The governor general gifts that keep on giving
The controversy over generous post-employment expenses for Canada’s past governors general has a “Yes Minister” feel about it.
The decades-old brilliant British comedy series about a Machiavellian senior civil servant, Sir Humphrey, and his feckless cabinet minister boss could fit so well at Rideau Hall.
Career CBC broadcaster and Canada’s 26th governor general, Adrienne Clarkson, points out that it’s “no secret” since 1979 that “postmandate” support has been available for former governors general because “the life of a former governor-general continues to be lived in public service.” Ms. Clarkson’s big expenses are no secret now. The National Post reports that Clarkson billed more than $100,000 in nine of the 12 years since she left office and, in some cases, she hit the annual limit of $206,000.
No secret, indeed, but most dialed-in politics watchers would be challenged to explain how someone, no longer a head of state, is entitled forevermore to bill taxpayers for staff salaries, office expenses, furniture, travel, professional services and accommodation “where appropriate.” This is in addition to a lifetime, inflationadjusted pension in excess of $140,000 a year, and up to $10 million dollars for a charitable foundation in the name of the ex- GG — $3 million in seed money and $7 million in matched donations.
Visualize bureaucrats in the bowels of government and Rideau Hall, stealthily setting out the amorphous definition of expenses “related to life as a former governor general.” It all sounds rather complicated.
As Sir Humphrey was fond of saying, “civil servants have an extraordinary genius for wrapping up a simple idea to make it sound extremely complicated.”
The actual idea is very simple: Someone who has been governor general will be fully funded and expensed for the rest of their life. The proper question is: “do Canadians want this?”
After Rideau Hall bureaucrats refused to explain the opaque rules and stonewalled on expense details — recalling that governor general matters are beyond the reach of access to information — Clarkson explained herself in the Globe and Mail, writing that by virtue of her “unique relationship with Canadians” and “life in the public domain” she continues to pledge herself to the Canadian people. She “fulfilled 182 commitments last year, many of them public events, gave 16 speeches with no honorarium or fees, and 10 pieces of writing for no fee,” all related to her former role, she says. And, in “Yes Minister” fashion, Clarkson defends herself that “I have always followed the instructions from the Office of the Secretary to the Governor- General.”
Maybe the argument is that once someone has been the Queen’s representative in Canada, under the divine right of kings or from an infallibility that comes from a transcendent and higher spiritual state, they wander the political earth and our national consciousness like a mystical shaman.
Or maybe not. When they are done the job, the job is over. It was for Clarkson, after leaving office, when she set aside the monarchy’s non-political stance and went after prime minister Stephen Harper. Clarkson’s successor, former CBCER Michaelle Jean, has defended herself in a nasty spending scandal before recently being replaced as head of La Francophonie in Paris.
The governor general for whom this expenses plan was established, former Manitoba NDP premier Ed Schreyer, decided in 2006 at age 70 — unwisely and unsuccessfully — to run for Parliament.
The only other living exgg is the distinguished David Johnston, who, as expected, said this week that he will publicly disclose all expenses he submits because “the public has an interest to be sure the money is well spent.”
In order for Canadians to decide whether we want or need lifetime bankrolling of former governors general, it is critical for public confidence that the program be explained, made transparent and clarified. But, then again, Sir Humphrey once said of clarification, “it is not to clarify things. It is to put one’s self in the clear.” Gormley is a broadcaster, lawyer, author and former Progressive Conservative MP whose radio talk show is heard weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on 980 CJME Regina and 650 CKOM Saskatoon.