FAREWELL, RIDEAU HALL
His Excellency bids adieu
“Rain or shine,” the invitation to Rideau Hall said.
And the sun shone brilliantly on David Johnston as he strolled around his grounds one last time — his final official event in Ottawa as Governor General.
Former astronaut Julie Payette, 53, replaces Johnson as governor general on Oct. 2.
He was, as usual, the perfect informal host at an outdoor party, in a white shirt (no tie) and red Canada cap, relaxed and welcoming everyone.
And, also as usual, Sharon Johnston, his wife, was circulating as well.
The crowd smiled back, everyone reaching out for the viceregal handshake, or asking for selfies. He obliged over and over, sometimes even circling behind the counters to pose with staff serving food samples at the booths of the event called Savour Fall at Rideau Hall.
Johnston, 76, stopped to examine all the booths: Cortland apples at one, empires at another. St. Albert curds with apple and cinnamon dusting. Fresh butter, made, as spectators watched, by staff from the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum. (They cheated just a little and used small containers, which is faster than using the big wooden churn.)
He passed the two guys sweating in 28 C heat to carve a cornucopia in ice. Luckily they at least had shade.
He even stopped for a short and impromptu interview, like this:
How many hands have you shaken during your term?
“Never enough, and every one is special!”
What’s one example of a happy day you had in this job?
“Well, this (gesturing around at the crowd) is pretty happy, seeing these people enjoying Canada in the fall, and making it clear that this (Rideau Hall) is the home of the people of Canada. We hope we will have 10,000 people here today, which would be a record.
“Over 350,000 people (visited) this year and people should feel at home here.
“The other thing I would say is we’ve been so lucky. We travelled to communities across the country from coast to coast to coast and you realize what a good country it is. There are so many people just working every day to make their community better.”
What will you do next, in private life?
“I’m a lawyer, a law professor by profession, so I’ll probably associate with a law firm or a firm that is interested in the reform of justice, the improvement of our law. I’ll be interested in a lot of pro bono activities and I will do some things on the international scene to advance Canada’s interests.”
And then he was back into the hot sun, more hands to shake, more food samples to see. The GG had one further official event Saturday but not in Ottawa.
He travelled to Toronto for the start of the Invictus Games.