It's getting close to three years since Mary Simon was appointed as Canada’s governor general. Last week, she had her first official visit to Saskatchewan. Last year, she visited Manitoba for the first time. As far as I can tell, she has never had an official visit to Alberta.It’s not that we miss these official visits or that they serve much of a purpose, but when a person is appointed into the role of a nation’s head of state and given a travel budget of $3 million per year, one would expect that the serfs across the nation would be granted the opportunity to see her now and then. Simon hasn’t hesitated to travel throughout the world during her tenure. Her lavish overseas trips have made the news multiple times as she flies to exotic destinations while treating her hand-picked entourage to in-flight meals on her private jet to the tune of $93,000 in a single trip.With such a high budget and with only twelve provinces and territories, why hasn’t the governor general taken the time to visit each and every one of them in her first year in office?It’s not like Simon has a lot of other things to do. She is a parliamentary figurehead and rubber stamp. She is obliged to read the Speech from the Throne every year and to sign off on legislative bills. She has theoretical power but would never dare wield it to override elected representatives. That would truly spell the beginning of the end of her role.She is the representative of the Crown though she is appointed by the prime minister. Her role is to cut ribbons and grace events with her presence. Canadian events appear to be beneath her interest, however.Simon crossed a new line recently when she hosted a symposium along with the federal finance minister in favour of the government’s Online Harms Act. While most Canadians perhaps don’t realize it, her action was a terribly egregious act of partisanship from the office that is never supposed to demonstrate it. The King’s representative is never supposed to take part in partisan activities. It would be akin to King Charles rallying for a government bill in England. That won’t happen though because King Charles knows better and would never do such a thing.While Simon hasn’t resigned in disgrace yet, as Julie Payette did, she is not endearing herself to Canadians with her lavish habits and lack of interaction with Canadians. If Justin Trudeau has been consistent with anything during his reign it has been his poor judgement and his choices of governor generals have reflected that.People don’t look at governor generals with the reverence that they used to. The governor general is a remnant of the monarchy. While many Canadians still value and respect the monarchy, they don’t hold it in as much esteem as they used to. Particularly since Queen Elizabeth passed on. While folks may be OK with the royal family in general, they are losing interest in paying a large amount to have them represented in Canada. Canada can’t easily break away from having a governor general. The role is constitutionally entrenched and we would have to change the entire system of governance into something like a republic to remove Governor Generals as a level of government.We can greatly scale back the role of the governor general though. We can defund the office and limit the functions.Currently, the governor general is paid $362,800 per year. On top of that, she gets a fully-staffed mansion, huge pension, retirement allowance, lifetime expense account, clothing budget, free dry cleaning and of course gets to travel the world with the most luxurious of treatment.I bet we could find somebody willing to do the job for $100,000 per year, with a modest condo for accommodations and a decent pension and benefits. They could cut the ribbons, give the speech from the throne, and attend the occasional domestic event. They don’t need to travel. We have ambassadors for that. The constitution wouldn’t need to be amended and taxpayers would be spared both the expense and the annoyance of seeing their hard-earned tax dollars conspicuously consumed by a faux-monarch.Ahh but what about the Rideau Hall? That’s the mansion in which the governor general resides. It sits on 79 acres of prime land in Ottawa. This is where we could kill two birds with one stone.The traditional residence for the Canadian prime minister is on 24 Sussex Drive and it hasn’t been occupied by a prime minister for years as it has fallen into total disrepair. Estimates to renovate 24 Sussex are ranging as high as $42 million.Rather than pouring more money into the traditional prime minister’s residence, we should sell it.Then the prime minister is free to move into Rideau Hall after the governor general is relocated to a decent Ottawa condo.Taxpayers win, the prime minister wins and some newly appointed governor general still wins a good job, but not the grossly extravagant one that it used to be. I hope we see Pierre Poilievre taking measurements for new curtains in Rideau Hall soon.
It's getting close to three years since Mary Simon was appointed as Canada’s governor general. Last week, she had her first official visit to Saskatchewan. Last year, she visited Manitoba for the first time. As far as I can tell, she has never had an official visit to Alberta.It’s not that we miss these official visits or that they serve much of a purpose, but when a person is appointed into the role of a nation’s head of state and given a travel budget of $3 million per year, one would expect that the serfs across the nation would be granted the opportunity to see her now and then. Simon hasn’t hesitated to travel throughout the world during her tenure. Her lavish overseas trips have made the news multiple times as she flies to exotic destinations while treating her hand-picked entourage to in-flight meals on her private jet to the tune of $93,000 in a single trip.With such a high budget and with only twelve provinces and territories, why hasn’t the governor general taken the time to visit each and every one of them in her first year in office?It’s not like Simon has a lot of other things to do. She is a parliamentary figurehead and rubber stamp. She is obliged to read the Speech from the Throne every year and to sign off on legislative bills. She has theoretical power but would never dare wield it to override elected representatives. That would truly spell the beginning of the end of her role.She is the representative of the Crown though she is appointed by the prime minister. Her role is to cut ribbons and grace events with her presence. Canadian events appear to be beneath her interest, however.Simon crossed a new line recently when she hosted a symposium along with the federal finance minister in favour of the government’s Online Harms Act. While most Canadians perhaps don’t realize it, her action was a terribly egregious act of partisanship from the office that is never supposed to demonstrate it. The King’s representative is never supposed to take part in partisan activities. It would be akin to King Charles rallying for a government bill in England. That won’t happen though because King Charles knows better and would never do such a thing.While Simon hasn’t resigned in disgrace yet, as Julie Payette did, she is not endearing herself to Canadians with her lavish habits and lack of interaction with Canadians. If Justin Trudeau has been consistent with anything during his reign it has been his poor judgement and his choices of governor generals have reflected that.People don’t look at governor generals with the reverence that they used to. The governor general is a remnant of the monarchy. While many Canadians still value and respect the monarchy, they don’t hold it in as much esteem as they used to. Particularly since Queen Elizabeth passed on. While folks may be OK with the royal family in general, they are losing interest in paying a large amount to have them represented in Canada. Canada can’t easily break away from having a governor general. The role is constitutionally entrenched and we would have to change the entire system of governance into something like a republic to remove Governor Generals as a level of government.We can greatly scale back the role of the governor general though. We can defund the office and limit the functions.Currently, the governor general is paid $362,800 per year. On top of that, she gets a fully-staffed mansion, huge pension, retirement allowance, lifetime expense account, clothing budget, free dry cleaning and of course gets to travel the world with the most luxurious of treatment.I bet we could find somebody willing to do the job for $100,000 per year, with a modest condo for accommodations and a decent pension and benefits. They could cut the ribbons, give the speech from the throne, and attend the occasional domestic event. They don’t need to travel. We have ambassadors for that. The constitution wouldn’t need to be amended and taxpayers would be spared both the expense and the annoyance of seeing their hard-earned tax dollars conspicuously consumed by a faux-monarch.Ahh but what about the Rideau Hall? That’s the mansion in which the governor general resides. It sits on 79 acres of prime land in Ottawa. This is where we could kill two birds with one stone.The traditional residence for the Canadian prime minister is on 24 Sussex Drive and it hasn’t been occupied by a prime minister for years as it has fallen into total disrepair. Estimates to renovate 24 Sussex are ranging as high as $42 million.Rather than pouring more money into the traditional prime minister’s residence, we should sell it.Then the prime minister is free to move into Rideau Hall after the governor general is relocated to a decent Ottawa condo.Taxpayers win, the prime minister wins and some newly appointed governor general still wins a good job, but not the grossly extravagant one that it used to be. I hope we see Pierre Poilievre taking measurements for new curtains in Rideau Hall soon.
