Paul Wells is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

journalist and pundit. He was briefly a national affairs columnist for the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...

'' in 2016–2017. Before that, he was a columnist for ''

Maclean's ''Maclean's'', founded in 1905, is a Canadian news magazine reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian persp ...

'' for thirteen years; his column originally appeared in the back page slot famously occupied for many years by

Allan Fotheringham Allan Fotheringham (August 31, 1932August 19, 2020) was a Canadian newspaper and magazine journalist. He styled himself Dr. Foth and "the Great Gatheringfroth". He was described as "never at a loss for words". Early life Fotheringham was born ...

but was subsequently moved to the front of the magazine with other columns.

Background

Wells was born in

Sarnia Sarnia is a city in Lambton County, Ontario, Canada. It had a Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population of 72,047, and is the largest city on Lake Huron. Sarnia is located on the eastern bank of the junction between the Upper and Lower Great Lakes w ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, the son of Seigrid Eleanor (Wedin) and Allen Rollins Wells. His mother's family was Swedish. Wells's first book, ''Right Side Up: The Fall of Paul Martin and the Rise of Stephen Harper's New Conservatism,'' debuted in October 2006 and quickly appeared on multiple Canadian best seller lists. In early 2012, he released his e-book ''The Harper Decade'', following Stephen Harper's rise to power. He won the

Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing The Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing is a Canadian literary award, presented by the Writers' Trust of Canada to the best nonfiction book on Canadian political and social issues. It has been presented annually in Ottawa at the Writer ...

in 2014 for his book ''The Longer I’m Prime Minister: Stephen Harper and Canada, 2006''. Wells moderated the first nationally-televised English leader election debate of the 2015 federal election campaign season. He also moderated one of the English leader debates during the 2019 Federal Election campaign. In addition to his work in print journalism, he has also hosted the political talk show ''Maclean's Live'' for CPAC.

Notable articles

Paul Wells with Andrew Scheer - 2018 (40896421282)

On 8 May 2008, Wells criticized Robert Dutrisac, Christian Rioux and

Michel David Michel David (born in 1951) has been a Québécois journalist since 1978, and is a columnist for the Montreal, Quebec, Canada, newspaper '' Le Devoir''. David was parliamentary correspondent at the National Assembly of Quebec for Quebec City's ...

for their bowdlerization of Canadian history in the service of Quebec separatists. His angle is that these Quebec journalists downplay any Canadian history before the

Quiet Revolution The Quiet Revolution (french: Révolution tranquille) was a period of intense socio-political and socio-cultural change in French Canada which started in Quebec after the election of 1960, characterized by the effective secularization of govern ...

Jean Lesage Jean Lesage (; 10 June 1912 – 12 December 1980) was a Canadian lawyer and politician from Quebec. He served as the 19th premier of Quebec from 22 June 1960 to 16 June 1966. Alongside Georges-Émile Lapalme, René Lévesque and others, he is ...

, because it is inconvenient for the separatists.

Honours

While at ''Maclean's'', Wells won three gold

National Magazine Awards The National Magazine Awards, also known as the Ellie Awards, honor print and digital publications that consistently demonstrate superior execution of editorial objectives, innovative techniques, noteworthy enterprise and imaginative design. Or ...

. In 2015, he was awarded Poland's Gold Cross of Merit "for spreading a positive image of Poland in Canada". He was named honorary patron of Friends of the National Arts Centre Orchestra in 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wells, Paul 1966 births Canadian bloggers Canadian columnists Canadian magazine journalists Canadian political commentators Canadian political journalists Living people People from Sarnia University of Western Ontario alumni Montreal Gazette people Maclean's writers and editors Recipients of the Gold Cross of Merit (Poland)