^ a b "General Election by District: Markham-Unionville". Elections Ontario. 12 June 2014. Archived from the original on 2 July 2014.
- ^ Ferguson, Rob; Benzie, Robert (31 October 2007). "Premier goes for new blood; Expanded 28-member cabinet has eight ministers from Toronto, three from 905 area". Toronto Star. p. A13.
- ^ "Ontario's new cabinet". Waterloo Region Record. Kitchener, Ont. 12 February 2013. p. A3.
- ^ Richard Brennan; Robert Benzie; Rob Ferguson (24 June 2014). "Kathleen Wynne warns financial cupboard is bare". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 1 August 2017. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
- ^ Offman, Craig (17 June 2015). "The making of Michael Chan". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 14 August 2019. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
- ^ Edmiston, Jake (22 June 2015). "Michael Chan threatens legal action over Globe report that CSIS investigated his ties to China". National Post. Archived from the original on 24 August 2020. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
- ^ Ferguson, Rob (7 August 2015). "Ontario cabinet minister Michael Chan sues Globe and Mail for $4.55 million". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 15 August 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
- ^ John Manthorpe (5 January 2019). Claws of the Panda: Beijing's Campaign of Influence and Intimidation in Canada. Cormorant Books. pp. 251–255. ISBN 978-1-77086-539-6.
- ^ "Premier rejects CSIS claim that China is influencing cabinet minister". CBC. 16 June 2015. Archived from the original on 18 May 2016. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
- ^ Adler, Mike (30 June 2015). "Chinese-Canadian organizations demand apologies for stories in Globe and Mail". Toronto.com. Archived from the original on 14 February 2019. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
- ^ "Ontario minister Michael Chan sues Globe and Mail for alleging Chinese ties | CBC News". CBC. 7 August 2015. Archived from the original on 2 January 2019. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
- ^ Offman, Craig (7 July 2016). "Threatening lawsuit, Michael Chan demands apology from Jason Kenney". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 16 February 2017. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
- ^ Benzie, Robert (5 April 2018). "Liberal cabinet ministers Michael Chan and Tracy MacCharles, MPP Grant Crack say they are retiring". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 5 April 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
- ^ Blackwell, Tom (21 August 2019). "Former Ontario Liberal cabinet minister headlines pro-Beijing rally near Toronto | National Post". National Post. Archived from the original on 24 August 2020. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
- ^ Xu, Xiao (15 September 2019). "Former Ontario minister sides with Beijing, pins Hong Kong protests on 'outside' forces". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 16 September 2019. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
- ^ Cooper, Sam (23 August 2022). "Polarizing Chinese-Canadian leader re-enters political arena". Global News. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
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