Departing Canada bureau chief for Reuters wants more female bureau chiefs

Janet Guttsman, the Canada bureau chief for Reuters, is leaving the news organization on Friday. She sent out the following message to the staff:

Indulge me for a second as I say farewell after 26 years, four countries and some seriously exotic datelines. Friday is my last day in the office.

The adventure started in Germany, and the Berlin Wall came down. Then Moscow, and the country fell apart, and then Washington, where they impeached the president and lurched into what we naively described as the World Economic Crisis (v1.1). In Canada we had SARS, the Nortel/BlackBerry implosions and now the delicious saga of Toronto’s crack-smoking mayor. It’s been a blast. How many people can say they got paid to walk round the outside edge of the CN Tower?

Too many friends and mentors to name you all, but thanks to John Bartram, who hired me, Keith Stafford and Tony Williams, who taught me Reuters, Oliver Wates, who taught me news and Bernd Debusmann and Betty Wong, who let an uprooted expat Brit run Canada. And thanks to all the wonderful reporters and editors I have worked with over the years. I will miss you.

I wish you all health, happiness and beautiful stories that sail through the desk. Selfishly perhaps, I also hope there might be a few more women around the tables at bureau chiefs meetings next year.

I’m excited about my own future, in a very fuzzy sort of way. But I’m sure at least some of it will involve bicycles. If a scruffy traveler turns up on your doorstep with rain-soaked panniers looking for a bed and a warm shower, be nice to me.