How late is too late?

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, January 18, 2011 at 8:53 AM - 74 Comments

At the risk of dwelling upon the Prime Minister’s words, it is probably worth noting all of the questions raised by Mr. Harper’s offhand remark last week about the December 2008 coalition—questions that might be asked of Mr. Harper and probably should be asked of the Governor General.

First, a useful reminder of events. The 2008 election occurred on October 14. On November 19, the House reconvened and the Throne Speech was presented. Eight days later, on November 27, the government presented its economic update. Shortly after, the Throne Speech passed the House.

On the evening of November 28, with that update facing mounting criticism, the Prime Minister announced that an opposition day scheduled for December 1, the following Monday, would be pushed back a week—thereby postponing a vote of non-confidence the Liberals intended to bring.

On December 1, the coalition accord was signed and Stephane Dion sent a letter to Michaelle Jean informing her of his ability to form a government. Three days later, on December 4, the Prime Minister asked the Governor General to prorogue Parliament and she granted his request.

All of which makes the Prime Minister’s contention that the opposition parties “waited too long” and were thus “too late,” all the more curious. Continue…

The guardian of our democracy

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, January 4, 2011 at 11:29 AM - 266 Comments

Just before Christmas, Governor General David Johnston made an apparently caveat-free statement on the possibility of coalition government in a parliamentary system.

Johnston said Canada — like many democratic regimes — has had experiences with coalition-type governments in the past. “I think that most jurisdictions that have a system of first-past-the-post or proportional representation will from time to have time have coalitions or amalgamation of different parties and that’s the way democracy sorts itself out,” he said.

The Prime Minister has quibbled with the concept of coalition government on three counts. And as such there are three questions Mr. Johnston should be asked at the next opportunity. Continue…

A touch of class

By Cathy Gulli - Thursday, December 9, 2010 at 4:20 PM - 0 Comments

Master Cpl. Pinchin; Myron and Berna Garron | Chris Wattie/Reuters; Keith Beaty/Toronto Star/Getstock

Under enemy fire
The Governor General presented one Canadian soldier this year with a Star of Military Valour, the second-highest award honouring heroic actions in the battlefield. Master Cpl. Jeremy Pinchin received his medal in June, more than two years after he came under enemy fire in Afghanistan. It was late fall when he and his sniper detachment took position on a remote rooftop in Zhari District to protect the southern flank of a Canadian-Afghan patrol. Suddenly, they were “attacked and outnumbered by a well-coordinated group of insurgents,” according to a summary of events. A comrade fell, badly wounded. Rather than leave him, Pinchin treated his fellow soldier—and used his own armoured body as a shield.

Pulled from the fire
It was the middle of the night when Saint John, N.B., taxi driver Sonny Trenholm, 67, headed into a gas station for a snack. As he rounded the corner, Trenholm saw an SUV rolled over on the driver’s side—and heard a woman, trapped inside, screaming, “I’m on fire!” He ran over, called 911, and yelled at her to kick the front windshield. The glass shattered, and he pulled the woman out, tore off her burning coat and hugged her. Rescue workers arrived, and Trenholm drove home—but got no sleep. “I thought she was going to die,” he said the next day. But she didn’t.

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What it was all about

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, December 6, 2010 at 5:04 PM - 0 Comments

For those not yet tired of my writing on her tenure, here are 750 words, penned for our year-end Newsmakers issue, on Michaelle Jean’s five years at Rideau Hall.

Michaëlle Jean: Nurturer-in-chief

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, December 6, 2010 at 12:00 PM - 14 Comments

Blair Gable/Reuters

One month before she left Rideau Hall, Michaëlle Jean visited Montreal north, the scene two years earlier of a police shooting and a subsequent night of rioting, to listen to the hopes and fears of the neighbourhood’s young people. She wanted to know what was happening and what might be done. She wanted to hear their ideas and solutions. She sat and listened as they variously explained, ranted and pleaded. And she called on them to move forward with the belief that together they could effect change.

Her five years were otherwise defined by so much else—from a constitutional crisis on Parliament Hill, a war in Afghanistan and her tears for Haiti to her fashion sense and hairstyle. Her selection to the vice-regal position was as scorned as it was heralded—her loyalty, and her husband’s, to the country were questioned even while she was celebrated as the personification of all that this country promised. In granting Stephen Harper a prorogation of Parliament when the government seemed set to topple, she presided over one of the most substantive decisions a governor general has ever made in this country. She comforted the families of fallen soldiers and donned a military uniform as commander-in-chief to salute  the troops. She sampled seal heart to demonstrate solidarity with the North.

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'Heroes in our midst'

By Irwin Cotler - Wednesday, November 10, 2010 at 9:00 AM - 0 Comments

Thomas Manuel (left) with David Johnston; Medal of Bravery | Adrian Wyld/CP/ Sgt Serge Gouin/Rideau Hall

While the media was suffused last week with the gruesome evidence of Russell Williams’s criminality, a remarkable and inspiring event took place in Ottawa. Although it went largely unreported in the mainstream national media, it represents—as someone fortunate to witness it first-hand—the best, and I would say authentic, face of Canada.

I am referring to the awarding of Canadian Bravery Decorations to those who risked their lives to save others, and in some instances even lost their own lives in the effort. People from across the country—ordinary Canadians who engaged in extraordinary acts of courage—were presented with decorations from newly installed Governor General David Johnston in the Rideau Hall ceremony.

In the words of the Governor General, “Behind every one of these beautiful medals is an amazing story. A story of a life saved, a family preserved, a community strengthened. Stories, too, of fear overcome, because bravery is not the absence of fear, it is the judgment that something else—and someone else—is more important than fear.” Regrettably, space constraints allow me to highlight the heroism of only some of the 53 persons honoured.

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On the perils of prorogation

By Andrew Coyne - Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 9:00 AM - 0 Comments

Chris Wattie/Reuters

When is it legitimate for a prime minister to prorogue Parliament, and when is it not? At what point can we say a government has lost the confidence of the House of Commons? Suppose it has: what happens then?
These were just some of the questions at issue in the great prorogation crisis of December 2008. And at the heart, perhaps the most fundamental question of all: must a governor general always follow the advice of her prime minister?

The honest answer in every case is: don’t know. Or at best, it depends. For all its undoubted strengths, much of our Constitution remains unexplored territory, uncharted by law and untamed by precedent or jurisprudence.

For what it’s worth, my own answers to those questions would be as follows. It is ordinarily a perfectly legitimate exercise of his authority for a prime minister to prorogue, but the circumstances in which Stephen Harper sought to do so then—so soon after the House had returned, and in the shadow of an approaching confidence vote he seemed sure to lose—were far from ordinary.

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'What you see is what you get'

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, October 4, 2010 at 10:00 AM - 0 Comments

That fuller accounting of my conversation with the Governor General is now online.

Michaëlle Jean in conversation

By Aaron Wherry - Sunday, October 3, 2010 at 10:15 AM - 0 Comments

Michaëlle Jean’s term as governor general ends this week with the instalment of her successor, David Johnston. In one of her final interviews as the Queen’s representative, Jean reflects on what was at turns an inspiring, controversial and consequential five years in office and looks forward to her building the Michaëlle Jean Foundation, dedicated to continuing her outreach with young people, and her work with the United Nations as a special envoy to Haiti.

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Another piece of the puzzle

By Aaron Wherry - Sunday, October 3, 2010 at 9:30 AM - 0 Comments

Peter Russell discloses another consideration within Rideau Hall that December day.

In fact, though, Jean did believe there was a Plan B and that it did involve going over the head of the governor general — not to the Queen, but to the Canadian people, as loyal Harper cabinet minister John Baird had warned in a CBC-TV interview. Plan B, Jean and her constitutional advisers believed, would involve a direct, public-relations assault on the legitimacy of the governor general and her decision. That, and not an appeal to the Queen, was far more concerning to Jean on Dec. 4, 2008.

'She was not a clerk'

By Aaron Wherry - Saturday, October 2, 2010 at 10:44 AM - 0 Comments

Peter Russell, a constitutional advisor to Michaelle Jean, says that before she agreed to prorogue Parliament, the Prime Minister committed to return to the House in short order and to do so with a budget that could pass.

This is perhaps the second bit of significant insight to come from one of Ms. Jean’s advisors since that day in December 2008. Last January, Peter Hogg reportedly observed that the coalition’s quick collapse demonstrated that the Governor General had made the correct decision.

To those dots, of course, you can add what the Governor General herself added this week.

'A smart and caring nation'

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, October 1, 2010 at 11:59 AM - 0 Comments

The following is the prepared text of David Johnston’s speech on the occasion of his installation as the 28th Governor General of Canada.

Prime Minister, Madam Chief Justice, Distinguished guests, Ladies and gentlemen.

Service, whether it is to family, community, or country, is the highest, most noble of callings.

Continue…

'David Johnston is a true all-rounder'

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, October 1, 2010 at 11:12 AM - 0 Comments

The following is the prepared text of the Prime Minister’s remarks today on the occasion of the installation of Governor General David Johnston.

Professeur Johnston, au nom du gouvernement du Canada, et de tous les Canadiens et Canadiennes, j’ai l’honneur et le privilège de vous exprimer nos félicitations enthousiastes.

Dans quelques instants, une fois que vous aurez prêté serment solennellement, vous occuperez la fonction la plus élevée et la plus ancienne de notre pays.

Cette fonction remonte à celle qu’a occupée le gouverneur Samuel de Champlain au nom de la Couronne à Québec, il y a plus de quatre-cents ans.

Canada has always been a monarchy, and it has always had a Governor, styled Governor General since Confederation.

For Canada’s Monarch today, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Professor Johnston, you will become her 11th Governor General, just as I am her 11th Prime Minister and Madame McLachlin, is her 9th Chief Justice.

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If all else fails, call the Queen (II)

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, September 30, 2010 at 2:00 PM - 0 Comments

More from the Prime Minister’s Office on the alleged contemplation, this time in comments to the CBC.

The Prime Minister’s Office says today: “that assertion is false. The issue of the Queen is false.” The PMO says it isn’t true because at the time it felt the government had the confidence of the House since it voted in favour of the Throne Speech roughly a month earlier, saying Harper felt the decision to prorogue Parliament was an “open and shut matter” for the GG.

The PMO says: “there was no such contemplation required.”

Michaëlle Jean has a few final words

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, September 30, 2010 at 10:33 AM - 0 Comments

The Governor General has posted a farewell message, looking back on her term and casting ahead to her foundation and her work with the UN.

Her parting speech to the Canadian Forces, delivered during a ceremony in Ottawa yesterday, is also available here.

'History will judge'

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, September 29, 2010 at 12:15 PM - 0 Comments

Yesterday afternoon I sat down with the Governor General for one of her final interviews before she leaves Rideau later this week. A fuller accounting of that conversation will appear in this week’s issue of the magazine, but for now, here is what was asked and what was said about the decision to grant the Prime Minister’s request to prorogue Parliament in 2008. Continue…

'With this luck came great responsibility'

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 12:47 PM - 0 Comments

With little more than two days remaining in her mandate, Michaelle Jean addressed a farewell reception on Parliament Hill a short time ago.

Breaking down solitudes, according to my motto, ending isolation and building on our desire to live together: these were and remain the objectives of the governor general who stands before you today, a woman born in a country where the social foundations had collapsed, where power was exercised brutally to the detriment of all, a woman who was extraordinarily lucky to be able to pursue her dreams in a country where anything is possible, our country.

And with this luck came great responsibility. The responsibility to spread hope and, as much as possible, give it the means to be realized.

'Her Excellency would like to see you'

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, September 27, 2010 at 9:45 AM - 0 Comments

CP’s Alexander Panetta reflects on Michaelle Jean’s five-year reign.

To be more precise, she sent an aide to drag in the lone Ottawa-based reporter covering her 2008 trip to the Northwest Territories with a request, which might be ubiquitous at Rideau Hall but counts as rare for an everyday greeting: “Her Excellency would like to see you.”

So the reporter cut short an interview, walked into the store and found himself a moment later standing — alongside Canada’s vicereine and an Inuvialuit couple — in front of a $14.89 pineapple. “We need to do something about this,” Jean said, staring in disbelief. She introduced the reporter to the local couple. “You need to speak to these people.”

Getting serious: a choice of substance over showmanship

By macleans.ca - Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 4:40 PM - 0 Comments

ADRIAN WYLD/CP

The announcement that David Johnston will be Canada’s next governor general was a rare occasion when substance and salesmanship meshed seamlessly for Stephen Harper, rewarding the Prime Minister with arguably his best burst of publicity since he sat down at a piano last fall to sing With a Little Help From My Friends.

Selecting the Queen’s representative in Canada is, of course, more important than picking which old Beatles hit to croon at a National Arts Centre gala. Johnston has rightly won wide praise as an irreproachable choice. Most recently as president of the University of Waterloo and, before that, McGill University’s long-time principal, he ranks among Canada’s most respected advocates for higher education.

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Canada is a French country

By Andrew Coyne - Monday, July 19, 2010 at 11:05 AM - 0 Comments

Mathieu Belanger/Reuters

The most striking passage in David Johnston’s speech on being named Canada’s next governor general, apart from the reference to the Queen as “our head of state” (there seemed to be some doubt on his predecessor’s part), was his lengthy encomium to Samuel de Champlain, “Canada’s first governor.” In case anyone did not catch his drift, he ended by invoking the example of his predecessors, “from Samuel de Champlain to Michaëlle Jean.”

But wait a minute. Johnston is, as he says, the representative of the Queen of Canada, Elizabeth II, great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, granddaughter of George III, the first monarch to rule over what was then called British North America. Champlain served a different king, from an altogether different royal house: Louis XIII of France.

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Harper likes a man who knows his place

By Paul Wells - Friday, July 16, 2010 at 9:00 AM - 0 Comments

Chris Wattie/Reuters

Last autumn Stephen Harper decided he had a rare luxury, a few free months to plan ahead without worrying the opposition would try to defeat his government. He visited China and India and then, throwing caution to the wind, invited hundreds of journalists to 24 Sussex Drive for a pre-Christmas cocktail.

During the obligatory small-talk portion of the evening, Harper confessed amazement over his visit to the Great Wall of China. Not because the wall is big or beautiful, but because its construction extended over centuries, so that almost everyone who worked on it was committing to a project that could not be completed while he lived.

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That David Johnston scandal, in full

By Andrew Coyne - Monday, July 12, 2010 at 4:31 PM - 88 Comments

I like to think my credentials as an Airbus obsessive are in order, so allow me to dissociate myself from any suggestion that the appointment of David Johnston as Governor General is somehow tainted by it.

It’s true that it was Johnston, as adviser to the Prime Minister on the terms of reference for the Oliphant inquiry, who recommended against including the Airbus scandal in its mandate, a decision that looks all the more baffling in light of the judge’s findings: not only that Brian Mulroney took hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, shortly after leaving office, from the very man from whom he was accused of taking bribes while in office, but that he lied about it, up to and including his appearance before the inquiry. Regardless of whether Mulroney was personally involved, the circumstances surrounding the Airbus deal are so suspicious that, even 22 years later, they cry out for an inquiry — not in spite of the passage of time but because of it. Johnston’s reasoning, that Airbus, having once been the subject of an RCMP investigation, was “well-tilled ground,” is simply unsupported by the facts: the RCMP had only just begun their investigation when it was shut down by the leaking of the infamous “Swiss letter,” a calamity from which it never recovered.

That’s my opinion, at any rate. Lots of perfectly sensible people with no obvious axes to grind thought he was spot on. But even if you take my view of it, it’s a long way from an error of judgement to a conflict of interest. Those who insinuate there was something unseemly in Johnston’s appointment — sometimes accompanied by the disclaimer that, although they themselves do not believe any of this, others might — are obliged to offer some evidence, or even a plausible rationale, before tossing about such incendiary charges.

At the very least they should say clearly what they mean. Is it seriously alleged that Johnston and Harper cooked up a deal in advance — you keep Airbus out of the inquiry, and I’ll make you Governor General? Surely no one is that far gone. Is it, then, that a grateful Harper bestowed the appointment upon him as a sort of reward, ie that it was only the appointment, and not the advice, that was corrupt — a prospect the Star’s Jim Travers raises, but can’t be arsed to properly debunk? Or is it merely, as Rick Salutin claims, that Johnston’s role in the Oliphant inquiry was an “audition” (whoops, “what can be seen as an audition”), a “test of what the guy might do in a situation where Harper interests are at stake.” You follow the logic: because he had ruled in a way that was supposedly favourable to Harper’s interests in the matter of Mulroney’s cash, he could also be relied upon to do so, say, in a constitutional crisis, the connecting factor being — what? Continue…

A Harvard man

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, July 12, 2010 at 4:05 PM - 0 Comments

We know, because we’ve been told, that the next governor general is a non-partisan. But other facets of his history and personality are so far less understood.

For instance, though it was not noted in the official release announcing his appointment, in the third paragraph of the attached four-paragraph backgrounder we learn that Mr. Johnston, who was introduced to the country as a respected academic, began his post-secondary studies at Harvard. Granted, while at Harvard, he played “ice hockey,” as they call it there. But still, Harvard.

This is obviously confusing, for if we have learned anything at all over the last four and a half years it’s that the name of that American educational institution is only to be invoked or referenced in the derisive sense, for the purposes of mocking another’s character or intellect.

To wit. Continue…

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