Wilson had his fill of ‘intense job’

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This article was published 29/08/2009 (6168 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WASHINGTON — Michael Wilson says he’s stepping down as Canada’s ambassador to the United States because he doesn’t want to spend several more years in an often gruelling diplomatic post.

“It’s a pretty intense job,” the 71-year-old Wilson, who served as ambassador since 2006, said Friday in an interview.

“The hours are long — a normal day is 8:30 til 6:30 or 7, then you had the dinners that are two, three, four nights a week, and those are business dinners, not casual affairs. I wasn’t prepared to give another four years at that level of intensity.”

The Prime Minister’s Office announced Wilson’s resignation Friday in a curious fashion: in an itinerary for Prime Minister Stephen Harper that described a meeting with “the new ambassador-designate of Canada to the United States of America.”

That turned out to be outgoing Manitoba Premier Gary Doer, who announced a surprise resignation of his own the previous day at a news conference in Winnipeg.

It’s customary to announce an ambassador’s departure before naming a replacement. The news about Wilson, a loyal Conservative who has spent decades in public service, caught some observers off guard.

“I found out about it on Facebook with the news about Gary Doer… I was pretty surprised,” said David Biette the director of the Canada Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington.

“He’s been a great spokesman for Canada and Canada’s been very well-represented by him,” Biette said of Wilson.

“But I know he didn’t want to be here forever. His wife, in particular, wanted to be with the grandkids and be home in Ontario.”

— The Canadian Press