Canadian political commentator Rex Murphy has died at 77:
Tributes and remembrances from across the political spectrum have poured in for Rex Murphy, who died aged 77.
Mark Critch, a fellow Newfoundlander who parodied Murphy on the CBC program This Hour Has 22 Minutes, recalled that Murphy had worked with his father at VOCM radio in St. John’s, N.L. “You might not always agree with what he had to say but oh, could he say it”, Critch wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “I hope he makes it home to Gooseberry Cove.”
That theme — of not always agreeing with Murphy, but admiring his style — has been frequent in remembrances of his life.
Bob Rae, a long-time Liberal member of Parliament, former premier of Ontario and now Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations, wrote of meeting Murphy on television in 1978: “He stole the show”.
“We disagreed about many things, but I never lost my affection and admiration for him,” Rae wrote on X.
In a video posted Thursday evening, which had been recorded for an award Murphy received prior to his death, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre praised Murphy’s “verbal ninja moves”.
“You are a national treasure. You are a voice of reason. You are a champion of all things that are great in our country,” Poilievre said.
Canada has lost an icon, a pioneer of independent, eloquent, and fearless thought, and always a captivating orator who never lost his touch.I was honoured to toast to Rex a few months ago on receiving the Game Changers Award for one of this country’s true game changers.
Rex,… pic.twitter.com/Nz8fWBPv7F
— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) May 10, 2024
On Friday, the House of Commons held a moment of silence in honour of Murphy.
“Few gifts from the rock rival that of the now-departed Rex Murphy,” Conservative MP John Williamson said in the House. “Rex stood on guard for all of us with great wit and wisdom throughout his many newspaper columns and on-air commentaries. Rex was brave but without pretence. He despised the smug.”
Murphy’s writing, which appeared for more than a decade in National Post, was always fierce, often controversial, and liberally peppered with the sort of language that has the feel of an age gone by.
