Rosemary Barton

Rosemary Barton (born May 31, 1976) is a Canadian political journalist, currently serving as the chief political correspondent for CBC. Barton began working in journalism as a researcher for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's French-language news network RDI before becoming a National Assembly of Quebec correspondent for Global News. She rejoined the CBC in 2004, initially in the same role as a provincial political correspondent she held at Global, before transferring to the national Parliament Hill bureau in 2007.

She began appearing on Power & Politics in 2011 as the program's main substitute host.

Host of Power & Politics

Following the dismissal of Evan Solomon by the CBC in 2015, Barton became interim host of Power & Politics. Her interview style was lauded by fellow journalists, sometimes contrasted favourably against Solomon.

Barton gained popularity following her response to statements made by then-Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Chris Alexander on Power & Politics during the 2015 election campaign, when he attempted to deflect a question on the government's handling of Syrian refugees during a panel discussion by blaming the media (and Barton) for not drawing enough attention to the crisis. Barton called Alexander's statements "completely false," offered to provide clips of previous shows where the Syrian refugee crisis had been discussed, and challenged him to admit he "[wanted to] avoid the question."

She was officially named as the new permanent host of the show on January 5, 2016.

Co-host of The National

On November 6, 2017, Barton debuted as a co-host of The National, CBC Television's flagship newscast, alongside Adrienne Arsenault, Andrew Chang and Ian Hanomansing. She was succeeded as host of Power & Politics by Vassy Kapelos, formerly host of Global's The West Block.

In January 2020, Barton transitioned to a role as CBC's chief political correspondent after CBC decided to discontinue The National's four-anchor format. Barton continues to contribute to The National as host of "At Issue" panel discussions with political operatives featuring Andrew Coyne, Althia Raj and Chantal Hebert.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Barton led CBC's coverage of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's daily press briefings from March to July 2020.

Host of Rosie Barton Live

Barton hosted the weekend political talk series Sunday Scrum on CBC News Network, which was retitled Rosemary Barton Live as of November 1, 2020. Rosemary Barton Live is a Canadian Sunday morning political affairs program that premiered on CBC News Network and CBC Television on November 1, 2020. The live weekly program airs from 10 a.m. to noon ET on CBC News Network and is simulcast on CBC Television. It replaced The Weekly with Wendy Mesley.

Education Barton is a graduate of the Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface (a francophone affiliated college of the University of Manitoba) and Carleton University.