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.
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.