What do you think of David Johnston’s nomination as Canada’s next governor general?

By macleans.ca - Friday, July 9, 2010 at 11:29 AM - 0 Comments

The immaculate conception of David Johnston

By Paul Wells - Thursday, July 8, 2010 at 6:32 PM - 0 Comments

How odd it was to read and hear today, from many sources, how little Stephen Harper and his usual crew had to do with the selection of David Johnston as Governor General. The prime minister is not normally a shy man nor unsure of his ability: he obviously usually believes he makes a situation better by becoming more involved in it. He doesn’t like to think too hard or gather too much data about a situation either. Facts are for criminologists, census-takers and budget officers. Stephen Harper knows what he wants and he knows how to get it.

Yet here he was, setting up a Manhattan Project of vice-regal search teams, sealed off hermetically from himself and his staff, committees and flowcharts, boxes within boxes, airlocks and latex gloves. Ray Novak was permitted to bring in a pencil or some Timbits at set intervals, but he was not to be touched or looked at when he did.

Two questions:

(a) Is it a very great surprise that such a process chose David Johnston?

(b) Does anyone doubt the decision to proceed in such a manner was political? Continue…

The Commons: The perfectly ho-hum David Johnston

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, July 8, 2010 at 4:01 PM - 0 Comments

Shortly after the daily changing of the guard ceremony on Parliament Hill had finished, David Lloyd Johnston walked quickly to a podium in the Senate foyer, cleared his throat, and announced himself as the next governor general of Canada.

The grand wood doors behind him were open, the Senate chamber all lit up. His family gathered over his left shoulder—three young girls in matching summer dresses, one young boy in his best shorts. All around him, grand monarchs looked on from grand portraits—Elizabeth II, Victoria, Edward VII, Georges III, IV, V and VI. He spoke first in serviceable, if inelegant, French. He wore navy blue, his striped tie bearing the crest of the University of Waterloo. He seemed happy and not obviously daunted. Continue…

The 'best of Canada' indeed

By Andrew Coyne - Thursday, July 8, 2010 at 1:09 PM - 0 Comments

The more I think about this David Johnston appointment, the more I’m inclined to revise my initial reaction. This isn’t just a good choice. It’s an outstanding choice: the best, on paper, since Michener. (We’ll see how he actually performs in the job.)

There are few Canadians with lives more filled with accomplishment, or whose character is more widely respected. As such, he brings not only impressive practical credentials to a job that, as we have been reminded of late, is much more than a ceremonial post. His selection also offers an important signal of what we value as a society, of the qualities we think are important, of what we aspire to: experience, scholarship, service to others, personal decency.

I was critical of Johnston’s work in framing the terms of reference for the Mulroney inquiry, but I don’t have the slightest doubt that it reflected his honest judgment of what was in the public interest. And it’s a small complaint set against his remarkable lifetime of achievement. Distinguished legal scholar, with degrees from Cambridge, Harvard and Queen’s. Principal of McGill University. President of University of Waterloo. A list of publications and public service involvements as long as your arm. Fluently bilingual. Father of five. Captain of the Harvard hockey team (!). And, the clincher, a stint as a CBC broadcaster (he hosted a political talk show, The Editors, that was seen on Newsworld): the fourth Governor General in a row, and fifth in the last six, with that distinction.

In sum, the appointment of David Johnston is of a kind that ennobles the office, rather than the reverse. Which is as it should be.

CAVEAT: On the other hand, he did spend several years living outside of the country. I take it the Conservatives no longer consider this a disqualification for high office.

Our next Governor General on tech policy failures

By John Geddes - Thursday, July 8, 2010 at 11:59 AM - 0 Comments

David Johnston, who was named as Canada’s next Governor General today, is known as a man who doesn’t rock the boat. As a stolid appointee to many worthy boards and committees (the Information Highway Advisory Council, the Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, etc.), Johnston hasn’t often given divisive advice.

So when this conciliatory man has allowed a critical tone in his public pronouncements, it’s worth listening. And here’s what he told CBC last March for a story about Canada’s “failure” on digital technology policy:

“Most people who study the digital field would say that Canada has lost some of the wind in its sails, and that’s unfortunate… Without being unduly critical of this government, there has not been a lot of attention paid to broadband, to the digital economy and digital media in the last five or six years.”

'The best of Canada'

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, July 8, 2010 at 11:40 AM - 0 Comments

The Prime Minister’s Office makes David Johnston’s selection official.

Michael Ignatieff states his congratulations.

The Council of Ontario Universities, the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada and the University of Western Ontario formally issue their praise.

UPDATED: How Harper picked his GG is more important than who he chose

By John Geddes - Thursday, July 8, 2010 at 9:44 AM - 0 Comments

[UPDATED BELOW]

Before we crank up the Love Story theme and lapse into discussing fun biographical details about Canada’s next Governor General, pause for a moment to consider what matters most about today’s appointment—the process behind it.

David Johnston, the  veteran university boss, legal scholar, and model for the character played by Ryan O’Neal in that mushy movie [many apologies for repeating what is apparently a time-worn fallacy, and thanks to those, including Lord Kitchener's Own, below, for correcting the error] was chosen to take over from Michaelle Jean after a “robust consultation process” that’s being touted by the Prime Minister’s Office as the most rigorous ever.

Instead of the “ad hoc” survey of possible picks that prime ministers past relied on, Stephen Harper appointed an expert advisory committee, which spent a few weeks canvassing constitutional experts, retired and active political leaders, and other prominent Canadians.

The committee then presented Harper with a short list of recommendations, apparently with Johnston’s name at the top. His credentials as a former law professor seem to have figured in his selection.

This makes sense, especially in an era of minority governments. Jean, you’ll recall, was forced to deal with contentious constitutional questions when Harper asked her to prorogue Parliament under questionable circumstances. Even though she acted responsibly in seeking top-flight advice (notably from constitutional scholar Peter Hogg), the episode suggested it wouldn’t hurt for GGs to come equipped with their own credibility on such matters.

Harper also kept his political staff out of the selection process. This was explicitly to avoid any suggestion that the new Governor General was picked to provide a partisan edge.

All this is welcome change. It would be even better, though, if Harper’s office would now release the names of the members of the expert advisory committee, explain more precisely how they went about their consultations, and who was asked to weigh in.

The point of making the whole process more transparent would be to establish it more firmly as a convention, making it hard for any future prime minister to revert to the more informal ways that have been followed in the past. There’s no point in boasting about the seriousness of Johnston’s selection unless the exercise provides a clear template for filling every future vacancy at Rideau Hall.

UPDATE:

This post was based on briefing this morning from Dimitri Soudas, the Prime Minister’s communications director. Soudas asked not to be named as the source of the information until after the official announcement was made at 10 a.m.

Now that the information can be attributed to him, here’s a direct quote of note: “The Prime Minister did not involve his political staff on this appointment,” Soudas said, adding a moment later, “The Prime Minister kept his political staff at bay on this one.”

This statement would seem to contradict a Canadian Press report that cited Conservative sources as saying that Ray Novak, Harper’s principal secretary and closest aide, was directly involved in the process, partly because of Novak’s strong personal views on the monarchy. I’ll try to get some clarification as the day progresses.

FURTHER UPATE:

A senior official from the Prime Minister’s Office, who asked not to be named, called to explain that Ray Novak was involved in a “strictly logistical” roll in the consultation process, but had no influence “in terms of content.” That is, as I’m now given to understand it, Novak was closely involved in setting up the consultation and making sure it ran smoothly, but didn’t have a voice in the recommendations.

Your next governor general

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, July 7, 2010 at 10:24 PM - 0 Comments

According to a leak, the Prime Minister’s pick is University of Waterloo president and noted academic David Lloyd Johnston.

More on Mr. Johnston from Wikipedia and Waterloo. His official CV is here. YouTube has video.

Two and a half years ago, Mr. Harper selected Mr. Johnston to decide the terms of reference for the Mulroney-Schreiber inquiry. (Terms of reference which were met with some displeasure.)

Small but smart

By Colin Campbell - Thursday, September 3, 2009 at 3:40 PM - 2 Comments

The University of Waterloo has emerged as one of the leading research centres in quantum computing and digital media. Its computer science and mathematics faculty is the largest in the world. In terms of the number of grants and funding it attracts per faculty member, it is among the most research-intensive universities in the country. But Waterloo is not one of the so-called Big Five universities, who recently proposed in an interview with Maclean’s a radical rethinking of the higher education system: boosting government research funding and resources to the biggest universities—i.e., them—while having other schools shift focus toward under­graduate education.

The proposal of the Big Five—British Columbia, Alberta, Toronto, McGill and Montreal—understandably doesn’t sit well with Waterloo’s president, David Johnston. “How sad it would be to say, ‘We don’t see Waterloo being of high priority for funding because you don’t happen to be in the Top Five universities,’ ” he says. “Simply because you’re big doesn’t mean you’re great.” Continue…

Note to PVL: Apparently, it's "Bring Former Prime Ministers Back to the Hill Week"

By kadyomalley - Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 7:43 AM - 0 Comments

Funny you should mention the whole as-yet-nonexistent public inquiry into the Mulroney/Schreiber affair, Colleague Wells.
Continue…

Incidentally…

By Paul Wells - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 4:52 PM - 0 Comments

It’s been nearly two months. Where’s the inquiry into Mulroney/Schreiber that this government promised and David Johnston recommended?