Preceded by Tony Wong Party Ontario Liberal Party Name Michael Chan | Occupation Insurance broker Political party Liberal Residence Markham, Canada | |
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Role Member of Provincial Parliament Profiles | ||
Michael Chan (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 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.
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Background
Chan was born in Guangzhou, and his father was an official in the Kuomintang. As the Chinese Communist Party took power in China, Mr. Chan’s family went to Macau, before moving to Hong Kong and eventually migrating to Canada in 1969, when he was 18. 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. 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." 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.
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. 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. In June 2014, Wynne appointed Chan as the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and International Trade.
Chan has been 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.
Chan lobbied the Confucius Institute to make a deal with the Toronto District School Board for establishing a local branch in Toronto. 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.
Chan has a column in the Today Commercial News and has used the column to defend China's human rights record.
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. Federal justice minister Peter MacKay initially said there was an "ongoing investigation" surrounding the allegations, but later said he never suggested that CSIS was investigating Chan.