INDEPTH: GOVERNOR GENERAL
Canada's Governor General
CBC News Online | Updated April 6, 2006
Governor-General Michaëlle Jean. (CP file photo)
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WHAT
Queen's representative in Canada and Canada's de facto head of state. (The Queen is the official head of state.)
Before 1926, the Governor General acted as the representative of the British government in Canada.
Until the 1950s, the Governor General was always British. Since then, the post has alternated between an English-Canadian and a French-Canadian.
DUTIES
The Governor General's duties, which are largely ceremonial, include:
- Representing the Crown and ensuring there is always a prime minister.
- Acting on advice of prime minister and cabinet ministers to give royal assent to bills passed in the Senate and House of Commons.
- Signing state documents.
- Reading throne speech.
- Presiding over swearing-in of prime minister, chief justice and cabinet ministers.
The governor general isn't always a figurehead, however. Canada saw one of the most controversial uses of a governor general's powers in what is now the Commonwealth.
In 1926, Gov. Gen. Viscount Byng sparked a constitutional crisis when he refused the prime minister's request to dissolve Parliament and call a general election.
William Lyon Mackenzie King, whose Liberals won a minority government the year before, wanted to avoid a scheduled vote on government corruption. When Byng turned him down, Mackenzie King resigned and the Governor General invited Conservative Arthur Meighen to form a government.
Mackenzie King soon returned to power with a majority government, but the "King-Byng Affair" led to reforms of the governor general's role in Canada and throughout the dominions.
The lieutenant-governors of the provinces once represented the governor general, but now act as direct representatives of the Queen.
APPOINTING THE GOVERNOR GENERAL
The governor general is appointed by the Queen on the advice of the prime minister.
TERM OF OFFICE
The term is five years and can be extended to seven.
BUDGET (2004 est.)
Office budget set at $19.1 million, the same as in 2003 and up from $11 million in 1999. Governor General's spending totalled $41 million in 2003, counting costs to the Department of National Defence, RCMP and other bodies.
CURRENT GOVERNOR GENERAL:
The Rt. Hon. Michaëlle Jean
- Born in Port au Prince, Haiti.
- Came to Canada with her family in 1968 to escape persecution by Duvalier regime.
- Earned BA and MA in comparative literature at the University of Montreal.
- Worked for eight years, from 1979 to 1987, with Québec shelters for battered women.
- Joined Radio-Canada in 1988, working successively as a reporter and host.
- Has won numerous awards including the Human Rights League of Canada's 1989 Media Award for her report titled La pasionaria, on the struggle of an immigrant woman in Québec; the Prix Anik for best information reporting in Canada for her investigation of the power of money in Haitian society; the 2001 Gemini Award for best interview in any category.
- Appointed Governor General in Sept. 27, 2005.
- Gave her first throne speech in April 4, 2006.
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