The two governors general that I’m old enough to remember, besides the current one, were a pair of relatively colourless (metaphorically speaking), recently retired politicians, who basically went completely unnoticed while fulfilling their constitutional duties with mouselike competence.
The outgoing GG, Adrienne Clarkson, is a very well-known journalist (married to a very well-known philosopher, about whom cowgirl and I will have to agree to disagree ) She increased the prominence of the office from day 1; she became the most-travelled GG through Canada, with particular attention to the North. Although she was greatly derided for overspending, especially on a circumpolar tour of visits to other northern countries, the tour was actually commanded by the Dept. of Foreign Affairs and constituted our most successful diplomatic mission to Russia ever. She also made a tradition of spending New Years’ with Canadian soldiers in dangerous overseas postings such as Afghanistan. All of this attention seemed to presage the important constitutional role she almost had to fill during the present minority government; indeed, the Prime Minister lengthened her term specifically in order to have an experienced GG in office in case the government fell.
So as you can see, the position’s in something of a flux since Mme. Clarkson’s term. It has been historically thought of as a glorified sinecure, but she did show the office’s potential to be more interesting. (It’s no surprise that some of the names bandied around for the new GG included such luminaries as Marc Garneau, the first Canadian in space, and Roméo Dallaire, the general who pleaded with the UN to send troops to Rwanda.)
Given the reception so far, and her personal history, I can’t imagine Mme. Jean not making a similarly interesting contribution as GG.
Yes, it’s great to see Canada (and New Zealand) looking outside the ranks of boring white men for GG. Unfortunately, there’sd no sign that John Howard will ever do the same in Australia: he only seems to want a GG who will do nothing to challenge the conservative ascendancy.
How does the GG get chosen? I should know this, but there is a blind spot that I have when it comes to Canadian politics.
I was actually ready to complain that another one of these things went to a Quebecer for no reason other than that they were from Quebec, but I see now that Quebec hasn’t been over-represented in the GGs office.
I’m one of the ‘what’s with another journalist?’ people. I don’t care about her colour, her hair, or her heritage. As a person, she’s fine. I just don’t think we should be consulting the CBC every time we need a new GG. There are plenty more people who represent Canadian values than journalists, some of whom have remarkably diverse backgrounds. I like Roberta Bondar.
I’d also suggest:
David Suzuki
Martin Yan (Yan can Cook!)
Rick Hansen
The GG is appointed by HM the Queen on the advice of HM’s Government in the relevant country. In practice, in Australia at least, “HM’s Government” effectively means the Prime Minister, who may consult the Cabinet before giving the advice, but certainly does not need to consult Parliament or anyone else. So I’d guess than in this case it’s Paul Martin’s decision, though one that he would make bearing in mind the likely impact on his own party and on the electorate generally.
But for the benefit of our non-Westminster System readers, let’s just clarify that the “advice” of the Prime Minister to the Queen is much like the “advice” that a large gentleman in a bad neighbourhood gives you regarding the purchase of an informal, short-term insurance policy for your car: there’s no real option about complying.
Of course, by tradition, it had to be a francophone this time. Rick or Roberta would be great next time (I don’t know M. le chef, and as much as I love David Suzuki, he has about as much chance as GG as Judy Rebick does).
FWIW, speaking of the space program, I believed the scuttlebutt about Marc Garneau; he seemed to be an obvious choice this time around.
I really agree, and in fact, my own choice for GG would have been Dallaire (but I knew he wouldn’t get it when he was named senator). The GG’s main task is to be a good communicator, and he/she may use this to make the public more aware of some issues (as long as they are not too politically controversial, since he/she is supposed to remain an apolitical figure). I’m sure that Dallaire would have been able to wake us up to the reality of ethnic conflict and genocide, if he’d had the job.
What I’m expecting of Jean is that she will help communicate the plight of poor people in Haiti and other very poor countries. We know about it, but we don’t think about it much, unless it’s currently on the news because of some new catastrophe. I’m sure Jean can do something to increase awareness of the Canadian public over this situation.
Holy hell. I can’t believe those commentors would spout such ignorant bullshit.
I say congrats to Ms. Jean. I hope she does a great job and rubs it in their faces.
Well, to be fair, these “commentators” were not employees of the media. They were just members of the public giving their opinions. When you open a forum up to any idiot with a computer and an internet connection, you’re always going to see stuff like that.
I hope this becomes a trend. David Suzuki or Judy Rebick would be interesting choices. Or Roméo Dallaire, Marc Garneau, Roberta Bondar, or Rick Hansen.
I don’t mean to hijack, but I don’t understand why Romeo Dallaire is considered a hero. True, he was hung out to dry in Rwanda by his U.N. superiors, and suffered terribly from a guilty conscience over his failure to stop the genocide. But the thing that defines his role in Rwanda is inaction. It would have been far more heroic to have defied the U.N. and acted unilaterally to stop the genocide, even at the cost of his own career. To do nothing and then have a nervous breakdown is tragic, not heroic. Appointing him to the Senate was a sop to the government’s own guilty conscience for putting him in that position in the first place.
As far as I know, Dallaire didn’t have enough troops to stop the massacres, and tried to appeal to the government to get more troops, but was refused. I wasn’t there, of course, but what I’ve heard is that there was really nothing he could do, he just didn’t have the men. It’s possible that, put in the same position, anyone else would have acted the same way, so he’s not necessarily a “hero”, in the sense of someone who defies all odds to save people, but I don’t think we can blame him for not being more successful. And since he’s lived through this genocide, I think there’s a lot he can teach us now.
In all fairness, by tradition, the Governor General usually alternates between a francophone and an anglophone. Since most francophones in Canada are Quebecers, it’s likely that you’ll find quite a few Quebecers in the list of Governors General. But that’s not even the case, since a few francophones from outside Québec (Roméo LeBlanc, Jeanne Sauvé) have also occupied the position. It would be interesting to have an Anglo-Quebecer (hey, maybe matt_mcl?) at the position some day.
And maybe that as a Quebecer myself, I’m biased, but I don’t think that it happens very often that Quebecers are named to some office just because they’re from Québec. You hear people (especially in the West) say that, but that doesn’t mean it’s true.
For those who suggested David Suzuki as GG: it could be interesting, but he’s an environmentalist, and as such, maybe his political opinions are too controversial for him to hold such an apolitical office. I guess that’s what matt_mcl meant when he said he didn’t have much chance (I assume that’s what he meant, since I don’t know who Judy Rebick is). And, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t David Suzuki also mostly a media personality?
Given that francophones and anglophones in Canada make up what is known as the “two solitudes”, it’s likely that every second time they name a new Governor General, it’s going to be someone you’ve never heard about. That’s how it is.
Well, there is the attitude in the west that Ontario and Quebec get more than their fair share of political fun stuff. And region has a lot to do with it. Since you are from Quebec I would imagine that you think/thought very highly of PET. Of couse I’m sure that you also realize that he was loathed in western Canada.
Trudeau was hated by many in Quebec. Maybe they don’t teach you that in western Canada. Do you just assume you can predict the politics of anyone in another province by where they live?
) She increased the prominence of the office from day 1; she became the most-travelled GG through Canada, with particular attention to the North. Although she was greatly derided for overspending, especially on a circumpolar tour of visits to other northern countries, the tour was actually commanded by the Dept. of Foreign Affairs and constituted our most successful diplomatic mission to Russia ever. She also made a tradition of spending New Years’ with Canadian soldiers in dangerous overseas postings such as Afghanistan. All of this attention seemed to presage the important constitutional role she almost had to fill during the present minority government; indeed, the Prime Minister lengthened her term specifically in order to have an experienced GG in office in case the government fell.