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 Sidhartha Banerjee.
MONTREAL -- Charles Milliard was acclaimed leader of the Quebec Liberal Party on Friday, replacing Pablo Rodriguez who resigned in December after just six months in the role. The party has been facing a political crisis involving allegations of vote-buying and reimbursed donations in the 2025 leadership race.
MONTREAL -- Major Canadian airlines have suspended service to Cuba as the Caribbean country faces a worsening energy crisis amid a U.S. blockade of oil.
MONTREAL -- Air Canada on Monday suspended service to Cuba because of a shortage of aviation fuel on the island, as the Caribbean nation faces a worsening energy crisis amid a U.S. blockade of oil.
MONTREAL -- Air Canada suspended service to Cuba due to a shortage of aviation fuel on the island, saying it will send empty flights southbound to pick up about 3,000 travellers to bring them home.
MONTREAL -- It's shaping up to be a two-person race for the leadership of the Coalition Avenir Quebec as the party seeks to replace Premier Francois Legault.
MONTREAL -- After more than seven years in power, Quebec Premier Francois Legault announced on Jan. 15 that he would step down after the Coalition Avenir Quebec chooses his replacement.
Quebec's finance minister says he has shared his concerns with his Ontario counterpart about that province's intention to remove Crown Royal whisky from government-owned liquor stores, saying now is not the time to further disrupt Canadian supply chains. Ontario Premier Doug Ford has said the Crown Royal boycott, which he intends to launch next month, is in retaliation for parent...
MONTREAL -- Quebec's finance minister says he has shared his concerns with his Ontario counterpart about that province's intention to remove Crown Royal whisky from government-owned liquor stores, saying now is not the time to further disrupt Canadian supply chains.
MONTREAL -- Francois Legault announced on Wednesday he will step down as Quebec premier when the Coalition Avenir Quebec -- the party he co-founded in 2011 -- chooses his replacement. The departure of Legault, who had also co-founded Air Transat and was its CEO between 1986 and 1997, brings to an end a political career spanning 28 years with two political parties.
MONTREAL -- Quebec's new health minister was sworn in on Friday, a day after Christian Dube resigned from the role and quit the Coalition Avenir Quebec party over changes to a doctor-pay law he had championed in the legislature.
MONTREAL -- With his signature legislation to modernize doctor compensation diluted, Christian Dube announced on Thursday he would resign as health minister and quit the Coalition Avenir Quebec party altogether.
MONTREAL -- Montrealers and others across the country paused to pay tribute Saturday to the 14 women who were murdered at Polytechnique Montreal 36 years ago simply because they were women.
MONTREAL -- Polytechnique Montréal and others across the country will pay tribute on Saturday to the 14 women who were murdered at the engineering school 36 years ago in a brazen anti-feminist attack.
MONTREAL -- A major storm that arrived in northern Ontario on Wednesday is forecast to bring significant snow to the province and to northern Quebec over the coming days -- just in time for Environment Canada's new colour-coded weather alert system.
MONTREAL -- A former researcher with Quebec's hydro utility who is facing economic espionage charges said Thursday he was applying for work at universities in China as a contingency plan because he was unhappy at Hydro-Quebec.
LONGUEUIL -- Yuesheng Wang, a former researcher with Quebec's hydro utility on trial for allegedly spying on behalf of China, testified on Tuesday that his first paycheck came six weeks after he started the job because he wasn't shown how to complete payroll forms.
MONTREAL -- Quebec's professional order of physicians has called for an immediate suspension of a provincial law that ties doctors' pay to performance targets and threatens punitive damages over actions that affect patient care.
MONTREAL -- Facing the threat of cyberattacks and with limited budgets, non-profit organizations across Quebec are being offered free cybersecurity consulting sessions through a pilot project led by Polytechnique Montreal engineering school.
MONTREAL -- A Superior Court judge has rejected a Bloc Quebecois candidate's request for a new election in the Montreal-area riding of Terrebonne, won by the federal Liberals in April with a margin of a single vote.
LONGUEUIL -- The long-awaited trial of a former researcher at Quebec's electric utility charged with economic espionage for the benefit of China opened Thursday with the Crown beginning to present its case.
LONGUEUIL -- A Quebec court judge has rejected a bid by the province's hydro utility to pre-emptively redact some information at an economic espionage trial.
LONGUEUIL -- A trial for a former employee of Quebec's electricity utility accused of economic espionage on behalf of China was delayed Monday as Hydro-Quebec announced it wanted to prevent some information in the case from being discussed in open court.
An election employee noted a discrepancy in the postal codes of special ballot return envelopes in Terrebonne nearly three weeks before the election, but the error wasn't reported to superiors. The mistake is outlined in legal documents filed as part of a court action brought by a former Bloc Quebecois member who lost in the April federal election by a...
MONTREAL -- An election employee noted a discrepancy in the postal codes of special ballot return envelopes in Terrebonne nearly three weeks before the election, but the error wasn't reported to superiors.
MONTREAL -- A Quebec man found guilty of attempting to foment an armed revolution to overthrow the government of Haiti has been sentenced to five years in prison.
MONTREAL -- A member of Quebec's legislature says she will take down her professional Facebook page, unable to filter the hateful comments and spam it regularly attracts.
MONTREAL -- Quebec Premier Francois Legault, one year away from the general election and deeply unpopular with the electorate, announced a major cabinet shuffle on Wednesday and promised to soon present a new vision for the province's economy.
Quebec premier Francois Legault is scheduled to announce a major cabinet shuffle on Wednesday, hoping that new blood can help turn around his party's fortunes with the next provincial election just over a year away. The cabinet shuffle and Legault's decision to prorogue the legislature for two weeks until the end of September are attempts to flip the script on...
MONTREAL -- Quebec premier Francois Legault is scheduled to announce a major cabinet shuffle on Wednesday, hoping that new blood can help turn around his party's fortunes with the next provincial election just over a year away.
The death of Montreal Canadiens legend Ken Dryden resonated in political circles on Saturday where the former NHL great left his mark as a long-standing member of Parliament and former Liberal cabinet minister. The Montreal Canadiens organization announced Dryden's death shortly after 12:30 a.m. Saturday. He died Friday at age 78 following a battle with cancer. Dryden left the Toronto...
The death of Montreal Canadiens legend Ken Dryden resonated in political circles on Saturday where the former NHL great left his mark as a long-standing member of Parliament and former Liberal cabinet minister.
All eyes will be on Quebec Premier Francois Legault on Tuesday as he is set to testify at the public inquiry into the cost overrun scandal at the province's auto insurance board. The commission, overseen by Judge Denis Gallant, is examining how the creation of the online platform known as SAAQclic incurred cost overruns of at least $500 million. "I...
MONTREAL -- All eyes will be on Quebec Premier Francois Legault on Tuesday as he is set to testify at the public inquiry into the cost overrun scandal at the province's auto insurance board.
MONTREAL -- Anti-smoking advocates urged the provinces and territories to use money from a historic tobacco settlement on public health programs as the provinces are set to receive initial amounts starting Friday.
MONTREAL -- A Quebec college facing a $30-million fine for enrolling too many students in English-language programs, contravening the province's language law, is postponing the first day of classes scheduled for Monday.
OTTAWA -- Canada is joining international partners Saturday in panning Israel's plan to take control of Gaza City approved this week.
MONTREAL -- One of four men accused in an alleged anti-government plot to forcibly take possession of land in the Quebec City region was granted bail on Monday.
Québec--The Quebec Liberals have chosen longtime federal politician Pablo Rodriguez to lead the provincial party on Saturday and to carry it into the October 2026 provincial election.
MONTREAL -- Four major Quebec universities are proposing initiatives to make the province a landing spot for high-level researchers and urged the federal and provincial government to step up at a unique moment to attract talent from around the globe.
Canadian scientists working on asteroid missions, exploring the universe through the James Webb Space Telescope or helping to put rovers on Mars say they can in some way thank Marc Garneau, who left an enduring legacy both as an astronaut and head of the country's space agency. While best-known in later years as a federal cabinet minister, Garneau, who died...
MONTREAL -- Quebec will ask the Supreme Court of Canada for permission to appeal lower court rulings that found a provincial law abolishing school boards violates English-language minority education rights.
MONTREAL -- Hours after waking to watch Pope Francis being laid to rest, several dozen faithful paid a final tribute to the late pontiff at a memorial mass at Montreal's Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral on Saturday.
MONTREAL -- Quebec doesn't have the capacity to take in more immigrants, Premier Francois Legault said Thursday amid a surge in the number of asylum seekers arriving at the province's border with the United States.
MONTREAL -- Quebec's Public Security Department announced late Friday afternoon that most random traffic stops by police are suspended, days after the Court of Appeal affirmed that arbitrary road checks lead to racial profiling.
MONTREAL -- The streets of downtown Montreal turned green like clockwork on Sunday as its annual St. Patrick's Day parade celebrated its 200th anniversary with the country's new prime minister present.
MONTREAL -- An 89-year-old man was fighting for his life Wednesday after he was found outside a long-term care home in the city's east end, Montreal police said.
MONTREAL -- Quebec's secularism law, known as Bill 21, was challenged in court as soon as it was adopted more than five years ago. With the Supreme Court of Canada announcing Thursday it will hear arguments on the validity of the law, here's a look at some of the issues behind the legislation.
MONTREAL -- Municipal leaders across Quebec are looking for ways to get young people, especially women, to run for local office in next year's elections, but that is a tall order given the well-documented incidents of harassment and intimidation faced by elected officials in the province.
MONTREAL -- The clock is ticking on a threat by the employers association at the Port of Montreal to lockout some 1,200 dockworkers if their union doesn't agree to a deal Sunday on what it calls a final contract offer.
MONTREAL -- A national Muslim advocacy group says Montreal would send the wrong message if it takes down a welcome sign in the lobby at city hall that generated controversy because it included a woman wearing a hijab.
MONTREAL -- A legislature member with the Coalition Avenir Quebec government is closing her riding office north of Montreal indefinitely because she fears for her safety and the safety of her employees.
MONTREAL -- A welcome sign in the lobby of Montreal's newly renovated city hall depicting a woman wearing a headscarf will be removed in the name of secularism, Montreal's mayor says, following criticism that the image is offensive.
MONTREAL -- Quebec's Court of Appeal has upheld a landmark 2022 decision that found a law permitting random traffic stops by police led to racial profiling.
MONTREAL -- Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante says she will quit municipal politics after serving the final year of her second term, which comes to an end in November 2025. Known for her trademark laugh and positive energy, here are five things about the municipal politician first elected as a city councillor in 2013.
MONTREAL -- Quebec Premier Francois Legault promised on Tuesday to toughen secularism measures in schools, saying he was "shocked" by revelations about a Montreal public school where a group of teachers had tried to introduce what the premier described as "Islamist" beliefs.
MONTREAL -- Eleven Montreal teachers who were suspended for allegedly creating a climate of fear and intimidation inside a Montreal primary school were replaced Monday as the union that represents them rejected criticism from the education minister that it didn't do enough to correct the problem.
MONTREAL -- Bilingual Quebec municipalities have lost their bid to have several parts of the government's French-language reform suspended while their case makes its way through the courts.
MONTREAL -- Quebec has introduced new restrictions on Atlantic salmon fishing because of annual fish migrations that are well below average in most of the province's rivers.
Canada's security apparatus is "exercising increased vigilance" in the wake of this weekend's deadly shooting at former U.S. president Donald Trump's rally in Pennsylvania, the federal public safety minister said Sunday. Dominic LeBlanc issued a series of posts on the social media platform X saying he was briefed by officials from Public Safety Canada, the commissioner of the RCMP and...