Trudeau starting to give Crown the royal treatment
THIS SHOWS THAT THE GOVERNMENT TAKES THE POSITION SERIOUSLY, THAT IT IS A USEFUL ONE TO HAVE, AND THAT THEY HAVE PLACED IT EXACTLY WHERE IT SHOULD BE, IN THE PRIVY COUNCIL OFFICE. — MICHAEL JACKSON, INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF THE CROWN IN CANADA
After nearly three years of leaving the post vacant, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has appointed a new Canadian secretary to the Queen, amid rumours of the Crown beginning preparations for its inevitable transition and the possibility of a Canadian royal tour next year.
Shortly after his government was first elected in 2015, Trudeau had removed the previous secretary, Kevin Macleod who had been appointed by Trudeau’s predecessor Stephen Harper. Last month, Trudeau quietly appointed Donald Booth, a longtime federal civil servant, the new Canadian secretary to the Queen, although that has not entirely mollified those monarchists who have been dismayed by a number of decisions that suggest some ambivalence in the Trudeau government toward the Crown.
Harper had expanded the role of Canadian secretary to the Queen, which had existed since 1959 within the Privy Council Office (PCO), as part of a program to re-engage Canadians with the monarchy, with Macleod reporting directly to the prime minister. But Trudeau in 2015 removed Macleod from the PCO and shuffled him into the staff of the Heritage ministry, without his previous budget. When Macleod retired at the beginning of 2017, Canada was left without a Canadian Secretary to the Queen.
The secretary serves as the primary link between the federal cabinet and the Crown, providing information and advice, and is central to the organization of royal tours. Macleod’s role was made full-time in 2012, which hasn’t always been the case for previous secretaries, but Trudeau has now once again reduced the scope of the role. The new secretary, Booth, will serve only on a part-time basis only as he also continues to perform his existing duties as director of the strategic policy in the Machinery of Government branch of the Privy Council Office.
“Part of the reason that it’s been moved back to PCO and to have it at the centre of government is a recognition that, primarily, the role is an interlocutor between the palaces and the federal government,” said Booth. “Particularly (in) supporting the prime minister in his unique relationship with the Queen and the palaces, and to serve as a single point of contact with the palaces to ensure that things run efficiently.”
Booth says that in the nearly three years that the post was left vacant while the government was “re-evaluating” the role, he would engage in some of the support functions for the prime minister when it came to interfacing with the royal households over things like the purchase of royal baby gifts, and in the selection of viceregal appointments such as lieutenant-governors.
“The sense is this a nice mix with my current responsibilities in the Machinery of Government, where we support the prime minister with the interpretation of Westminster conventions (and) we play an interlocutor role with Rideau Hall supporting the prime minister and Her Excellency with any issues,” said Booth. “So it seemed like if you were going to locate this role somewhere within the federal bureaucracy, Machinery (of Government) seemed to be the place to put it.” He confirmed that he communicates in his role as secretary to the Queen through departmental channels rather than with the prime minister directly.
Philippe Lagassé, associate professor at Carleton University and expert on the Crown in Canada agreed, noting that the Machinery of Government group in PCO are the government’s experts on constitutional issues related to the relationship between the prime minister and the monarch, making it logical for the Canadian secretary to be posted there.
Michael Jackson, president of the Institute for the Study of the Crown in Canada, said he welcomes the appointment. “This shows that the government takes the position seriously, that it is a useful one to have, and that they have placed it exactly where it should be, in the Privy Council Office,” Jackson said. He said he thinks Booth is a good choice, given the civil servant’s previous experience on the monarchy file.
Harper had appointed the previous secretary, Macleod, in 2009 after the post had been vacant for several years, at the same time creating an arm’slength committee to draw up short lists for appointments to lieutenant-governors, territorial commissioners, and governors general. Macleod had also chaired that committee, which took up the bulk of his time as Canadian secretary. However, Trudeau disbanded the committee and it no longer exists.
The Trudeau government has been seen as sending mixed signals about its interest in matters of the Crown. The prime minister and his advisers abandoned the advice of viceregal experts in 2017 when they hand-picked former astronaut Julie Payette as governor general in 2017, replacing David Johnston.
The first year or so of Payette’s time in office has been rocky, as she had reportedly clashed early on with the expectations of her office, including of the demands on her time, the way she dresses, what she should and should not say publicly and how she should work with government. Rideau Hall’s participation in public events has also been scaled back dramatically and its long-standing relationships with various non-profit groups have strained as a result. Sources close to Rideau Hall also told the National Post last year that Payette has bristled at the expectation that “she should uncritically rubber-stamp other people’s decisions on, for example, who should receive honours such as the Order of Canada.” More recently, sources said, the Secretary to the Governor General, Assunta Di Lorenzo, had been agitating to be given the post of Canadian Secretary to the Queen, on top of her current role as Payette’s secretary.
One source close to Rideau Hall, who was not authorized to speak on the record, said he think Booth’s appointment was meant as a signal to Di Lorenzo that the government is after a more traditional and professional approach to relations with the Crown. Booth is the person frequently sent to deal with Di Lorenzo on behalf of PCO and the PMO, said the source, as most of official Ottawa and their traditional partners have given up in frustration in trying to deal with Rideau Hall.
Booth told the National Post that he has a great relationship with Rideau Hall.
But other signals from Trudeau have raised questions about his own commitment to the traditions of the monarchy. He drew the attention of the British press when, after his government was first elected, he pulled down the portrait of the Queen that the Conservative government had installed at the headquarters of Canada’s foreign affairs department, replacing it with paintings by Canadian artists (which had also been the practice of past Liberal governments).
And earlier this year, Trudeau’s government announced it was ending the practice of mailing out prints of the Queen’s portrait as free service to Canadians, citing “the environmental impact and escalating costs,” replacing it with a downloadable file from the internet for people to print themselves. The Monarchist League of Canada criticized the move as “unhelpful to Canada’s identity as a constitutional monarchy,” arguing that the costs of the service were marginal.
Lagassé said he believes the Trudeau government’s timing in appointing Booth secretary is likely linked to a possible upcoming royal tour. Royal watchers are expecting one for the 150th anniversary of Manitoba’s entry into Confederation next year. However Booth declined to say whether that was to happen or not.
Lagassé also says that the Crown could soon be in a time of transition, with the Queen now 93 years old and recent rumours that she may be preparing to step back and allow Prince Charles to take on more duties. He also notes that the absence of a Canadian Secretary to the Queen became a more urgent issue this past summer when two lieutenant-governors died in office — Saskatchewan’s Thomas Molloy and New Brunswick’s Jocelyne Roy-vienneau — largely paralyzing the legislative powers of their provincial governments.
Trudeau has taken a good deal of the blame for the troubles with the governor general’s office, having appointed Payette for the glamour of her astronaut background, without sufficiently considering her suitability for the office. Having not thoroughly vetted her, the government was caught unprepared in 2017 when ipolitics exposed a previous criminal charge Payette faced in the U.S. alleging she had assaulted her then husband, although the charge had been expunged. The same week, the Toronto Star surprised the government in reporting that Payette had in 2011 hit a woman with her SUV in Maryland and killed her, although police concluded that Payette was not at fault.
There is general agreement among all sides, however, that despite the troubles of the last few years, the relationship between the Trudeau government and the palaces in London has remained stable. Still, the decision not to fill the Canadian secretary post after Macleod’s retirement was reportedly met with unexpected resistance from the Monarchist League, the Institute for the Study of the Crown in Canada, and others.
While Booth’s appointment may help appease those concerns, monarchists remain dissatisfied that Trudeau has so far refused to restore the viceregal appointments committee.
“I would express the hope … that they reinstate the viceregal appointments committee,” says Jackson of the Institute for the Study of the Crown in Canada.
They will also be watching how seriously Booth and the government treat the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2022. And in 2024, there could be yet more celebrations in order as Queen Elizabeth II, who by then would have reigned more than 72 years, will have outlasted France’s Louis XIV as history’s longest-reigning monarch.
The PCO would not comment on any future celebrations, with a spokesperson stating “The announcement of any commemorative activities linked to the Crown in Canada would be made at the appropriate time.”
AFTER YEARS OF MIXED MESSAGES, PM NOW PAYING ATTENTION TO ROLE OF MONARCHY