Writer and journalist Rex Murphy dead at 77: National Post

Rex Murphy, the Newfoundland-born pundit and wordsmith whose writing and often-blistering commentaries were the focus of a decades-long career in Canadian media, has died at the age of 77, according to the National Post.

In a report published on the Post's website on Thursday, the newspaper said Murphy died after a battle with cancer.

Murphy had a long career in media, including many years with CBC, and was a National Post columnist at the time of his death.

He hosted Cross Country Checkup on CBC Radio for more than two decades and was a familiar face to longtime viewers of CBC's The National. His appearances on CBC-TV date as far back as the 1970s.

Former prime minister Stephen Harper, in a tribute posted on X, remembered Murphy as "one of the most intelligent and fiercely free-thinking journalists this country has ever known."