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 announced his retirement from provincial politics in April 2018, a few months before the next Ontario election. During the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, Chan publicly condemned the protesters and supported the use of violence by the pro-Chinese Communist Party government of Hong Kong. Chan blamed the protests on "outside" forces, echoing a pro-Beijing stance. Critics have marked this move as a hypocritical and politically motivated betrayal of his roots as the son of a Kuomintang official persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party, especially considering that he moved to Portuguese Macau and British Hong Kong, then to Canada, to escape Communist China.
Allegations of Chinese Communist Party influence and subsequent libel lawsuit
In August 2015, Chan sued The Globe and Mail for a June 2015 report that claimed he was the subject an investigation by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service of Chan's ties to officials in Beijing and susceptibility to influence by the Chinese government. In response, Chan viewed his engagement with China as 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 made. Toronto lawyer Ping Tam suggested that Chan was being targeted because he supported a failed 2013 agreement between the Toronto District School Board to install Confucius Institutes in local schools and because Chan was encouraging young Chinese-Canadians to engage in politics. The Globe and Mail has maintained its reporting and the case is still before the courts. Chan also threatened Alberta premier Jason Kenney with a lawsuit over criticism of Chan's support for Beijing. In September 2019, Chan publicly sided with Beijing against the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, denouncing the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong as the work of foreign actors intent on undermining the state of China.
