Thursday, December 04, 2008

[canada] the governor general is now called in


Very interesting situation shaping up in Canada.

UPDATE: 19:05 - Steven Harper got his 7 weeks prorogue.

Steven Harper, on the back foot because of the alliance between all opposition parties, including the separatists, is tomorrow intending to put to the Governor-General, Michaëlle Jean, a proposal to prorogue parliament.

This sort of thing goes on in banana republics all the time but in one of the major western economies, it attracts more worldwide interest than would otherwise be so.

Michaëlle Jean has three real choices. To:

1. prorogue parliament;
2. let the alliance try to form a government;
3. call for another election.

N2 is quite a possibility, in order to avoid another election so close to the last one.

Against this is the GG's own feeling of what is best for Canada - allowing Quebec separatists into government, a move which would provoke a backlash across the nation, despite grumblings about Harper, may not be wise.

N3 would be deeply unpopular, so soon after Harper was elected. So it comes down to N1, a request from the PM himself and one which would defer the situation so that counsel could be taken, as well as maintaining some semblance of stability.

It is worth looking at Michaelle Jean herself for a clue as to where she comes from. She appears, if not to be particularly socialist, to at least support left liberal causes and at the same time, seems to wish to intervene if it's a social justice cause:

This notion of Jean overstepping conventional boundaries continued into 2007 when contents of her speech given at a ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms were seen by some as a thinly veiled criticism of her Cabinet's decision to end the Courts Challenges Program.

She has, in particular, tried to lay the separatist ghost:

Jean's father, Roger Anthony Jean, who moved his family from Haiti to Quebec four decades ago, clearly was offended by earlier suggestions that his daughter had sympathized with Quebec separatists. "That's a lie," he declared. She has never been a separatist. Never. Never. Never."

One comment:

I think Michaëlle Jean is part of that group of the majority of Québeckers who haven’t taken (and don’t want to take) an absolute position on the question. I think that for this reason, and also because she is a pretty well known journalist here, many people in Québec identify themselves with her. To find here at an important federal position, even if it is only honorific, can only help Canada’s cause in Québec.

She connects with the young very well - here is her personal website, Citizen Voices, where you can contact her. Moving on, there's apparently something called the Travers column in Canada which said this:

"Michaëlle Jean once joked that Paul Martin chose her as governor general because she's "hot". It's not so funny now that Stephen Harper has her on ice."

That seems as pratty as John Lennon's quip about the Beatles being more popular than Jesus Christ. The Travers column further debated PM Harper's less than warm relations with the GG:

At most, it suggests that the Conservatives do not respect the GG because she lacks qualifications other than being a good looking woman and an immigrant. The article does emphasize that the GG is treading on thin constitutional ice with her meddling in political affairs.

So, not everyone appears to love her. The Globe & Mail invited reader comments and here is one by Thomas Baxter:

First and foremost, the Governor-General is not the head-of-state of Canada, nor the "queen" of Canada, but only the representative of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The out-going Governor-General often usurped her role, and also the one she was supposed to represent.

Adrienne Clarkson went on tours masquerading as the head-of-state. She was seen in public, captured on camera, upstaging the Queen, and failing to meet protocol.

When the official papers were prepared for former N.B. premier, Frank McKenna, to report as Canada's Ambassador to the United States, the Queen's name was removed and the papers were sent on behalf of the Governor-General. The government has no such power. The Opposition parties should have screamed loudly. The Governor-General should have sent these papers back to be re-written before she signed them.

I checked out Adrienne Clarkson and she does seem to have been pretty appalling, apart from being a "devout Anglican". She seems to have been a spendthrift to boot.

Here is another comment about Michaëlle Jean:

Another woman, another media person, and another who was not born in Canada. Surely, there must be some Canadian born person that could represent the Queen? [Susan Marsh]

Rideau Hall has today therefore assumed an importance not intended for it and not unlike the exercising of his GG powers by Sir John Kerr in the Australian coup 'etat of 1975:


Kerr had made a study of the reserve powers through his earlier professional relationship with Evatt, the author of the standard work on the reserve powers as they applied to the British Dominions, The King and His Dominion Governors (1936).

Kerr was familiar with this book, and re-read it before accepting Whitlam's offer of the Governor-Generalship. Kerr took an activist and highly unusual view of the role of Governor-General. Neither temperamentally nor politically was he inclined to accept that the Governor-General was a mere cypher, bound always to act on the Prime Minister's advice.

He unwisely saw the office of Governor-General as a central player in Australian political life, and so it proved to be.

Will Michaelle Jean, now someway into her GGship, feel she has the requisite experience to go her own way on this issue; will she go with her left-liberal leanings and her dislike for Harper or will she try to gauge the mood of the average Canadian?

Let's wait till tomorrow to see.

[Here is how the issue arose last year.]

3 comments:

  1. There are Australians who argue seriously that their GG is their Head of State, with HM their Q being something more ethereal; Sovereign Lady, perhaps.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am one Canadian that is all for a coalition government. Harper is and always will be your stereotypical politician, I am speaking from a left leaning standpoint. For once, Canadian politics is getting intersting.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well there ya have it, Parliament has been suspended for 7 weeks. Harper's minority is safe until the New Year.

    ReplyDelete

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