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Offering commentary and analysis from Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, The Cascadia Advocate provides the Northwest Progressive Institute's uplifting perspective on world, national, and local politics.

Saturday, January 23rd, 2021

A spectacular fall to earth: Canada’s Governor General Julie Payette resigns in ignominy

On the day Pres­i­dent Biden took his oath of office in “the States”, Canada’s cer­e­mo­ni­al head of state was prepar­ing to resign after a blis­ter­ing gov­ern­ment-autho­rized review found she cre­at­ed a tox­ic work environment.

It was a dra­mat­ic fall to earth for Gov­er­nor Gen­er­al Julie Payette, a two-time Space Shut­tle astro­naut tapped for Canada’s top offi­cial (but apo­lit­i­cal) posi­tion in 2017 by Prime Min­is­ter Justin Trudeau. Payette had already stirred con­tro­ver­sy for fre­quent absences from Rideau Hall in Ottawa.

The Gov­er­nor Gen­er­al offi­cial­ly rep­re­sents Queen Eliz­a­beth II in Cana­da. Each of the country’s ten provinces has a Lieu­tenant Gov­er­nor who also rep­re­sents the queen, but at the provin­cial lev­el. The Lieu­tenant Gov­er­nor for British Colum­bia resides at Gov­ern­ment House on a low hill in Victoria.

The Gov­er­nor Gen­er­al is offi­cial­ly head of state. They call the win­ners of nation­al elec­tions to form a gov­ern­ment and swear in cab­i­net ministers.

If a gov­ern­ment los­es a con­fi­dence vote in the House of Com­mons, the Gov­er­nor Gen­er­al can ask an oppo­si­tion leader to try and form a gov­ern­ment. The Gov­er­nor Gen­er­al is also tit­u­lar com­man­der of the country’s armed forces.

Why have such a posi­tion? A lot of Cana­di­ans are ask­ing that ques­tion right now. The Gov­er­nor Gen­er­al is sup­posed to be a uni­fy­ing sym­bol, mir­ror­ing a role occu­pied by Queen Eliz­a­beth across the pond, as are Her Majesty’s vicere­gal rep­re­sen­ta­tives in the provinces. (Dur­ing din­ners at Gov­ern­ment House in Vic­to­ria, the Lieu­tenant Gov­er­nor is piped in and out with all standing.)

Unfor­tu­nate­ly for Cana­da, Julie Payette wasn’t prop­er­ly vet­ted for the job. Trudeau and his father, the late Prime Min­is­ter Pierre Trudeau, have acquired a rep­u­ta­tion for wing­ing it on appointments.

Some­times their choic­es work. The elder Trudeau tapped famed Van­cou­ver archi­tect Arthur Erick­sen to design Canada’s spec­tac­u­lar embassy on Penn­syl­va­nia Avenue in Wash­ing­ton, D.C., with its sculp­ture by native artist Bill Reid in the foy­er. Then-Prime Min­is­ter Bri­an Mul­roney groused that his ambas­sador in Wash­ing­ton, D.C., had bet­ter digs than the Prime Minister’s office in Ottawa.

Payette need­ed back­ground checks. When appoint­ed in 2017, she was com­ing off a con­tentious divorce. She had been arrest­ed six years ear­li­er in assault charges against her then-hus­band. The charges were lat­er with­drawn. Payette fought unsuc­cess­ful­ly in court to keep records sealed from news organizations.

A week after her appoint­ment came news that Payette had been cleared for involve­ment in a 2011 car acci­dent in which a fifty-five-year-old woman was killed. Payette was then liv­ing in Mary­land as part of her astro­naut train­ing. The court not­ed that the deceased had pre-exist­ing med­ical con­di­tions and poor eyesight.

Payette came under crit­i­cism for her work eth­ic, break­ing the tra­di­tion that the Gov­er­nor Gen­er­al vis­its all ten provinces as well as Canada’s ter­ri­to­ries dur­ing their first year in office. She missed Man­i­to­ba, Saskatchewan and the Yukon.

The worst news came last July, when the CBC report­ed that Payette, as Gov­er­nor Gen­er­al, was the Great White North’s boss-from-hell, harass­ing, belit­tling, and reduc­ing “some staff mem­bers to tears, caus­ing mul­ti­ple peo­ple to quit.”

Her exec­u­tive sec­re­tary, Assun­ta di Loren­zo, was accused of bul­ly­ing, and call­ing staff “incom­pe­tent” and “lazy”, along with Payette.

The end came at a meet­ing Wednes­day night with Trudeau. On Thurs­day, she announced: “For the good of our coun­try and of our demo­c­ra­t­ic insti­tu­tions, I have come to the con­clu­sion that a new Gov­er­nor Gen­er­al should be appointed.”

Gov­er­nors Gen­er­al of Cana­da were named by the Brits until 1952. Since then, the Gov­er­nor Gen­er­al is appoint­ed on rec­om­men­da­tion of the Prime Minister.

Over the years, the post has been held by sev­er­al now infa­mous figures.

Lord Stan­ley donat­ed the ini­tial cup, now known as the Stan­ley Cup, award­ed to the Nation­al Hock­ey League’s cham­pi­on. Tweedsmuir Provin­cial Park in British Colum­bia bears the name of John Buchan, the 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, known for his nov­el “The 39 Steps”, which was made into a thriller by Alfred Hitchcock.

Lord Grey, a British noble­man, served as Gov­er­nor Gen­er­al from 1904 to 1911. He made a phys­i­cal­ly demand­ing trip across B.C.’s Pur­cell Moun­tains. One of the great back­coun­try hik­ing des­ti­na­tions in Cana­da, Earl Grey Pass, bears his name. A near­by peak is named Lady Grey.

Inclu­sive­ness has become a theme of Trudeau’s Lib­er­al Par­ty in nam­ing Gov­er­nors Gen­er­al in recent years. A Hong Kong-born broad­cast­er, Adri­enne Clark­son, became the first Chi­nese Cana­di­an Gov­er­nor Gen­er­al. She took great in the far north, under­tak­ing a trip to Ice­land, Nor­way and Russia.

The vice regal Clark­son was a regal pres­ence but immersed her­self in the job. She was suc­ceed­ed by Michaelle Jean, a Hait­ian-born French lan­guage broadcaster.

The next Gov­er­nor Gen­er­al will face challenges.

The Lib­er­al Par­ty of Trudeau has a minor­i­ty of seats in par­lia­ment. A no-con­fi­dence vote could pass in the House of Com­mons should all three oppo­si­tion par­ties vote for it. A new nation­al elec­tion could come lat­er this year.

Trudeau is a lit­tle chas­tened by the Julie Payette deba­cle, and is mak­ing state­ments that all employ­ees of the Gov­ern­ment of Cana­da are enti­tled to a safe and abuse-free work­place regard­less of who they work for.

The oppo­si­tion Con­ser­v­a­tive Par­ty leader Erin O’Toole offered up con­struc­tive and under­stat­ed advice: “Con­sid­er­ing his (Trudeau’s) last appoint­ment and the minor­i­ty par­lia­ment, the Prime Min­is­ter should con­sult oppo­si­tion par­ties and reestab­lish the Vice Regal Appoint­ments Com­mis­sion.”

The Monar­chist League of Cana­da, in a state­ment, sug­gest­ed look­ing across the pond for inspi­ra­tion: “It is impor­tant to remem­ber that the Gov­er­nor Gen­er­al rep­re­sents the admired head of state, the Queen.”

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One Comment

  1. Adri­enne Clark­son got her sur­name from her first hus­band Pro­fes­sor Stephen Clark­son (m. 1963; div. 1975).

    As Gov­er­nor-Gen­er­al her con­sort was John Ral­ston Saul. They mar­ried in 1999 to appease pub­lic sentiment.

    She came to Cana­da at the age of three. Her sis­ter-in-law Vivi­enne Poy became a Cana­di­an Senator.

    # by Bill Lee :: January 25th, 2021 at 2:07 PM
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