An Ontario court has tossed out Michael Chan’s nearly decade-old libel lawsuit against the Globe and Mail over reporting on the former provincial cabinet minister’s alleged ties to Chinese diplomats.
The Ontario Superior Court dismissed Chan’s case in August, Global News has learned, after Chan failed to submit documentation in a timely matter.
The case has dragged on since 2015, when the Globe reported the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) was concerned about what it believed were Chan’s “unusually close” ties to the Chinese consulate in Toronto and worried he was under the influence of Beijing. Chan said at the time the allegations were unfounded.
Globe and Mail editor-in-chief, David Walmsley, and the publisher at the time, Phillip Crawley, were named in the suit, as was reporter Craig Offman. Offman is now Investigations editor with Global News, but did not edit this story.
Neither Walmsley nor Andrew Saunders, the Globe’s president and chief executive officer, responded to Global News’ requests for comment.
Chan, who is now deputy mayor of Markham, Ont., also did not return requests for comment last week.
The initial Globe and Mail story reported CSIS believed Chan had developed a “too close” relationship with the Chinese consulate in Toronto, and worried the then-minister was susceptible to Beijing’s influence.
The issue of foreign interference in Canadian politics is now garnering widespread media attention, but in 2015 the story made significant waves. The Globe’s reporting was condemned by Liberal partisans — many of whom went on to run or work for Justin Trudeau’s federal Liberals — and met with skepticism within the broader Canadian media.
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The Globe’s report stated that CSIS was sufficiently concerned with Chan’s alleged connections that the agency sent a senior official to warn the provincial Liberal government at Queen’s Park. The reporting was, in part, influenced by former CSIS director Richard Fadden’s public statements in 2010 that some Canadian political officials were under the influence of foreign governments.
Fadden’s statements were controversial at the time, but have subsequently been supported by reports from the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) and the ongoing federal inquiry into foreign interference.
“To the provincial government of the day, which deemed the allegations baseless after a review by the Integrity Commissioner, Mr. Chan had done nothing wrong. By engaging the consul-general regularly, the minister was simply doing his job — and doing it well,” the paper reported.
“But in the eyes of the federal spy agency, Mr. Chan was a potential — and potentially unwitting — threat who could compromise Canadian interests. Although foreign influence is not a top priority for CSIS, which is preoccupied largely with terrorism, China presents a special case.”
CSIS priorities have since shifted, thanks in part to reporting by Global News and the Globe and Mail that prompted multiple federal inquiries into the issue of foreign interference in the 2019 and 2021 federal general elections.
The most recent probe, led by Québec Justice Marie-Josée Hogue, wrapped up public hearings in October and is expected to present their final report by the end of January 2025.
What hasn’t changed, however, is Canadian intelligence agencies’ belief that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is by far the biggest threat when it comes to covertly meddling in Canadian politics and society.
“In addition to normal engagement activity by a foreign government in Canada, the PRC has employed grey-zone, deceptive, and clandestine means to attempt to influence Canadian policy-making at all levels of government (municipal, provincial, federal), Indigenous communities, and broader civil society (e.g., non-government organizations, media, academia, business, cultural),” the CSIS 2023 Public Report stated.
“Such activity, which seeks to advance PRC national interests, has the potential to undermine Canada’s democratic process and its institutions.”
In May 2023, Chan launched another lawsuit targeting CSIS and its former chief, David Vigneault, as well unnamed CSIS officials and two reporters, including a former Global News employee and a Globe and Mail journalist, over reporting based on leaked intelligence assessments.
The lawsuit, which has yet to be tested in court, alleges that the unnamed CSIS employees with access to classified information leaked it to the journalists that have “caused harm to Canadian politicians of Chinese ancestry.”
Global News is not named in the lawsuit. Chan is seeking a total of $10 million in damages.
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