While National Newswatch does not keep an archive of external articles for longer than 6 months, we do keep all articles written by contributors who post directly to our site. Here you will find all of the contributed and linked external articles from Andrew Caddell.
In my column last week, I focused on why I love Quebec, as well as assessing some of its flaws. I quoted former Quebec premier Jean Lesage, who described his attachment to his homeland and his country as “Le Québec, ma patrie—le Canada, mon pays.” This week, for Canada Day, I thought I would articulate the strengths and weaknesses of...
The recent Liberal policy convention I attended in Montreal was more about convening than policy: the corridors of the Palais des Congrès were packed with 4,500 delegates networking away, while the policy sessions were sparsely attended. One session did impress me for its participants. It was the session on “Building Canada Strong,” featuring Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne, Industry Minister Mélanie...
The premier won’t have time to turn the economy around as the prospect of an election this year looms large. Spare a moment, if you will, for British Columbia Premier David Eby. Not long ago, the former Vancouver lawyer seemed to have it in the bag. He inherited the premiership and a budget surplus of $5.7-billion from the popular John...
My mother was an amateur historian. Her love of history came from living in Quebec City in her youth, not far from the Plains of Abraham. In her back yard, there were cannon balls and musket shells from the French and British who fought in September 1759. She loved Quebec City, and believed it was an example to the rest...
I promised myself I wouldn’t write about United States President Donald Trump this summer, just to make my life easier and calmer. However, the American president raised my ire with his recent letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney. In it, he is threatening further tariffs, citing unproven Canadian fentanyl exports to the U.S., and singling out our supply management system...
Jeffrey Simpson was my favourite columnist for years. The Globe and Mail premier journalist’s dominance of the op-ed page was so evident, he was every public servant’s go-to source of information. Of course, this was in the golden age of newspapers. While he was normally bang-on with his analysis of the politics of the day, he sometimes erred. And with...
“We are so sorry.” Never in my life have I heard so many Americans apologizing to Canadians, and not the reverse. Almost everyone I met in the last week in Florida was apologetic, expressing their embarrassment over United States President Donald Trump’s harangues about Canada, the imposition of tariffs and the “51st state.”
Almost 48 years ago this month, I was in Washington, D.C., as a junior member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery. As a student reporter with Radio Carleton, I watched in awe as then-prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau spoke to a joint session of Congress.
In the late 1970s, René Lévesque’s Parti Québécois government dominated the province, passing bills on everything from the environment to anti-scab legislation to the referendum law. As a young reporter in Montreal and Quebec City, I had a front-row seat to those legislative changes, and the political upheaval at the time. Paradoxically, while the PQ held a majority of seats...
In the fall of 1983, I was working as a ministerial assistant in the government of then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau as the bottom was falling out of it. He had just shuffled his cabinet, dropping five ministers. Still, his popularity was abysmal at 27 per cent, behind Progressive Conservative leader Brian Mulroney with 55 per cent.
“Old soldiers never die—they just fade away.” This observation by American General Douglas MacArthur has never rung truer, especially in Canada today. Fewer and fewer of our veterans are around to remind us of their past sacrifices in the Second World War and in Korea, and their comrades who did not survive stayed in the theatres of war.
In the fall of 1988, a song titled “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” by Bobby McFerrin was everywhere. Following the economic collapse in October 1987, it had a certain irony: things were not going well, the economy sucked. The song was a musical diversion. In this light, I read the latest report from the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages...
“They seek him here, they seek him there. They seek him everywhere. Is he in heaven? Or is he in hell? That damned elusive Pimpernel.” In the latest chapter of the language wars in Quebec, a brave soul known only as “The Artist” has literally made his mark with the words “Bonjour-Hi!” accompanied by a smiley face. And like Baroness...
Take a moment to think of Emmanuella Lambropoulos today. In 2020, the Liberal MP for the Montreal riding of Saint-Laurent, Que., asked the Commissioner of Official Languages Raymond Théberge what was causing the decline in French in Quebec. However, she had the temerity to suggest reports of the decline might be a “myth,” and she doubled down by using air...
It is possible that within two years, the official opposition in the House of Commons will be the Bloc Québécois, and in Quebec, there will be a majority Parti Québécois government.
With consumer products, there is often a disclaimer to protect the manufacturer from blame. I was reminded of this when reading the recent Quebec Court of Appeal judgment on Bill 21, the “Act Respecting the Laicity of the State.” The legislation, passed in 2019, forbids people in authority—such as teachers, police, and judges—from wearing clothing (a hijab, turban, or kippa)...
These are not easy times for Quebec Premier François Legault and his Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government. While the premier managed to be seen as everyone’s favourite uncle during the COVID-19 pandemic, his avuncular ways have begun to wear a bit thin. A Dec. 4 Angus Reid poll showed Legault as the least popular premier in Canada, with 31 per...