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 MacDougall.
Mark Carney doesn’t seem like much of a prankster, but you could forgive Liberals who supported Justin Trudeau’s policies for feeling as if the prime minister is endlessly pulling their collective leg. Changes of direction are everywhere. The consumer carbon tax is gone. A new oil pipeline is on the way and major resource-development projects are on track to receive...
In one of the most famous television commercials in Canadian history, a man puts an eraser to a stylized map of North America and removes the border between Canada and the United States. Aired during the 1988 federal election campaign, it was the Liberals’ way of protesting then-prime minister Brian Mulroney’s negotiation of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. They didn’t...
“Our people hate trade deals. Like, they f—king hate them. Do you understand?” The morning meetings between the prime minister’s top advisers were sometimes punchy affairs. But it was also where the government was connected to the political party guiding said government. The verbatim(ish) quote above was the kind of thing said by the person tasked with reporting what the...
The Canadian prime minister is once again on the road, this time taking in some footie alongside new U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham and, more importantly, playing footsie with the European Union in the form of a possible “associate membership.” Now, I’m here from the future to warn you that nothing will happen very quickly, if at all, with this...
Guys, what if we just straight-up bribed the President of the United States of America? That’s where my mind keeps going when reading the rumours, speculation, and partisan back and forth over Mark Carney’s negotiation/not-negotiation with the Trump Administration. Just pay the man. Not the administration. The man. Or his family.
When I served as director of communications to the prime minister, a collection of memos would arrive on my desk at the end of the day. It was advice from the Privy Council Office on the legislative agenda and other issues of government concern. There were dozens of notes, some reaching to dozens of pages in length. And if that...
If the first rule of ransoms is that you don’t pay them, what to make of Mark Carney’s payoff to Donald Trump to open the Gordie Howe International Bridge? Make no mistake: Canada paid what amounts to a bribe. The Liberal government can dress it up as a “series of co-operative measures” regarding the governance of the new border crossing...
To be a successful leader in politics, you need a few things: a vision for the country, a plan to realize it and an ability to articulate why you are the right person to lead the journey. British prime minister Keir Starmer possesses none of these things. That’s why he’s been forced to resign his post. It’s expected he’ll be...
Mark Carney knows how to work a room. Twenty years of top-level international summitry as a finance mandarin, central banker and prime minister have honed that skill. More important: Carney knows how to read a room. In Davos earlier this year, attendees wanted to hear some sort of plan to contain U.S. President Donald Trump’s escalating insanity. So the prime...
Is this it? Is this all a galaxy brain in control of a government within sight of 50 per cent in the polls can offer in the midst of a crisis? A bit of a nip here, a bit of a tuck there, but all-in-all keeping Canada on the same rotten economic trajectory?
It’s official. The Great Pierre Poilievre Tone Experiment of early 2026 is over. After donning the mantle of the reasonable, Poilievre is back to his natural pugilistic self. And so is his team, with House Leader Andrew Scheer now accusing the (checks notes) National Post of being in the tank for the Liberals for the crime of (checks notes again)...
A slave labour apologist, chloroquine promoter and blue Albertan all walk into a bar … Only it’s not a joke, and they didn’t walk into a bar. Michael Ma, Marilyn Gladu and Matt Jereroux are three former Conservative MPs who have walked into the Liberal caucus, where they found a Red Tory, Chris d’Entremont, already tickling the party ivories...
For a career banker, Mark Carney plays the role of Machiavellian politician very well. The prime minister has now plucked a third MP from the opposition benches and is just two by-election wins in safe Liberal seats away from a majority government. This time Carney’s fruit was harvested from the NDP, not the Conservatives, and came in the form of...
Pierre Poilievre, leader of His Majesty’s loyal opposition, is visiting the King’s home turf this week, where he gave a keynote speech at Margaret Thatcher’s think tank of choice. The visit comes at a good time for Poilievre to open his ears as well as his mouth. For the United Kingdom is deep into a period of political turmoil, one...
What happens when Canada needs bold action but the global figure most closely associated with political radicalism is the man Canadians hate the most in the entire world? Welcome to the conundrum facing Pierre Poilievre and Canada’s Conservatives. Lots of lights on Canada’s national dashboard are blinking red, but the country is fearful of the kind of radical disruption represented...
Without Stephen Harper, Mark Carney wouldn’t be Canada’s prime minister. As ironic as that sounds to say on the 20th anniversary of the first Harper government, I also believe it to be true, even if it might be impossible to prove. Where would Mark Carney be if Stephen Harper hadn’t appointed him to be the next governor of the Bank...
“The international rules-based order is dead; long live the international rules-based order.” Article content Those weren’t the words used by Prime Minister Mark Carney in his historic speech to Davos this week, but they might as well have been. The Canadian leader climbed onto the stage at the yearly conclave of financiers and political leaders (and David Beckham) to declare...
“Contrary to media reports, Canada is not considering a ban on X.” So tweeted Evan Solomon recently, Canada’s Minister of AI and Digital Innovation, in response to reports that the British government was trying to convince its allies to ban the service after it was discovered that Elon Musk’s Grok AI (available on X) was being used to create and...
It won’t feel this way to Pierre Poilievre, but the Conservative leader dodged a bullet when Prime Minister Mark Carney’s first budget cleared the House of Commons on Monday. A Christmas election could easily have buried Poilievre, if not his party. Pace any cheerful Liberals, this doesn’t mean Carney’s victory is a victory for Canada. Early polling about the budget...
For the record, Stephen Harper didn’t tell me to write this article. Nor did Dimitri Soudas or Kory Teneycke, although both are former bosses of mine, too. These are my words and my words alone. An opening declaration of interests is apparently needed after a week in which Canada’s Conservative movement was front and centre in the political conversation, despite...
Keir Starmer with help from the royals sucked up to Donald Trump this week in a big way. Does that work? Is there something for Canada to learn? Plus, you never want to lose a senior cabinet minister, unless. Unless you think you are better off without that person. What is the case with Chrystia Freeland? And, Jimmy Kimmel. There's...
Who is Mark Carney? Canadians are entering their sixth month of Carney as prime minister, but it’s the next few that will define who he and this government want to be. Come December, we’ll know who Carney is and where he wants to go. One thing is already clear: The Carney who campaigned across the country promising L/liberal use of...
What’s powering the populism ascendant in so many advanced Western democracies today? It’s an apposite question once again: French President Emmanuel Macron has lost another prime minister, François Bayrou, who joined Michel Barnier in the head-of-government discard box last week after a popular revolt over proposed spending. Just what do the people of France want?
Listening to Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre address the people of Battle River-Crowfoot, his new constituency in rural Alberta, you would think the man had been through hell and back after storming to a massive byelection win on Monday night.
The debate about the future of Canada’s news industry is burying the lede. By focusing on questions of newsroom solvency, legislators and regulators are missing the broader picture: the rise of the so-called “attention economy” and its pernicious effects on democracy, including the fourth estate, one of its pillars.
The Liberal government must be as specific as possible about what is required of a leaner, more purposeful public service. In another time, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s talk of steep government spending cuts would be the talk of the town. But these aren’t other times. Article content We now live in the age of Trump, and the U.S. President’s ongoing...
Ever experienced a dream in which you just aren’t able to do the things you can do well in real life? This is what it feels like watching from afar as Canada tries to deal with Donald Trump. Canada is experiencing a form of anxiety dream. We can all see the nightmare that is unfolding but the normal things the...
Mark Carney the Rookie Politician would like you to know that Mark Carney the Experienced Central Banker is a serious person. The kind of man forged in the crucible of molten global crises, whether of the global financial or post-Brexit variety. In short, Carney wants Canadians to agree that he alone is able to take on the volatility that is...
Pity poor Pierre Poilievre. You study your whole life for an exam only to find out at the last minute that the subject has changed and that your fellow student, your rival for class president from next door, is a subject matter expert. Talk about rotten luck.
Canada’s new prime minister was back “home” this week, as Mark Carney made a return to England as part of his first sojourn abroad. Carney has now pledged to renounce his citizenship in the United Kingdom (as well as his citizenship in Ireland), but for a significant chunk of his adult life he called London home, whether that was in...
If Pierre Poilievre has any big plans to butcher the federal public service, he will need to be careful in how he approaches his cuts. For while there is ample fat to trim in the bureaucracy, the public service is like an expensive slab of Wagyu, not a cheaper striploin.
To the esteemed members of the public service, As the calendar prepares for its switch to 2025, it is time to take stock of 2024 and what it portends for the new year. First, the obvious: There is likely to be a change in the political control of the government. To put things bluntly, it would take a miracle (Christmas...
For a man once deified by conservatives, the economist Milton Friedman barely gets a look these days. The great advocate for the monetarism, shareholder capitalism and free trade that powered a generation of Conservative heroes — from Margaret Thatcher to Ronald Reagan — is now the avatar of a bygone era. The more populist incarnation of modern conservatism preaches from...
When thoughts turn to revolution, Ottawa isn’t a place that naturally springs to mind. The National Capital Region is, at its heart, a quiet place. A government town. A headquarters for processes and bureaucracy, not radicals and revolutionaries. Perhaps this temperament springs from the fact that Ottawa is an accidental seat of power. The former Bytown was, after all, only...
Thirteen years ago this week, former NDP leader Jack Layton took his final breath on earth. Before leaving, he drafted a letter to Canadians with words we should revisit as we enter the end stage of this federal Parliament. For those who don’t remember, Layton closed his letter with an appeal: “My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is...
Imagine if you were a turkey and one of the main election issues was whether to celebrate Christmas with a delicious meal of poultry. You’d probably throw your lot in with the vegetarian party. The Canadian news media — whose job it is to cover elections objectively — will be the turkeys when next the Liberals and Conservatives clash at...
We all have a friend like Canada. You know, the friend who insists on going out to the fancy restaurant but is the last to reach for their wallet. That friend whose deeds never seem to match their words. Right now, Canada is that “friend” in too many major world capitals. The fact that Canada has, once again, shown up...
On the surface, Britain’s election result looks like democracy functioning as it should. After 14 tumultuous years, a thoroughly unpopular Conservative government has been replaced by Keir Starmer and his triumphant Labour party. And massively so, with Labour winning 411 seats, a majority of just over 170. The “bums” have been properly kicked out.
If Justin Trudeau’s life were a country music song, now would be the point in the proceedings where he’s all sad and lonesome, watching his girl dance with another man. That’s because Pierre Poilievre — Donald Trump incarnate, according to all right-thinking Liberals — has just swooped into downtown Toronto, the Big Smoke, Liberal party HQ, and done stole his...
If an election is “no time to discuss serious issues,” to quote former Prime Minister Kim Campbell, then congratulations to the United Kingdom for taking her advice in this, the year of our Lord 2024. We are now nearly a week on from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s rain-soaked election call and we are no closer to having an idea about...
We’re now a few weeks past the federal budget and the latest Liberal offer to Canadians is being received with all of the enthusiasm of an unsolicited email from a Nigerian “prince.” That’s if it didn’t arrive in the spam folder to begin with. How impactful was the budget?
What do Jews in Canada have to answer for with respect to what’s happening in Gaza? If your answer to that is anything but “zero,” you’re part of the problem. That this even needs saying in a modern, supposedly progressive western state such as Canada is damning. But here we are. On a week in which a Jewish film festival...
What do Jews in Canada have to answer for with respect to what’s happening in Gaza? If your answer to that is anything but “zero,” you’re part of the problem. That this even needs saying in a modern, supposedly progressive western state such as Canada is damning. But here we are. On a week in which a Jewish film festival...
In terms of writing on the wall, this week’s federal byelection result in Ontario was delivered in ALL CAPS and in blood-red font. It’s curtains for Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government. Conservative Jamil Jivani took the riding of Durham with 55.7 per cent of the vote, easily outpacing his Liberal rival, who tallied up a meagre 22.5 per cent...
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. A dead man walking, a cocky upstart and a nullity walk into a bar … The dead man walking asks the barman what he needs to do to survive, and the barman says: “retire.” The cocky upstart asks the barman what he needs to do to take the dead man’s job, and...
Given the pounding Justin Trudeau is taking, he shouldn’t be in the market for more headaches, but here he is, banging his head against the wall with a(nother) contentious bill designed to bring order to our chaotic digital commons.