Conventions should Be Challenged

Re: Payette ‘proud’ of role, despite stumbles, Sept. 27.

I have followed with interest the series of articles regarding the Governor General’s refusal to “be defined by convention.”

There was a time when it was not “convention” for the GG to be a Canadian. There was a time when it was not “convention” for the GG to be a woman. There was a time when it was not “convention” for the GG to be non-caucasian. There was a time when it was not “convention” for women to be either engineers or astronauts. Thankfully, those days are past.

We hear anonymous complaints that the GG had the audacity to appoint an outsider as her secretary. This is a common complaint by insiders about outsiders. The GG likely chose someone who would safeguard her interests and concerns first — rather than accept a secretary appointed by the bureaucracy, whose loyalties would lie with the bureaucracy; and whose objectives would be to maintain the status quo and to ensure that the GG conforms with “convention.” Such as never having a free moment of time in her agenda to question why things have to be done this way.

The GG would like some privacy in part of her life. Any thinking person should be sympathetic to that. She has initiated reviews of the many “traditional” demands on a GG’s time to see how she can accomplish this in an orderly manner. The anonymous staff resisting change must ask themselves a question: Are they serving the GG, or are they serving their own little empires, pet projects, or interests?

It is claimed that Julie Payette may not be suited to the role of GG. But that has not yet been demonstrated. And her desire to do a ground-up review of the multitude of “commitments” proposed by her staff is probably long overdue.

Wayne Mitchell, Ottawa