Robert Fife.Dave Chan/The Globe and Mail
Robert Fife, who has dedicated his decades-long career to holding politicians accountable on Parliament Hill, is being recognized by the Canadian Journalism Foundation for lifetime achievement.
Mr. Fife, the Ottawa Bureau Chief for the last decade at The Globe and Mail, will be formally recognized at the CJF’s award ceremony in June at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto.
The CJF said on Wednesday that Mr. Fife will receive the award for his “decades-long career exemplifying the highest standards of political reporting, public‑interest journalism and newsroom leadership in both print and broadcast."
In response to the CJF’s announcement, Globe Editor-in-Chief David Walmsley said Mr. Fife has dedicated his life to “brave, independent journalism.”
“He has never forgotten he represents the public in all that he does,” Mr. Walmsley said. “His contribution to Canadian political journalism is unparalleled and all of us at The Globe are proud of his accomplishments.”
Mr. Fife also served as parliamentary bureau chief for CTV National News, as well as at the National Post. Along the way, the 71-year-old has mentored scores of younger reporters, encouraging all of them to pursue public-service journalism and to hold decision-makers to account.
National affairs columnist and political commentator Chantal Hébert, who sits on the Lifetime Achievement Award jury, said in a statement that Mr. Fife has led the pack consistently, breaking stories that mattered, over his many years in journalism.
Mr. Fife said Wednesday he is “deeply touched to receive this prestigious lifetime achievement award, especially since it comes from colleagues whom I respect for their journalistic work and mentorship of young journalists.”
Mr. Fife, who grew up in the small Northern Ontario town of Chapleau, has received many journalistic accolades, including several from the National Newspaper Awards.
He has also received honours from the Canadian Association of Journalists and is the only member of the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery to have received the Charles Lynch Award, which recognizes outstanding coverage of national affairs, twice.
Some of Mr. Fife’s most consequential political stories included his reporting on the SNC-Lavalin affair under the Trudeau government that led to the resignation of cabinet minister Jody Wilson-Raybould.
In four-hour-long testimony before the House of Commons justice committee in 2019, Ms. Wilson-Raybould said she felt pressure to intervene to help the Quebec engineering giant secure a deferred prosecution agreement, a remedial deal to allow the company to avoid criminal charges.
At The Globe, Mr. Fife, alongside colleague Steven Chase, has also reported extensively on allegations of foreign interference, including on claims China attempted to influence the 2021 federal election.
The coverage by Mr. Fife and Mr. Chase led to pressure on the Trudeau government to call a public inquiry. In September, 2023, Ottawa established the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions.
While at CTV, Mr. Fife broke another memorable political story: that Nigel Wright, who was then-prime minister Stephen Harper’s chief of staff, gave Senator Mike Duffy a $90,000 cheque to repay disputed expenses.