Victor Oh
{{Short description|Canadian politician}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=September 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = The Honourable
| name = Victor Oh
| image = 23º Foro Parlamentario Asia Pacífico - Victor Oh (CANADÁ) (15654670923) (cropped).jpg
| office = Senator for Ontario
| term_start = January 25, 2013
| term_end = June 10, 2024
| predecessor =
| successor =
| nominator = Stephen Harper
| appointer = David Johnston
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1949|6|10}}
| birth_place = Colony of Singapore[http://victoroh.ca/en/about/my-biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180116001154/http://victoroh.ca/en/about/my-biography |date=2018-01-16 }} VictorOh.ca
| death_date =
| death_place =
| spouse = Rosabella Chiu (赵从霓)
| party = Conservative Party of Canada
| otherparty =
| footnotes =
}}
Victor Oh (Chinese: 胡子修, born June 10, 1949) is a retired Canadian politician who served as a Canadian senator from Ontario from January 2013 until his mandatory retirement in June 2024.{{cite press release |url=http://pm.gc.ca/eng/media.asp?category=1&featureId=6&pageId=26&id=5260 |title=PM announces the appointment of five new senators |publisher=Prime Minister's Office |date=January 25, 2013 |access-date=January 25, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130520143845/http://pm.gc.ca/eng/media.asp?category=1&featureId=6&pageId=26&id=5260 |archive-date=May 20, 2013 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=June 10, 2024 |title='I am grateful to my adopted country': Senator Oh retires |url=https://sencanada.ca/en/sencaplus/people/i-am-grateful-to-my-adopted-country-senator-oh-retires/ |access-date=2024-06-10 |website=Senate of Canada |language=en}}
Early life
Oh was born in Singapore. In 1978, he immigrated to Canada with his wife and children.{{citation needed|date=November 2023}}
Business career
Oh was the founding chairman of the Canada-China Business Communication Council and the former President of Wyford Holdings, a property development and management business.{{Cite web|title=Harper appoints five new senators - Document - Gale OneFile: CPI.Q|url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=CPI&u=lond95336&id=GALE%7CA316395349&v=2.1&it=r&sid=bookmark-CPI&asid=00e51fd6|access-date=2022-02-01|website=go.gale.com|archive-date=2 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231102224453/https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=CPI&u=lond95336&id=GALE%7CA316395349&v=2.1&it=r&sid=bookmark-CPI&asid=00e51fd6|url-status=live}}
Senate of Canada
Oh was a member of the Standing Senate Committees on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Agriculture and Forestry and National Security and Defence. He was also a member of the Special Senate Committee on the Arctic.{{Cite web |url=https://sencanada.ca/en/senators/oh-victor/ |title=Senator Victor Oh |access-date=2017-12-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190323135725/https://sencanada.ca/en/senators/oh-victor/ |archive-date=2019-03-23 |url-status=live }}
Oh was the vice-chair of the Canada-China Legislative Association and of the Canada-Japan Inter-Parliamentary Group in addition to a member of the Canada-Europe Parliamentary Association, the Canadian Section of ParlAmericas and the Canada-United States Inter-Parliamentary Group. He has also held executive positions in a number of parliamentary friendship groups including Canada-Bulgaria, Canada-Indonesia, Canada-Malaysia, Canada-Nordic-Baltic, Canada-Peru and Canada-Singapore.
In 2016, Senator Oh was the head of the Canadian parliamentary delegation at the 24th Annual Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF) held in Vancouver, British Columbia. On this same year, he joined the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank & International Monetary Fund, which provides a platform for parliamentarians from over 140 countries to advocate for increased accountability and transparency in International Financial Institutions and multilateral development financing.
Oh has also been involved in various initiatives to celebrate ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity in Canada.
Hazel McCallion, the former mayor of Mississauga, inspired Oh to get involved in public life. He notes that "her lifelong involvement with charitable work and her deep commitment to the public good was, and continues to be, a true testament of good leadership."{{Cite web |url=https://sencanada.ca/en/sencaplus/people/meet-senator-victor-oh |title=Meet Senator Victor Oh |access-date=2017-01-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202043516/https://sencanada.ca/en/sencaplus/people/meet-senator-victor-oh |archive-date=2017-02-02 |url-status=live }}
In June 2023, Oh advocated for the establishment of a foundation that would sue "messy reporters" and politicians who "try to smear" Chinese people.{{Cite web |date=2023-06-23 |title=Sen. Victor Oh says Chinese Canadians need to fundraise to sue 'messy reporters' |url=https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2023/06/23/sen-victor-oh-says-chinese-canadians-need-to-fundraise-to-sue-messy-reporters.html |access-date=2023-06-24 |website=Toronto Star |language=en |archive-date=28 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230628132331/https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2023/06/23/sen-victor-oh-says-chinese-canadians-need-to-fundraise-to-sue-messy-reporters.html |url-status=live }}
Oh retired as a senator on June 10, 2024, upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75.
= Conflict of interest investigation =
In December 2017, it was reported that Victor Oh accepted trips to China paid for by the Chinese government or pro-Beijing business groups.{{Cite news|last1=Fife|first1=Robert|last2=Chase|first2=Steve|date=December 1, 2017|title=Beijing foots bill for Canadian senators, MPs to visit China|work=The Globe and Mail|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/beijing-foots-bill-for-visits-to-china-by-canadian-senators-mps/article37162592/|url-status=live|access-date=2020-09-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200324011229/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/beijing-foots-bill-for-visits-to-china-by-canadian-senators-mps/article37162592/|archive-date=2020-03-24}}{{Cite news|last=Nuttall|first=Jeremy J.|date=December 6, 2017|title=Parliamentarians Ignore Blockbuster Paid Travel Revelation|work=The Tyee|url=https://thetyee.ca/News/2017/12/06/Parliamentarians-Ignore-Blockbuster-Paid-Travel-Revelation/|url-status=live|access-date=September 19, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171206085445/https://thetyee.ca/News/2017/12/06/Parliamentarians-Ignore-Blockbuster-Paid-Travel-Revelation/|archive-date=December 6, 2017}} In February 2020, the Senate's ethics watchdog found that Victor Oh broke the conflict of interest and ethics code by accepting and then failing to disclose an all-expenses-paid trip to China for himself and two other senators.{{Cite news|last1=Fife|first1=Robert|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-senator-broke-ethics-rules-by-accepting-free-travel-to-china/|title=Senator broke ethics rules by accepting free travel to China|date=February 18, 2020|work=The Globe and Mail|access-date=2020-02-22|url-status=live|last2=Chase|first2=Steven|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200222045344/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-senator-broke-ethics-rules-by-accepting-free-travel-to-china/|archive-date=February 22, 2020}} On June 18, the Senate Ethics and Conflict of Interest Committee recommended that Oh be censured, and asked for him to apologize to the Senate.{{cite news|last1=Fife|first1=Robert|last2=Chase|first2=Steven|date=June 18, 2020|title=Conservative Senator Victor Oh faces censure for free trip to China|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-conservative-senator-victor-oh-censured-for-free-trips-to-china/|url-status=live|access-date=September 19, 2020|archive-date=June 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200629073116/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-conservative-senator-victor-oh-censured-for-free-trips-to-china/}}
= Foreign interference allegation =
During the public inquiry into Chinese government interference in the 2019 and 2021 Canadian federal elections, then-Conservative House of Commons leader Erin O'Toole considered expelling a Conservative senator from the party caucus over concerns that this senator directly or indirectly lobbied on behalf of a Chinese state-owned enterprise in a town in Ontario. Conservative staffers revealed that the senator O'Toole was referring to was Oh.{{Cite news |last=Thompson |first=Elizabeth |date=2024-09-18 |title=O'Toole says he considered expelling a Conservative senator over foreign influence concerns |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/foreign-influence-conservative-senator-1.7327526 |access-date=2024-09-19 |work=CBC News}} Previously, during the 2017 conflict of interest investigation, Oh was reported to have met with United Front's officials during the Chinese-sponsored trips to discuss initiatives to build support for Beijing's policies in the Chinese overseas diaspora and influence the countries in which the diaspora live in.
Recognition and awards
In 2011, Canadian Immigrant magazine named him one of the Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award Winners.{{Cite web |title=Canada's Top 25 Immigrants 2011 |url=https://canadianimmigrant.ca/canadas-top-25-immigrants/canadas-top-25-immigrants-2011 |access-date=2021-06-18 |website=Canadian Immigrant |language=en-US |archive-date=29 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240229152618/https://canadianimmigrant.ca/canadas-top-25-immigrants/canadas-top-25-immigrants-2011 |url-status=live }}
Oh has served as the honorary chair of the board of the Canada Confederation of Shenzhen Associations (CCSA).{{Cite book |last1=McGregor |first1=Scott |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HI1UEAAAQBAJ |title=The Mosaic Effect: How the Chinese Communist Party Started a Hybrid War in America's Backyard |last2=Mitchell |first2=Ina |publisher=Optimum Publishing International |year=2023 |isbn=978-0-88890-324-2 |pages=160 |language=en |chapter= |oclc=1374491172 |quote=...the Canada Confederation of Shenzhen Associations (CCSA), which is connected to the Shenzhen Overseas Affairs Office and the Shenzhen Overseas Chinese Federation, which in turn are connected to the United Front Work Department. The {{sic|hono|urary}} chair of the CCSA's board of directors is Victor Oh, who is a member of the Canadian Senate. |access-date=2023-10-24 |archive-date=31 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231031191302/https://books.google.com/books?id=HI1UEAAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}