Neil Macdonald

Neil Macdonald is a former foreign correspondent and columnist for CBC News who has also worked in newspapers. He speaks English and French fluently, as well as some Arabic.

Latest from Neil Macdonald

Opinion

Why are photo ops (except Trump's) so brutally boring?: Neil Macdonald

It would be wonderful if politicians used the deadly dull canned moments of photo-ops to actually say something, writes Neil Macdonald.
Opinion

Ignoring all those inconvenient traditional and unceded Indigenous rights: Neil Macdonald

Despite its gushing declarations of support for Indigenous people, the government is defying an order to compensate thousands of families for discrimination.
Opinion

Firing two luckless patsies just makes Scheer look hapless: Neil Macdonald

After his election showing against a weakened, staggered Justin Trudeau, Andrew Scheer very much wants to appear leader-like, writes Neil Macdonald.
Opinion

No need to worry about war crimes, Trump has soldiers' backs: Neil Macdonald

Trump's pardons for Americans accused of war crimes aren't unique, but his bragging about them is, writes Neil Macdonald.
Opinion

'Slosh, slosh, slosh': the maddening, twilight world of medical waiting lists | Neil Macdonald

Our treasured Canadian health care system is corrupt in the sense that not all of us are treated equally, and it's a purely political matter, writes Neil Macdonald.
Opinion

Donald Trump, anointed of God — seriously?: Neil Macdonald

A year out from the U.S. election, most Americans — 65 per cent, according to a recent survey — now find Trump’s behaviour undignified and damaging to the presidency, but not white evangelicals. They are, in fact, the only religious group in the survey to disagree.
Opinion

Andrew Scheer is effectively pro-choice, why not just own it?: Neil Macdonald

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer is hardly the first federal party leader to insist he can keep his personal views and political policies separate - Canada's last five prime ministers, including Justin Trudeau, have used the same dodge. But here's why it's not working so well for Scheer.
Opinion

The preachy, gauzy, meaningless aphorisms don't suffice, Justin Trudeau: Neil Macdonald

Where Stephen Harper and his ministers simply refused to answer, Trudeau's team never stopped answering. They just never said anything, writes Neil Macdonald, and it cost them at the polls.
Opinion

The campaign is a hologram — make-believe tensions over minuscule differences: Neil Macdonald

But political parties must claim to be radically different from one another, and political journalism must play along, or else why exist? So the Liberals and Tories concentrate on what does distinguish them: their leaders.
Point of View

Owning a dog means playing God. It's a role no human wants to play: Neil Macdonald

I swear Lola gazes at us with utter trust. She has no idea what's coming. For now, I take her to the beach every day, and she takes long swims in the warm September river water and glories in fighting Charley for sticks, but she yips in pain sometimes.