Failure to Rise to the Occasion -- Vice-Regal and Prime Ministerial

"This is very bad for Justin Trudeau because Julie Payette was his choice. She was not vetted properly, and this once again calls his judgement into question. You cannot repair nor undo this."

"This is a major stain on the reputation of Justin Trudeau and it's not good for the Liberal government at all."

Daniel Beland, director, Institute for the Study of Canada, McGill University

"Everyone deserves a safe and secure workplace and that includes people who work hard in the Governor General's team. That is something that I take very seriously."

"Yesterday, I accepted the Governor General's resignation. This morning, I had a phone conversation with Her Majesty the Queen and I informed her that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court would fullfil the duties of the Governor General on an interim basis."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is questioned by the CBC's Ashley Burke, whose reporting led to Payette's resignation.

 

The previous government of Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper set up a commission for the purpose of selecting appropriate candidates for the position of the Queen's representative in Canada, an important ceremonial post with the authority of the reigning Monarch of Great Britain in its former colony, Canada. That commission was tasked to do its work absent politics, neutral to politics but focusing on merit, capability, experience and trustworthiness. Among the countless initiatives taken by the past Conservative government abolished by the incoming Liberal government of Justin Trudeau the commission was cancelled.

The current government is infused with the sanctimonious righteousness of being 'woke'; sensitive to racial and social and gender equality. In that spirit the Prime Minister and his advisers at the PMO set out to find a candidate that would resonate; someone with a brilliant background, highly intelligent, female preferably, and they found that candidate in former Canadian astronaut, scientist and intellectual, Julie Payette. The deciding opinion was the Prime Minister's. Who at this stage insists proper vetting was done beforehand. Julie Payette, after all, managed the Montreal Science Centre until her elevation to Queen's representative in Ottawa.

Had proper vetting been undertaken, it would have been discovered that in her past management positions she was hugely dysfunctional, those working under her direction suffered harassment, verbal contempt and a demanding environment. Soon after her appointment, investigative journalists had no problem discovering she had been charged with second-degree assault while living in Maryland in 2011; it was her estranged husband in fact she had been violent with. She had also been involved in a fatal hit-and-run accident the same year.

Her style of management is to turn a well-functioning enterprise into a toxic work environment, and this is what she did as Governor General and before long those professional workers at Rideau Hall began speaking publicly of the strains they were under. The woman who could play performance-level piano, speak six languages, who excelled in skiing, racket sports and scuba diving, became a hyena out for the kill. 

 

She stated in her letter of resignation: "Everyone has a right to a healthy and safe work environment, at all times and under all circumstances. It appears this was not always the case at the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General. Tensions have arisen at Rideau Hall over the past few months and for that, I am sorry...We all experience things differently, but we should always strive to do better, and be attentive to one another's perceptions."

 

Governor General Julie Payette and Secretary to the Governor General, Assunta Di Lorenzo have both resigned. Photo by Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press; MCpl Mathieu Gaudreault/Rideau Hall

I was of course, not 'perceptions' that employees at Rideau Hall spoke of, but abuse. In her statement she speaks of the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General as the source of the problems; it was where her hand-picked assistant, and personal friend Montreal lawyer Asunta Di Lorenzo was appointed by her, rather than having the position occupied by a civil servant, to be Secretary to the Governor General. Complaints by Rideau Hall staff included the aggressive and demeaning behaviour of Ms.Di Lorenzo as well as that of the Governor General herself. Their close friendship appears to have suddenly become frigid.

 

Further in her statement, the 'experience things differently' line is precisely what Justin Trudeau said when he was accused by a young female journalist in British Columbia of having taken the liberty of manhandling her years ago. When this became public, his veneer as a 'feminist' appears to have been exposed, and in his defence he claimed not to have behaved boorishly, seeing nothing amiss in his own behaviour despite the young woman's offence at his uninvited physical attention; thus the line that 'we all experience things differently' and indeed we do.

Governor General Julie Payette refused to live at the official residence of the Governor General, Rideau Hall, preferring instead to remain in Montreal citing 'privacy'as an issue, highly unusual, shattering all expectations. She balked at signing government documents. Following her investiture she failed to make herself available for all the varied duties linked to her office, to be present at ceremonial events, duties that none of her predecessors found onerous or unpleasant, but accepted cheerfully as part of their obligations to the position they occupied.

Complaints about her lack of commitment to her vice-regal position continued until finally the Privy Council Office hired Quintet Consulting Corp.for a third-party investigation into the allegations of workplace harassment, the belittling and public humiliation that employees of Rideau Hall were subjected to for years. It was the content of that report finally submitted to the scrutiny of authorities that led to Ms.Payette being invited by her former champion the Prime Minister, to resign her position.

This situation -- like so many others Justin Trudeau has been involved in, shedding responsibility for ill choices, for committing injudicious and personally damning acts that clearly defines him as being out of his depth leading the country -- speaks of his personal egocentricity, disregard for ethical judgement, love of theatrics over commonsense choices. Behaviour that singly and collectively indicate that he was himself a poor choice as leader of a country.

"I am a strong believer in the principles of natural justice, due process and the rule of law, and that these principles apply to all equally. Notwithstanding, in respect for the integrity of my vice-regal Office and for the good of our country and of our democratic institutions, I have come to the conclusion that a new Governor General should be appointed. Canadians deserve stability in these uncertain times."

(former) Governor General Julie Payette

Governor General Julie Payette delivers the speech from the throne as Parliament prepares to resume for the first time since the federal election, on Dec. 5, 2019. Photo by Blair Gable/Reuters