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André Pierre Bourque Jr. (October 7, 1958 – August 28, 2021) was a race car driver, developer, journalist, broadcaster and former politician in Ottawa, Ontario, and operated the online news aggregator site Bourque Newswatch (Newswatch).

Bourque was born at the Ottawa General Hospital in 1958, the son of Pierre Bourque (Sr.) and Barbara McNeil. He was the grandson of E. A. Bourque, Ottawa's first francophone mayor.

Politics Following a ten-year career as a race car driver, and a brief apprenticeship with his father's land development business, Bourque was appointed to Ottawa City Council and the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton in March 1991 to fill a vacancy after Marc Laviolette became mayor. Bourque was appointed following a council vote, defeating 17 other candidates, including community activists Maurice Pagé and Richard Cannings. Bourque was supported by the "pro-developer" bloc on council, and was opposed by the council's left wing, who coalesced behind Pagé. Bourque's stay on council was short lived, however, and he was defeated by Cannings in the municipal election that November. While on council, he opposed "all big projects", including bringing in a Triple-A baseball team and improving Lansdowne Park. He also opposed all tax increases, and called for the demolition of some heritage buildings in his ward such as the Daly Building. He had near-perfect attendance in both committee and council meetings.

Two years later, Bourque ran for Parliament in the 1993 Canadian election as a Liberal candidate in the Montreal riding of Rosemont, and lost to Bloc Québécois candidate Benoît Tremblay.

Bourque ran for Ottawa city council again in 1994, in the new Bruyère-Strathcona Ward but was defeated by Stéphane Émard-Chabot. At this point in his career, he was vice president of his father's company, Bourque, Pierre & Fils. He ran on a platform of safety, improving street lighting and basic services, and called for the removal of traffic barriers in the Byward Market. He also wanted to "control taxes by cutting frivolous expenditures". Despite his campaign of fiscal restraint, Bourque was embroiled in a scandal during the campaign as he owed $1.1 million to creditors, after his father promised to repay some of his debts, but went to other debts instead.

Journalism In 2001, the Ryerson Review of Journalism (RRJ) criticized Bourque and Newswatch. RRJ said Bourque had not written some of his books but only acted as a researcher. In addition, many of Newswatch's breaking stories had often been inaccurate. RRJ also reported that, despite Bourque's web traffic claims, a random sample indicated that Canadian Internet users had not visited the Newswatch site and that no major Canadian journalist used Newswatch as a source.

Newswatch has also been criticized for allowing advertisers to purchase headlines and to "torque" them to highlight a positive news story about itself or a negative story about an opponent.

Bourque was a fill-in host and contributor to radio talk shows on 580 CFRA.

Racing driver Bourque was race car driver in the NASCAR Busch East Series and NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, competing from 2007 to 2011.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Nationwide Series NASCAR Nationwide Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 Pts Ref 2010 Specialty Racing 61 Ford DAY CAL LVS BRI NSH PHO TEX TAL RCH DAR DOV CLT NSH KEN ROA NHA DAY CHI GTY IRP IOW GLN MCH BRI CGVDNQ ATL RCH DOV KAN CAL CLT GTY TEX PHO HOM 153th -

Camping World Truck Series NASCAR Camping World Truck Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Pts Ref 2007 Fast Track Racing 71 Chevy DAY CAL ATL MAR KAN CLT MFD DOV TEX MCH MLW MEM KEN IRP36 NSH BRI GTW NHA LVS TAL MAR ATL TEX PHO HOM 115th 55 2009 Fast Track Racing 48 Chevy DAY CAL ATL MAR KAN CLT DOV TEX MCH MLW MEM KEN IRP NSH BRI CHI IOW29 GTW NHA LVS MAR TAL TEX PHO HOM 101st 76

Rolex Sports Car Series

Grand Touring (key) Bold – Pole Position. (Overall Finish/Class Finish). Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series GT results Year Team No. Engine Chassis 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Pos Pts Ref 2007 The Racer's Group 67 Pontiac 5.0L V8 Porsche GT3 Cup DAY(28/12) MEX HOM VIR LGA WGL MOH DAY IOW BAR MON WGL INF MIL 119th 19

Personal life Bourque was married to Kristine Haselsteiner and had two children.

Death Bourque died of a heart attack in 2021.

References

External links Personal site

Bourque Newswatch