Random recollections  by Rosaleen Dickson

In 1989 there was no Hill Times. Then, suddenly, Ross Dickson and Jim Creskey decided there should be such a paper in Ottawa and voilá! There it was. My involvement isn’t all that significant, but it has meant a lot to me.

Anyone who has ever "done time" on a newspaper will know it didn't just happen. Getting it open and accepted was hard, and tiresome, and world-shaking, and not only was every day a surprise for the first folks involved, but also it startled the people on the Hill. Suddenly they were being bombarded by these young journalists who had decided to make Parliament their beat.

Our first Hill Times office was a ground floor apartment in an old building on Gilmore Street. The staff was new to Ottawa but not new to journalism.  Ross and Jim had both experienced the weekly newspaper world, Ross in Shawville and Jim in Buckingham, so they well knew what was involved, but doing it with MPs and Senators, and Ambassadors, and the population of government was a different matter.

One of their first most useful decisions was to find Kate Malloy and Pamela Frampton to do news and production duties respectively and help The Hill Times evolve from a great idea into a great newspaper. There were others, of course, but my first recollections are of those two beautiful, energetic, brilliant young women walking the long way up to Parliament to get the story and turn it into good reading for a growing audience. From the start The Hill Times became a priority in the Press Gallery and MP’s offices all around Ottawa. Everyone who was anyone read it, so when I was asked to add a few little features, I found it a tad challenging.  All my newspaper experience had been in rural Quebec _ a far cry from the sophistication of the Nation's Capital.   

For my first column, I chose _"Parliament Cooks," featuring the things various Members do in their kitchens. At first I thought it would be an unlikely topic but was surprised to find how many of the Members actually did cook and loved to tell us about it. One fellow made his own bread and insisted I go to his house to watch the whole process. Others cooked everything from soup to cake and they always had a sample for me to take home.

Then we decided to do a column on the books that Members were reading and writing, which turned into a huge chore.  As “Books Editor,” I was inundated by new editions from the publishers, who then sent along their authors to be interviewed. That was when I discovered the National Press Club whose lounge across from Parliament was a great place to meet the authors and their agents. I had been using my own living room but the Press Club’s great dining room and friendly bar were much more convenient.

When Mordecai Richler came though, he didn’t want to eat or drink, but asked if we could just take a walk along Sparks Street; an experience to remember with one of Canada’s greatest story tellers. My plan was to interview him, but he spent an hour ambling through town interviewing me. By then, the Hill Times had moved into its new offices, so I suggested  a visit, but this author wanted only to walk and talk, and “look at Ottawa.”

Back at the office, some of my less interesting chores were calling advertisers to remind them to pay their bills, sending out invoices, and calling Hill workers to set up interviews as I was also writing about the barbers, the security staff, and other people who keep things going on the Hill, and a series about the best chefs all over town.

Today there is not enough room for all the news generated on Parliament Hill, and as for the diplomatic community, well, Ross and Jim had to start a whole new newspaper, “EMBASSY” to cover that intrinsic part of Ottawa. But before the advent of this new paper, I wrote a column in “The Hill Times” that covered the comings and goings of diplomats in all the embassies, and also in the Gevernor General’s entourage. Getting to know the press attachés was fun, and very soon they were calling me to tell me who was going to arrive or leave.

We also took special note of the Senators, and one young man who would call me regularly about changes there was Jim Watson, who went on to become the Mayor of Ottawa and then a Member of the Ontario Legislature.

By the time “EMBASSY” came on the scene, I had become a Director of the National Press Club, engaging speakers for their Newsmaker Breakfasts and Press Attaché Luncheons, so I got myself a digital camera to provide photos for “EMBASSY” with my stories of these events.

The “Hill Times” and “EMBASSY” family changes constantly, with a roster of incredibly brilliant writers working as a team, and Kate Malloy still holds the fort as editor.  It’s a family, and it works.