A popular and respected journalist, Her Excellency's appointment was not without controversy. Since contempt for Canada and Canadian institutions is de rigeur in Quebec, few public officials there did more than sniff at the appointment, even though she's lived there for nearly 40 years. In the rest of the country the usual rumbles were heard, and more than one pundit cited that then-Prime Minister Paul Martin's dwindling mandate didn't really qualify him to replace outgoing Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson, whose term had already been extended once.Not even this blog has been spared; in a previous post published April 23rd, 2007 - concerning the Governor-General's widely reported battle with fatigue - commenter David Wozney said, among other things: 'It is a fiction that a corporation is a person.' Okay...
Her Excellency's term, as these things will, is soon scheduled to come to an end; it remains to be seen if the white man appointed to replace her* will adhere to the academic credentials he earned at the helms of the Universities of Waterloo and McGill or simply devolve into yet another neoconservative lackey...
*David Lloyd Johnston, a Mulroney-era hack appointed by the utterly horrific Prime Minister Stephen Harper...
*
She certainly is charming, and seems to be an effective goodwill ambassador.
ReplyDeleteOne small thing: her role is defined as "the Queen's representative in Canada" correct? So her job is to represent the Queen to the people of Canada, not to represent Canada to the people of the world.
Do I have that right?
I guess it's most easily explained this way:
ReplyDeleteShe IS the Queen's representative in Canada but she DOES represent Canada wherever she goes.
For closer definitions of IS and DOES ask Bill Clinton.
She certainly dresses like a European Royal.
ReplyDeleteHard on the budget don't yah know.
QM
She does get a clothing allowance; then again she's representing us, so I don't like the idea of her showing up in sweat pants or anything from "Winners".
ReplyDelete