The Julie Payette scandal should never have happened. In that Madame Payette should never have been appointed as our governor general in 2017.
Back in the spring of 2017, as former Governor General David Johnston’s term was coming to an end, had Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called for a formal and rigorous vetting procedure for all potential candidates for Johnston’s successor, any initial interest in Julie Payette’s desirability for the job would have quickly faded.
Had officials in the Privy Council Office and Prime Minister’s Office carefully assessed Madame Payette’s suitability to be the Queen’s representative in Canada, and had they interviewed officials who had worked under her at the Montreal Science Centre and with the Canadian Olympic Committee, they would have heard disquieting words about abusive behaviours, bullying, and toxic work environments.
NO SERIOUS VETTING
But no serious vetting of Madame Payette’s file was done in 2017 because Prime Minister Trudeau clearly wanted such a female Canadian celebrity to be the next governor general. So, the prime minister abandoned the Non-Partisan Advisory Committee on Vice-Regal Appointments, with its system of rigorous and critical vetting by officials knowledgeable about the constitutional role of the governor general. This institution had been established by former Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2012.
And the rest is now rather sorry history. Governor General Payette came under increasing criticism of her management style and treatment of subordinates. An internal investigation of allegations of abusive behavior within Rideau Hall was damning of the governor general. And the prime minister finally had to call upon Madame Payette to resign.
If the governor general had refused to leave her offices, Prime Minister Trudeau would have been perfectly within his rights to contact Buckingham Palace so as to advise the Queen to strip Madame Payette of her governor generalship. And this, the Queen would have done, adhering to rarely used but effective Commonwealth precedents.
TEACHABLE MOMENTS
No problem goes by, however, without its teachable moments, and there are certain lessons that we as Canadians can learn from this lamentable affair.
One is that the vice-regal appointment process that Justin Trudeau inherited was a finely crafted instrument for making well-informed decisions as to who would be well-suited to serve as a governor general or lieutenant governor. While much of Stephen Harper’s legacy has been rightfully undone by Justin Trudeau, this non-partisan vice-regal appointment process was one of Harper’s creations that Trudeau should have left alone.
And now, it is a decision-making process that should be reintroduced.
The other is that the role of the Canadian vice-regents is important and that these officials, the federal and provincial representatives of the Queen in Canada, are more than just ceremonial figureheads.
REAL POLITICAL POWER
It is true that much of their routine work during normal times of relative political tranquillity, when prime ministers and premiers lead majority governments, is ceremonial. Vice regents read speeches from the throne, they make routine appointments of senior governmental officials, ambassadors, and judges, always on the advice of their first minister, they support various charities, and they represent the Queen through countless public events from school and hospital visits to the opening of public buildings to the hosting of state dinners.
But in times of political and constitutional crisis, usually during times of minority governments, when it may be unclear what political leader and which political party commands the confidence of their respective parliamentary chamber, vice-regents may be, and have been, called upon to exercise real political power.
The power to decide when elections get called, or not. When parliament can be prorogued, or not. And who gets to be a prime minister or a premier, and who gets forced out of those positions.
Thankfully these times of crisis have been rare in Canadian political history but they have occurred in the past and they will arise again in the future. That’s why we need very good men and women in these positions. Not wannabees.
Dr. David Johnson is the author of ‘Battle Royal: Monarchists vs. Republicans and the Crown of Canada.’