New Web column by Richard Cleroux

Richard Cleroux has always taken politics to heart. His father was the chauffeur for Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King.

It was from the longest serving Canadian PM that Cleroux learned his first political lesson – that the most important political decisions are often the result of the most commonplace motivations.

A political commentator in Quebec and Ottawa for more than 30 years, Cleroux has covered politics in both of Canada's official languages and across print media, radio, and television. He has a penchant and reputation for getting to the bottom of issues.

Until recently, he regularly appeared on TQS with Jean-Luc Mongrain, and before that with LCN during the Gomery Commission hearings. He is often heard on FM 98.5 in Montreal, with Jean Casault in Quebec City, as well as on CKYK in Chicoutimi. His commentaries can also be read in the Hill Times or in the prestigious Globe and Mail. For the past year he has written a column for the Ottawa Express and for La Nouvelle of Eastern Ontario. He is also a correspondent for the London Times.

Author of two books on the secret world of espionage, he has won numerous journalism awards, including a National Newspaper Award (1976) and a National Magazine Award (1978). In addition, he is a founding member of the prestigious Centre for Investigative Journalism, established in 1979.

Richard Cleroux has covered nine federal elections, four Quebec elections, three referendums, two elections in other provinces, and the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1984.

His passion for politics persists even after these many years, calling it (politics) a blood sport between winners and losers, a spectacle he prefers to view from the stands.

He extends an invitation for you to share with him his weekly observations and analyses of political life in Canada and Quebec.

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