James Travers was a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 journalist, best known as an editor and political correspondent for the Toronto Star

Toronto Star

The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...

.

Born in Hamilton, Ontario

Hamilton, Ontario

Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...

, Travers began his journalism career in 1972 with the Oakville Journal Record in Oakville

Oakville, Ontario

Oakville is a town in Halton Region, on Lake Ontario in Southern Ontario, Canada, and is part of the Greater Toronto Area. As of the 2006 census the population was 165,613.-History:In 1793, Dundas Street was surveyed for a military road...

. He later joined Southam Newspapers, working as a foreign correspondent covering Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

 and the Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

. He served as the editor of the Ottawa Citizen

Ottawa Citizen

The Ottawa Citizen is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Canada. According to the Canadian Newspaper Association, the paper had a 2008 weekly circulation of 900,197.- History :...

from 1991 to 1996, when he resigned shortly after Southam sold the paper to Hollinger

Hollinger Inc.

Hollinger Inc. was a Canadian media company based in Toronto. It was created by the Canadian businessman Conrad Black as a holding company for his media interests after he acquired control of The Daily Telegraph in 1986. It was the parent company of Chicago-based Hollinger International, whose...

.

He joined the Toronto Star as an editor the following year, later returning to column writing as the paper's national affairs columnist. He won a National Newspaper Award

National Newspaper Awards

The National Newspaper Awards are prizes awarded annually for the best work in Canadian newspapers. The awards were first given in 1949 by the Toronto Press Club, which ran the awards until 1989...

 in 2009 for a column titled "The quiet unravelling of Canadian democracy".

Following the announcement of his death, tributes were delivered in the Canadian House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

 by several political figures, including Stephen Harper

Stephen Harper

Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...

, Michael Ignatieff

Michael Ignatieff

Michael Grant Ignatieff is a Canadian author, academic and former politician. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition from 2008 until 2011...

 and Bob Rae

Bob Rae

Robert Keith "Bob" Rae, PC, OC, OOnt, QC, MP is a Canadian politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre and interim leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....

.

External links

• James Travers at the Toronto Star
  Toronto Star
  The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...