Payette can soar in new GG role
Julie Payette’s coat of arms as Canada’s new Governor General bears the motto Per Aspera Ad Astra — Through Hardships to the Stars.
It might have been more fun to have included the Latin translation of To Infinity and Beyond.
But it suggests the direction Payette plans to take her new vice-regal role — up, up and away.
Every new Governor General needs to find room for him or herself in the public imagination. If she can make space and science cool to a generation of schoolchildren, particularly young girls, she will have used her elevated platform to good effect.
As Justin Trudeau said during her investiture, she has proven herself a team player, trailblazer and pioneer, whose success has been underpinned by hard work, discipline and passion. Her challenge will be to avoid being co-opted by the ruling party, which chose her because they believe she embodies the values they have claimed as their own.
Trudeau called her a “powerful agent of change” and it’s clear he sees her supporting his agenda.
Michaelle Jean, Governor General between 2005 and 2010, was criticized for having an imperfect understanding of the vice-regal role, famously wading into policy discussions when she appeared to criticize the Harper government’s justice agenda.
There was a political naivete to Jean that was charming initially but which became less engaging when she was called on to adjudicate a 2008 constitutional crisis that nearly sunk Stephen Harper.
Payette would be well advised to follow more closely in the footsteps of her predecessor, David Johnston, who remained above the political fray during the tenure of two very different prime ministers, steadfastly refusing to be drawn into public discussion about government policy.
The vice-regal role was always about the office, never about him. Even as surrogate head of state and commander-in-chief of the Canadian Armed Forces, he showed humility, respect and admiration for the institution of the Crown, and for the Queen.
Johnston expanded the role of Governor General in the areas of philanthropy and volunteerism, and was active in promoting the role Indigenous people have played in the history of the country. He understood the role of the monarch’s representative is foundational to Canadian democracy — its most important responsibility is to ensure the country has a prime minister and, in certain circumstances, to arbitrate if the matter is in doubt.
It’s ironic he was never obliged to do so, given his expertise in the Constitution.
Payette admitted Monday she has big shoes to fill, in an unscripted speech that rambled rather more than was advisable.
She began speaking in Algonquin and quickly acknowledged her humility at being asked to “stumble along” after a great man in Johnston.
“I’m convinced anyone can accomplish anything as long as they are willing to work with others and let go of their personal agenda to reach a higher goal,” she concluded. Letting go of a personal agenda to reach a higher goal might be said to be the very definition of being Governor General. But renouncing the right to political opinions does not consign the occupant of Rideau Hall to inactivity, as Johnston showed. It is a curious role and it will take some getting used to.
Poet Barry Callaghan once said Canadian culture is at the very front of the second rank.
Pomp and circumstance, Canadian style, is certainly of a more modest strain than the British variety, where the Queen turns up to parliament in a horse-drawn carriage, wearing the Imperial State Crown and the Robes of State, at the head of a Royal Procession. For her installation, Payette’s finery was limited to the Last Spike diamond brooch, made from two of the last spikes put in the tracks of the Canadian Pacific Railway in Craigellachie, B.C., in 1885.
If the occasion was less grand than other countries stage for regal, or even viceregal, investitures, it is no less important. The viceregal installation reminds us of our history, shows who we are and who we would like to become.
Payette showed she is dignified, warm-hearted and inventive. If she can persuade Canadians she represents all political stripes and all regions, she has the makings of a great Governor General.
ANYONE CAN ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING AS LONG AS THEY ARE WILLING TO WORK WITH OTHERS AND LET GO OF THEIR PERSONAL AGENDA TO REACH A HIGHER GOAL. — JULIE PAYETTE