Rex Murphy

Rex Murphy
Born	March 1947 (age 69) Carbonear, Newfoundland
Nationality	Canadian
Alma mater	Memorial University of Newfoundland
Occupation	Author, journalist

Rex Murphy (born March 1947) is a Canadian commentator and author, primarily on Canadian political and social matters. He was the regular host of CBC Radio One's Cross Country Checkup, a nationwide call-in show, for 21 years before stepping down in September 2015.

Murphy was born in Carbonear, Newfoundland, 105 kilometres west of St. John's, and is the second of five children of Harry and Marie Murphy. He graduated from Memorial University of Newfoundland in 1968, and went to the United Kingdom to study at St Edmund Hall in the University of Oxford as a Rhodes scholar. He did not receive an Oxford degree.

Murphy first came to national attention while attending Memorial University during a nationally covered speech in Lennoxville, Quebec. Murphy characterized Newfoundland Premier Joey Smallwood's governing style as dictatorial and proclaimed his legislature's recent announcement of free tuition as a sham. Smallwood warned the undergraduate student in a news conference not to return. Murphy did and was elected President of Memorial University Student Council. In the end the government caved in. All students received the free tuition promised, plus a $50 living allowance.

Murphy has run for provincial office in Newfoundland twice: in the 1985 provincial election in the riding of Placentia in 1985 and in a byelection in the riding of St. John's East in 1986, as a Liberal. He lost both times. He also worked in the 1980s as executive assistant to Clyde Wells.

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