Robert Fife (born 1954) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

political

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

who served as Ottawa bureau chief for ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

''. Fife was also Ottawa bureau chief for ''

CanWest News Service Postmedia Network Canada Corp. (also known as Postmedia Network, Postmedia News or Postmedia) is an American-owned Canadian-based media conglomerate consisting of the publishing properties of the former Canwest, with primary operations in Engl ...

'', the ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper and the flagship publication of the American-owned Postmedia Network. It is published Mondays through Saturdays, with Monday released as a digital e-edition only.

'', and the ''

Sun Media Sun Media Corporation was the owner of several tabloid and broadsheet newspapers in Canada and the 49% owner of the now defunct Sun News Network. It was a subsidiary of Quebecor Media. On October 6, 2014, Quebecor Media announced the sale of ...

'' chain. He was the

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

bureau chief for ''

CTV News CTV News is the news division of the CTV Television Network in Canada. The name ''CTV News'' is also applied as the title of local and regional newscasts on the network's owned-and-operated stations (O&Os), which are closely tied to the nationa ...

'' from February 2005. At CTV, he was the host of its ''

Question Period Question Period (QP; ), known officially as Oral Questions (), occurs each sitting day in the House of Commons of Canada—similarly in provincial legislatures—in which members of the parliament ask questions of government ministers (includin ...

'' show, a political panel discussion; after Fife's move to ''The Globe and Mail'' was announced, it was also stated that the show would be rebranded ''CTV’s Question Period with The Globe and Mail’s Robert Fife''. Fife published multiple stories incorrectly portraying

Maher Arar Maher Arar () (born 1970) is a telecommunications engineer with dual Syrian and Canadian citizenship who has resided in Canada since 1987. Arar was detained during a layover at John F. Kennedy International Airport in September 2002 on his way ...

as definitively associated with

Al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...

. He broke the news of the

Canadian Senate expenses scandal The Canadian Senate expenses scandal, also known as Duffygate, was a political scandal concerning the expense claims of certain Canadians, Canadian senators which began in late 2012. Senators Patrick Brazeau, Mike Duffy, Mac Harb, and Pamela Wallin ...

with his reporting on

Mike Duffy Michael Dennis Duffy (born May 27, 1946) is a former Canadian senator and Canadian television journalist. Prior to his appointment to the upper house in 2008, he was the Ottawa editor for CTV News Channel. Upon turning 75 on May 27, 2021, Duf ...

and Nigel Wright. Fife disclosed the Canadian government's C$10.5 million settlement with

Omar Khadr Omar Ahmed Said Khadr (; born September 19, 1986) is a Canadian who, at the age of 15, was detained by the United States at Guantanamo Bay for ten years, during which he pleaded guilty to the murder of U.S. Army Sergeant 1st Class Christopher S ...

. He also was part of a team of three (together with Steven Chase and Sean Fine), who first broke the story of the

SNC-Lavalin Affair The SNC-Lavalin affair () is a political scandal involving attempted political interference with the justice system by the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, and the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). The Parliament of Canada's Ethics Com ...

and (with Chase) on the assassination of

Hardeep Singh Nijjar Hardeep Singh Nijjar (11 October 197718 June 2023) was a Canadian Sikh involved with the Khalistan movement. He was a prominent member of the Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) and spearheaded the group's Khalistan Referendum campaign. Born in India, ...

Biography

Fife is a native of Chapleau,

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. He has been covering national politics since 1978, when he began his career in the parliamentary bureau of News Radio. He moved to

United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ce ...

of Canada in 1983.

Journalism career

Fife worked as a senior political correspondent for

The Canadian Press The Canadian Press (CP; , ) is a Canadian national news agency headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Established in 1917 as a vehicle for Canadian newspapers to exchange news and information, The Canadian Press has been a privately-held company, pr ...

from 1984 to 1987. He spent a decade as the

bureau chief for ''

'' where he also wrote a regular column. In 1998, Fife joined the ''

'' as its Ottawa bureau Chief. In 2002, he became the bureau chief for both the ''National Post'' and CanWest News Services. In 2002, while at CanWest, Fife published multiple stories incorrectly portraying

as definitively associated with

based on leaked information from unnamed national security sources. In September 2006, the Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar, led by Justice Dennis O’Connor found that Arar was innocent, that the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

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 a public inquiry into its actions. On May 14, 2013, he broke the news that Nigel Wright, then chief of staff to Prime Minister

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. He is to date the only prime minister to have come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ser ...

had written a $90,000 cheque to cover the questionable Senate expenses of

. On 2019, He also was part of a team of three (together with Steven Chase and Sean Fine), who first broke the story of the

In September 2023, Fife and Chase planned to publish a report that Canadian security agencies believed the killing of

was linked to agents associated with the Indian government. This prompted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to make the allegations public through the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

Media and punditry career

In 2005, Fife became Ottawa bureau chief for ''

''. Fife served as the executive producer of CTV News Channel's daily political show '' Power Play with Don Martin''. 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 for ''The Globe and Mail''. Fife is currently the host of CTV's political panel show ''

'', which will be renamed ''CTV’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. In 2018, Fife claimed on CPAC panel that systematic racism was a trivial issue in Canada because social integration of "high schools and universities kids of different backgrounds.”

Awards

* National Newspaper Citation of Merit, Political Reporting 2004 * National Newspaper Citation of Merit, Breaking News 2002 * Edward Dunlop Award for Spot News, 1997

Books

* ''Kim Campbell: The Making of a Politician'' (1993) * ''A Capital Scandal: Politics, Patronage and Payoff — Why Parliament Must Be Reformed'' (with John Warren, 1991)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fife, Robert Canadian television reporters and correspondents Canadian non-fiction writers Writers from Ontario Living people People from Chapleau, Ontario Place of birth missing (living people) National Post people Canadian political journalists 1954 births CTV Television Network people