Robert Fife | |
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| Born | 1954 (age 70–71) Chapleau, Ontario, Canada |
| Occupation(s) | Journalist, author |
Robert Fife (born 1954) is aCanadian politicaljournalist andauthor who served as Ottawa bureau chief forThe Globe and Mail.
Fife was also Ottawa bureau chief forCanWest News Service, theNational Post, and theSun Media chain. He was theOttawa bureau chief forCTV News from February 2005. At CTV, he was the host of itsQuestion Period show, a political panel discussion; after Fife's move toThe Globe and Mail was announced, it was also stated that the show would be rebrandedCTV’s Question Period with The Globe and Mail’s Robert Fife.
Fife published multiple stories incorrectly portrayingMaher Arar as definitively associated withAl-Qaeda.[1] He broke the news of theCanadian Senate expenses scandal with his reporting onMike Duffy andNigel Wright.[citation needed] Fife disclosed the Canadian government's C$10.5 million settlement withOmar Khadr.[2][3] He also was part of a team of three (together with Steven Chase and Sean Fine), who first broke the story of theSNC-Lavalin Affair[4] and (with Chase) on the assassination ofHardeep Singh Nijjar.[5]
Fife is a native ofChapleau,Ontario. He has been coveringnational politics since 1978,[6] when he began his career in the parliamentary bureau of News Radio. He moved toUnited Press International of Canada in 1983.
Fife worked as a senior political correspondent forThe Canadian Press from 1984 to 1987. He spent a decade as theOttawa bureau chief forSun Media where he also wrote a regular column.[7] In 1998, Fife joined theNational Post as its Ottawa bureau Chief. In 2002, he became the bureau chief for both theNational Post andCanWest News Services.
In 2002, while at CanWest, Fife published multiple stories incorrectly portrayingMaher Arar as definitively associated withAl-Qaeda based on leaked information from unnamed national security sources. In September 2006, theCommission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar, led by JusticeDennis O’Connor found that Arar was innocent, that theRoyal Canadian Mounted Police intelligence had been worthless, and that the RCMP had coordinated a smear campaign by leaking false information to the press to keep Arar imprisoned and avoid apublic inquiry into its actions.[1][8]
On May 14, 2013, he broke the news thatNigel Wright, then chief of staff to Prime MinisterStephen Harper had written a $90,000 cheque to cover thequestionable Senate expenses ofMike Duffy.[6][9] On 2019, He also was part of a team of three (together with Steven Chase and Sean Fine), who first broke the story of theSNC-Lavalin Affair[4] In September 2023, Fife and Chase planned to publish a report that Canadian security agencies believed the killing ofHardeep Singh Nijjar was linked to agents associated with the Indian government.[10] This prompted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to make the allegations public through theHouse of Commons.[5]
In 2005, Fife became Ottawa bureau chief forCTV News.[11] Fife served as the executive producer ofCTV News Channel's daily political showPower Play with Don Martin.[7]
On November 19, 2015, it was announced that starting January 1, 2016, Fife was moving on from his role as Ottawa bureau chief for CTV News to serve the same role forThe Globe and Mail.[7] Fife is currently the host of CTV's political panel showQuestion Period, which will be renamedCTV’s Question Period with The Globe and Mail's Robert Fife in 2016. In June 2016, Evan Soloman was named as the new host of the show.[7]
In 2018, Fife claimed onCPAC panel that systematic racism was a trivial issue in Canada because social integration of "high schools and universities kids of different backgrounds.”[12][13][14]
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