Canadians care, yet this issue never makes it onto the political agenda
Here’s my New Year’s list — not for the best or the worst of 2025 — but for the issue most consistently ignored, despite the fact that people care about it.
Linda McQuaig
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 Linda McQuaig.
Trump’s ‘Golden Dome’ missile defence system offers nothing but the illusion of safety
It’s certainly worrisome, as we’re discovering, that U.S. President Donald Trump has so much sway over our economy. What’s even more worrisome, but rarely mentioned, is that this volatile, vengeful, vindictive, reckless and deeply unpredictable man also has control over the world’s most powerful nuclear arsenal.
Carney’s military spending binge will leave Canadians worse off and divided
At last! Finally, we’re seeing some real nation-building by Prime Minister Mark Carney. I’m referring, of course, to his decision to extend the national school lunch program.
The Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837 — although unsuccessful — helped set Canada on the path to democracy
It’s easy to walk around the Yonge-Eglinton area these days and have no idea that, in December 1837, hundreds of men gathered there to stage an armed rebellion against colonial authorities. Back then, Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue was just a rural crossroads, and the men were armed mostly with pitchforks, sticks and hunting rifles when they met at Montgomery’s...
Postal banking once made Canada Post profitable — and could again
Mark Carney clearly loves a nation-building project — as long as it’s wildly expensive and is pleasing to corporate interests. Otherwise, forget about it.
One of our key economic sectors is outside of Donald Trump’s grasp. Let’s not take it for granted
Canadians really love public health care. That’s why hucksters promoting private health care here — and yes that’s you, Premier Doug Ford — typically pretend they’re not out to undermine the public system, just fill in a few holes. But while public health care has long enjoyed iconic stature among Canadians, it suddenly has a vital new importance: it’s a...
A wealth tax would ensure ultra-rich Canadians, who largely don’t pay income tax, share the cost of increased military spending
A national poll released last week found that Canadians favoured increasing the national debt rather than raising taxes as the best way to pay for the gigantic increase in military spending recently pledged by Prime Minister Mark Carney. The poll result is hardly surprising. But it tells us nothing.
As climate induced hell-fires rage across the country, Canada looks to build pipelines — in the name of national unity
The country is literally on fire. So we better get to work building more pipelines, thereby enabling us to pump even more oil out of the ground and have even bigger, hotter, wilder, more out-of-control fires. This seems to be the main takeaway from the new détente reached between Ottawa and the provinces in the name of fighting the threat...
Mark Carney’s stand on Gaza could actually make a difference
Despite enormous pressure from Washington, Jean Chrétien refused to send Canadian troops to join the foolish and destructive U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. It was one of Canada’s finest moments on the world stage. The former prime minister showed a degree of independence from Washington that took real guts — particularly given the “war on terror” mentality that the...
Poilievre’s agenda is radically different than Carney’s and it’s frightening
A deeply flawed argument has slipped into the national election conversation. It goes like this: there isn’t much policy difference between front-runners Mark Carney and Pierre Poilievre, so it really comes down to who can best handle Donald Trump.
Poilievre and Ford both tried to ride the Trump wave. Now one of them risks crashing down
With anti-Trump feeling sweeping the nation, every Canadian politician opposes the U.S. President’s menacing plan to take over Canada. But Donald Trump’s brazen aggression has created a bedevilling problem for federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and Ontario PC Leader Doug Ford.
Donald Trump’s rage toward Canada hides a deeper agenda
Other than the possibility he’s still seething over the time Melania made eyes at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Donald Trump’s obsession with beating up Canada makes little sense. Certainly, it’s been baffling to watch the U.S. president repeatedly threaten to turn us into the 51st state, with designs on Panama and Greenland too.
Trump and the Liberals have left Poilievre with an axe but nothing to wield it against
With populism now a must-have accessory in politics, there’s nothing better to be these days than a Populist running against a Patrician. But, ever since that dream gig collapsed for Pierre Poilievre with the resignation of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the Conservative leader has been struggling.
Poilievre’s dissing of Canada plays into Trump’s hands
If your next-door neighbour leaned over the fence and said he wanted your yard, you’d conclude he was obnoxious, crazed and menacing. You’d know, however, that if he took any action, you could call the police.
Pierre Poilievre is trying to own Justin Trudeau for respecting international law
There was a time when sneering at international law would not have been a good look for someone aspiring to be Prime Minister of Canada. But, charting new territory, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre contemptuously called Justin Trudeau “woke” for indicating Canada would abide by a ruling of the International Criminal Court (ICC) — a court that Canada helped establish to...
U.S. election mayhem was fuelled by Musk, money and misinformation
Mark Hanna, an unscrupulous Republican backroom operator in the late 19th century, once succinctly summed up all he’d learned about politics: “There are two things that matter in politics. The first is money, and I can’t remember the second.” An astute observation, although there is a second thing that matters in politics — or at least there was in last...
Here’s why Pierre Poilievre is afraid of a properly funded CBC
No wonder Pierre Poilievre wants to defund the CBC. The public broadcaster has barely shown him any deference. Let’s start by noting that, contrary to the Conservative Leader’s claim, the CBC is not “the propaganda arm” of the Liberal government.” Overall, its reporting appears balanced. Now that doesn’t mean that the CBC treats climate denial as a legitimate point of...
Who wants you to believe taxes have risen 2000 per cent? Would-be Prime Minister Pierre Poilievre for a start
If we end up with Pierre Poilievre as prime minister, it will be partly because of all the groundwork done by right-wing think tanks in distorting the public debate over taxes. Most notably, the Fraser Institute, generously funded by wealthy interests, has been using its ample resources for decades to turn Canadians into tax-haters, to disconnect taxes in the public’s...
Pierre Poilievre presents himself as a hard-scrabble populist. Away from the cameras, the truth is very different
Justin Trudeau’s fall from grace probably has a lot to do with the perception of him as a patrician close to the heart of the Canadian establishment, who fraternizes with corporate lobbyists and vacations at the Caribbean retreats of billionaires. Meanwhile, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, a scrappy guy with modest Alberta roots, has been traversing the country describing Canada as...
Pierre Poilievre’s vision for Canada: Heaven for the very rich and squat for everyone else
Pierre Poilievre often calls Canada “broken,” but he rarely reveals that his dream Canada is an austere place that few Canadians would recognize or want to live in. However, in an unscripted comment last month that received almost no media attention, the Conservative leader briefly provided us with a glimpse of the bleak vision he has for Canada.
Justin Trudeau says he respects international law. His actions this week say otherwise
As keen advocates of international law, Justin Trudeau and Chrystia Freeland were elated last year when the International Criminal Court (ICC) tried to prosecute Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes in Ukraine. They even sent the RCMP to help with the investigation. However, that enthusiasm for international law — on the part of both the prime minister and deputy...
Poilievre flirts with far right while media looks away
A dozen years ago, Pierre Poilievre was a relatively obscure political figure who was mostly regarded — to the extent he was regarded at all — as a fiercely anti-labour guy on the far-right of the Harper cabinet. But there he was in Parliament last February, voting in favour of pro-labour legislation banning scabs in federal workplaces.
Pierre Poilievre wants to look tough but bows to Donald Trump
So let me get this straight. Pierre Poilievre is going to make life more affordable for Canadians. Yet he’s going to ramp up our military spending wildly, as demanded by Donald Trump. Trump isn’t even yet the Republican nominee (and still faces 91 criminal charges) but already our putative future prime minister is bending to his will.
Ottawa supports Big Oil’s costly climate scam
One can only imagine the positive buzz these days inside the boardrooms of Canada’s oil companies, as they rake in record profits and plan major expansions of their oil production. Amid all the good cheer, one could easily lose sight of the fact that those plans will push the world dangerously closer to the brink of irreversible climate chaos. Even...
Political intervention risks stifling campus debates on Israel-Palestine
It was stunning to watch Ivy League presidents lapse into confusion when asked at a Congressional hearing whether calling for genocide against Jews would be acceptable on their campuses. One doesn’t need to be a highly educated university president to know that genocide — the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular group with the aim...
Jean Chretien’s courage in choosing compassion is a blueprint for Justin Trudeau
Twenty years ago, in one of Canada’s greatest moments on the world stage, Prime Minister Jean Chretien announced that Canada would not join the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Chretien’s decision to keep Canada out of that foolhardy bloodbath showed a compassion and independence that was particularly impressive given the enormous pressure coming from Washington at the time in the wake...