Payette a good choice for GG
With the appointment of Julie Payette as Canada’s next governor general, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has finally found the right formula for filling the post.
We have tried British aristocrats, retired politicians, a CBC journalist, a Radio-Canada personality, an academic — all with varying degrees of success. But with Payette, 53, we have someone who rises above the partisan fray and yet is a person all Canadians can admire and respect.
Born in Montreal, Payette is an astronaut, engineer, pianist and jet pilot who speaks French, English, Russian and three other languages. She was the first Canadian woman to board the International Space Station in 1999, and went on a second space flight in 2009.
On Earth, she has worked with many organizations, including the volunteer board of directors of Pearson College on Vancouver Island from 2010-13; she once attended its sister school in Wales. She has experience with corporations and and boards through work at the Canadian Space Agency and as a vice-president at the Canada Lands Co., which oversees the sales of unneeded federal properties.
“Ms. Payette’s life has been one dedicated to discovery, to dreaming big and to always staying focused on the things that matter most,” Trudeau said. “These truly Canadian traits, along with her years of public service, make her unquestionably qualified for this high office.”
It’s an impressive, if not intimidating, resume. But beyond paper qualifications, she brings personal qualities that will make her a fine representative of the Crown.
Outgoing Gov. Gen. David Johnston said: “I am certain that she will fulfil this role with intelligence, grace and energy, and that she will bring qualities of curiosity, courage and compassion to her mandate.”
She will be the fourth woman to hold the position when she takes over from Johnston, whose term expires in September.
Information that came out last week about a couple of incidents in her past raises questions about the thoroughness of the vetting, but they don’t undermine her fitness for a role that is symbolic, but also important.
The governor general’s position above politics is more important than ever in these days of increasingly bitter political divisions. While Canada has been spared the worst excesses, we have only to look south of the border to see politics where there is no middle ground, and all issues have become a fight to the death.
In Britain, Prime Minister Theresa May appeared initially reluctant to visit the survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire because of rage at her government. The Queen, however, removed from politics, went immediately to the hospital.
In the American system, voters pick the political head of government who is also the head of state, so no one stands outside the battle.
In the U.K., the head of state is apolitical, but is chosen by heredity. The British are saddled or blessed with whoever is tossed up by the genetic lottery — the Queen worked out well, Edward VIII not so much.
Canada has the best of both worlds. Our elected representatives get to choose the person who sits in Rideau Hall, without depending on the vagaries of elections or birth.
Although some of the former politicians who held the post did so with grace and dignity — Jeanne Sauve, for instance — it was hard for Canadians to forget their former partisanship.
Payette brings no such baggage. We can admire her and be confident she shares our values. Let us hope she is the first of a new generation of governors general.