I know you're on the outside looking in, like we are with much of the intricacies of American Politics, but this one was a shit show from the outset. We have had a series of GG's with huge senses of entitlement over time, and these are political appointments (we don't get to vote for our GG) but there where Red Flags on this one since before it's outset, & I believe the Vetting process was skipped over 'cuz Payette was just to perfect to the "Woke" to pass by regardless of the Red Flags....
This is about more than just a disastrous appointment as Governor General. The resignation of Julie Payette this past week as the Queen’s representative in Canada goes to the heart of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s toxic mix of incompetence and arrogance — again.
Trudeau believes he is the most aware, sensitive, caring, inclusive, “woke” person in any room. You can see this self-assured conceit in the choice of Payette in the first place.
http://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/gunter-payette-checked-off-all-of-trudeaus-symbolic-boxes
Immediately after she was appointed in 2017, I had Liberals and Conservatives (including a couple of former MPs) predict she was going to be a catastrophe. It seemed obvious to some Ottawa insiders that she didn’t have the temperament for the job. Many saw her as a hothead. She had a reputation for berating staff when she headed up the Montreal Science Centre.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_Payette
Just before she took up her viceregal appointment, Payette had also left the Canadian Olympic Committee after not one, but two internal investigations found she had routinely belittled and verbally abused staff. In her personal life, she had also recently gone through an especially nasty divorce, during which allegations of domestic violence (never proven in court) were made against her.
But she was Francophone, female and a former astronaut. Trudeau didn’t need to run Payette through the normal vetting process or pay attention to the telltale signs that she was unsuitable.
Payette clicked all the symbolic boxes that Trudeau believed were important and that was good enough. They were his boxes and since he was (in his own mind) the most enlightened person ever to hold his office, how could his choice be wrong? Trudeau was so sure of his own wisdom he had even dispensed with the Governor-General selection committee set up by his predecessor, Stephen Harper.
Even before the mass exodus of traumatized and harassed Rideau Hall employees began a little more than a year into Payette’s tenure, there were public reports she didn’t like the duties that came with her high-flying, well-paying, five-year post. She didn’t like all the ceremonies, the public appearances, the need to attend royal assent ceremonies for new legislation (sometimes on short notice) or the G.G.’s traditional role serving as patron to many charitable organizations. But this is more than just a symbolic problem with a symbolic office.
Governors General are most frequently asked to perform their meaningful, constitutional duties – essentially making sure our Parliament doesn’t descend into chaos – during periods when Canada has a minority government teetering on the verge of an election call. Like right now.
For instance, Stephen Harper called on Governor General Michaelle Jean to prorogue Parliament in 2008, just weeks after an election, so he could avoid a non-confidence motion that his government was expected to lose. Jean consented. What if the federal NDP were suddenly to find a spine and stop propping up Trudeau’s Liberals forcing a collapse of the minority government, yet thanks to Trudeau’s profound arrogance and inept judgment in choosing Payette, we were without a full-time Governor General?
This is just the latest of Trudeau’s scandals and he needs to wear it. It is not very comforting when you cannot believe your prime minister, no matter if he rightly says the sky is blue. The Aga Khan scandal, the SNC-Lavalin scandal, the blackface scandal, the WE Charity scandal, plus his impotence on the economy, government debt, the release of the Two Michaels and his appalling mishandling of COVID vaccine acquisition. Unfortunately, Payette’s resignation won’t be the disgrace that finally jolts Liberal voters out of their We-love-Justin trance, even if the cumulative effect of so much conceited ineptitude should. But what time did Trudeau really have to be a responsible No. 1 lawmaker when his party was pitched in long and painful scandals almost from the outset? — SNC Lavalin, the WE charity, plus the ethic scandals (the Aga Khan et cetera) that ensnarled Trudeau and finally got finance minister Bill Morneau exiting all with his entitled tail between his legs?
And now Trudeau stands accused of throwing shade on the resigned Governor General Julie Payette to deflect heat in his own corner. Easy pickings, yes, but hardly Queensberry.
His explanation that she was heavily vetted defies credulity and heavily suggests another falsehood. But, judging by the latest in popular opinion polls, there are still enough progressive fools in the electorate to let Trudeau retain his prime minister role because they can’t tell his lies from his occasional truths. It makes a sane person want to scream.
http://torontosun.com/opinion/colum...n-justin-trudeau-ever-again-telling-the-truth
