Tom Blackwell

Tom Blackwell has been a reporter at Canada's National Post newspaper for 18 years. His primary focus today is on stories that explore this country's intersection with the world, especially China's influence in Canada. He earlier spent more than a decade as a health-care specialist covering everything from patient safety and medico-legal battles, to the brave new world of fertility medicine and the opioid-addiction crisis. In fact, he was likely the first Canadian journalist to report on the overdose dangers of fentanyl - in 2004. Before arriving at the Post, he worked at two news services and smaller newspapers in Canada. His career has spanned a variety of beats, including politics, crime, prisons and foreign affairs. Blackwell led the Post's coverage of the SARS crisis in Toronto and in southern China - briefly being detained by security forces there - has reported on the plight of Syrian refugees in Jordan and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and spent two stints in and around the battlefields of Kandahar. Blackwell traveled to Ferguson, Mo., to cover the race-related protests there on two occasions. He has twice been a finalist for the National Newspaper Award, Canada's premiere prize for print journalists, and won other awards for his work.