Feds looking for off-ramp for Payette?
How do you solve a problem like Julie? The Prime Minister’s Office won’t even admit there is a problem with the Governor General, Julie Payette.
Rideau Hall insists that the Queen’s representative in Canada is “fully committed to the responsibilities” of her office.
“I look forward to sharing our accomplishments to date and to presenting some new initiatives as we approach the one year mark in my mandate,” Payette said in a statement.
Yet, as my colleagues, Marie-Danielle Smith and Brian Platt, revealed in exhaustive detail on the weekend, there is a problem — the governor general is chafing at the public scrutiny and adherence to convention the job entails. She is said to be unhappy in the job and one source even suggested the government is looking for an off-ramp that would allow her to leave without acknowledging its own dereliction of due diligence in appointing her in the first place. Events that, at first glance, appear unrelated may offer a clue into how the Trudeau government intends to solve a problem entirely of its own star-struck making. On Saturday in Montreal, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said Canada will create an ambassadorial position dedicated to women, peace and security. She made the announcement at a meeting of female foreign affairs ministers. There were few details on offer, beside the commitment to spend $25 million to fund initiatives aimed at combating gender-based violence and promoting women’s participation in peace processes. That followed a private member’s motion introduced in the House of Commons last Thursday by Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj calling for the appointment of a Women, Peace and Security Ambassador to enhance Canada’s role in this area. Wrzesnewskyj’s motion moved up the order of precedence to allow debate last week, after he exchanged dates with fellow Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia. The entire proposition was questioned by Conservative MP Michelle Rempel, on the basis that Canada already has a peace and stabilization program, with a budget of $450 million and a staff of 63 co-ordinating departments and agencies across government.
In its National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, released last November, the Liberals said 95 per cent of the existing program would target women’s issues in the next few years. “While we could debate its quality, we already have a plan,” said Rempel. “The government is already spending millions of dollars on salaries and nearly half a billion dollars on programming … Hiring an ambassador would be a redundancy.”
It may well be that the juxtaposition of an unhappy vice-regal appointee and the creation of a high-profile ambassadorial vacancy are coincidental.
A spokesman for Freeland’s department said no one has been selected for the job yet.
But it would be a very tidy, if expensive, solution for all concerned. It would give the prime minister a do-over and allow him to choose an Aboriginal candidate this time around. It might even be an attractive option for Payette, given the suggestion that her initial interest was in an ambassadorial position and that she has positioned herself as an advocate for women’s rights.
Such an outcome would deflect from another Liberal appointment misfire. Justin Trudeau abandoned the option of being advised by a panel of vice-regal experts who had been convened to vet previous governors and lieutenant-generals, in order to fast-track a female, multilingual, francophone former astronaut. As with most of his appointments, she appeared to have been sent by central casting to fill the position. She was “too spectacular to say no to,” in the words of one person involved in the process (such as it was). It may all blow over. Payette may grow accustomed to the public scrutiny. She may adapt to the pomp and ceremony inherent in the position and see out her mandate. The Liberals may appoint someone already involved in the peace and security community as its newest ambassador.
But do not be shocked if it emerges that this most touchy-feely of governments has created an expensive, superfluous position to provide a soft landing for Payette and cover for a blunder of its own making.