Historical Hill Photo

From The Hill Times’ Photo Archives: Hill Life & People, 30th Year in Print

It was July 4, 1990, and a Fourth of July party that a young Jim Watson didn't want to miss. Mr. Watson, who was working as the illustrious director of communications for then House Speaker John Fraser, is pictured here shaking the hand of then-U.S. ambassador Ed Ney who was ambassador to Canada from 1989 to 1992. Ney had injured his right hand which is why he was wearing a glove. With his wife, Judy, the former CEO of New York ad firm Young and Rubicam, turned the American embassy’s Independence Day party at his official residence in Ottawa's Rockcliffe neighbourhood into the city’s most celebrated social event of the summer. Ney died in 2014 at the age of 88. Mr. Watson, who publicly boycotted the U.S. Embassy's 2018 Fourth of July party, went on to serve as an Ontario Liberal provincial cabinet minister and today is mayor of Ottawa where he just happens to be running for re-election next Monday, Oct. 22.—by Jim Creskey

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