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.

Linda McQuaig

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 mind from all the benefits, services, programs and infrastructure that taxes provide.

Linda McQuaig

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 a “living hell” for working class people, and promising that “when I’m prime minister my obsession — my daily obsession — will be about what is good for th

Linda McQuaig

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.

Linda McQuaig

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 prime minister — was notably lacking last week when the ICC’s top prosecutor Karim Khan announced he was seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as three Hamas leaders.

Linda McQuaig

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.

Linda McQuaig

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.

Linda McQuaig

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 as the world finally signed a commitment at UN climate talks last month to begin transitioning away from fossil fuels, Canada’s major oil companies are poised to do exactly the opposite — to greatly expand their fossil fuel production.

Linda McQuaig

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 of destroying that group — is always unacceptable.

Linda McQuaig

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 of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.