Blair Fraser

Blair Fraser

Blair Fraser, journalist (b at Sydney, NS 17 Apr 1909; d on the Petawawa R, Ont 12 May 1968). Fraser was one of the leading journalists of the 1950s and 1960s, and as Ottawa editor of Maclean's from 1943-60 he had a unique opportunity to influence a national audience. Educated at Acadia, Fraser worked on Montréal's English dailies from 1929-43, and went to Maclean's to cover wartime politics. His success was based on his close friendships with politicians and officials; he had unrivalled access to government secrets when the Liberals were in power and only slightly less when the Conservatives were at the helm. When he left Ottawa in 1960, he became editor of Maclean's for 2 years and was then the magazine's London correspondent, before returning to Ottawa in 1963. He drowned in a canoeing accident.