Michael Chan says he will sue a Toronto newspaper for suggesting his ties to China make him a threat to national security.

Ontario’s minister of citizenship, immigration and international trade said Friday he is “proceeding with a libel suit against the Globe and Mail in connection with the recent front-page articles about me that attracted so much attention.”

“Under the court procedures, a technical document called a ‘libel notice’ must be served before a formal claim is filed. This was done on July 14, 2015. The Globe and Mail was given a 72-hour window to apologize and retract their stories,” the Chinese-born Chan said in a statement Friday.

“I regret that I have been compelled to turn to the courts to protect my reputation, but given the unjustified tone and content of the Globe’s articles I feel I have no other choice,” he said.

In the notice of libel, Chan’s lawyers called the articles “false, malicious and defamatory.”

While Globe officials did not respond to a request for comment, editor-in-chief David Walmsley said in the paper last month that “We stand by the stories.”

The newspaper published a lengthy piece that was the result of a 10-month investigation under the headline: “CSIS warned this cabinet minister could be a threat. Ontario disagreed.”

The story stemmed from then-CSIS director Richard Fadden’s comment in 2010 that there was “foreign interference” in Canadian politics and cited two unnamed provincial cabinet ministers in Ontario and British Columbia.

Fadden did not mention Chan by name, or China, but the Globe reported last month that “Canadian intelligence officials suspected Ontario cabinet minister Michael Chan was under the undue influence of a foreign government, prompting CSIS to formally caution the province about the minister’s alleged conduct in a 2010 briefing.”

Both Premier Kathleen Wynne and her predecessor Dalton McGuinty have publicly rallied to their colleague’s side, as have members of Wynne’s cabinet.

The Globe reported CSIS “believed Mr. Chan had an unusually close rapport with Taoying Zhu, who was China’s consul-general in Toronto until 2012.”

According to the libel notice, “The article indicates to the reader that the article reveals new, highly important and credible information about a possible threat to national security or national interests.”

The notice goes on to say that the article suggests Chan is under the influence of the Chinese government or susceptible to its influence, that Chan’s loyalty to Canada is questionable and that Chan may not always act in Ontario’s best interests.

Key dates

March 24, 2010 — During a question-and-answer session following a speech to police and security professionals at Toronto’s Royal Canadian Military Institute, Canadian Security Intelligence Service director Richard Fadden warns of “foreign interference” in Canadian politics and cites two unnamed provincial cabinet ministers — one in Ontario, the other in British Columbia.

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June 21, 2010 — Fadden gives a long interview to the CBC’s Peter Mansbridge where he discusses the dangers of unidentified foreign powers’ influence in Canada.

July 5, 2010 — The CSIS boss tells a parliamentary committee in Ottawa that “I regret the level of granularity” at the RCMI event, which had been labelled “Police Appreciation Night.”

October 14, 2010 — The Toronto Star reports that, following assurances from CSIS officials in August, then-Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty has no concerns about any security threat from within his cabinet. British Columbia premier Gordon Campbell is similarly appeased.

June 16, 2015 — The Globe and Mail publicly names Michael Chan as the cabinet minister in question.

June 17, 2015 — The Globe profiles the minister in a lengthy front-page story headlined, “The making of Michael Chan.”

July 17, 2015 — Chan announces he is suing the Globe for libel.