The Ontario Superior Court dismissed a lawsuit filed against the Globe and Mail, Globe journalist Robert Fife and journalist Sam Cooper by former Ontario Liberal MPP and cabinet minister Michael Chan.
Chan filed the lawsuit after the Globe reported in 2023 that some Canadian security officials had told Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other officials that they believed Chan had associated with people who could be connected to the Chinese government and who they believed may have sought to influence Canadian politics.
Cooper also reported on the allegations for Global News in 2023.
Because Chan did not provide a libel notice to the Globe or Global, he was unable to file a defamation claim; instead, Chan’s lawsuit claimed that Fife and Cooper had “conspired” with anonymous sources who had provided information which informed their reporting. He sought $10 million in damages.
The Ontario Superior Court described Chan’s lawsuit as a strategic lawsuit against public participation, or SLAPP.
The court also noted that Chan has filed several other lawsuits against journalists and media organizations in relation to reporting on similar allegations.
The court found that Chan’s lawsuit “is not a genuine attempt to seek redress against them for damage to [his] reputation,” and that Chan “does not seriously challenge the veracity of the information reported.”
The court also concluded that Chan aimed to uncover the anonymous sources who spoke with Globe journalists, in the hopes that those sources could be prosecuted for providing confidential information. “The use of confidential sources supports freedom of expression and the maintenance of a robust democracy,” the court wrote.
Allowing the lawsuit, the court found, could produce “a chilling effect on other whistleblowers and confidential sources” and on the media in general.