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Jim Watson: Special memories of former House of Commons Speaker John Fraser

11 0
12.04.2024

Throughout one's career, there are often people who help you out or give you solid advice. But not everyone has the privilege of having a mentor like John Allen Fraser.

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One of the ironies of being Speaker of the House of Commons is that you rarely speak and when you do, you must avoid remarks that could be considered partisan or political.

So when my boss at the time, Speaker John Fraser, was asked to give a speech on his role outside the chamber, he was always happy to go into detail about his place in the parliamentary system. The one challenge with those speeches was that he had a lot to say that had been bottled up, and at times those speeches would go on far too long.

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He wrote most of his speeches himself and I — his director of communications — was tasked as editor. Even if we all agreed on the content........

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