To me this is an article that really shows how important the Governors General are to Canada. They are people who completely abstain from political divisions and stand up for the uncountable "small groups" of Canadians who sometimes, for whatever reason, need someone to stand up for them.
I think people really underestimate how much good Adrienne Clarkson has done for Canada.
By JANE TABER
Thursday, September 22, 2005 Posted at 5:38 AM EDT
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
OTTAWA — Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson's bottom lip quivered and her eyes welled up with tears as she delivered her farewell speech to the troops yesterday on Parliament Hill.
"To be your commander-in-chief has been nothing but a privilege for me," she said. "It has been six precious years of knowing how much Canada owes to you and how closely I am tied to you."
She admitted later that she almost "lost it" again when the soldiers, sailors and airmen doffed their hats and cheered her three times.
And as she left the Hill, walking up the red-carpeted stairs to her limousine, the military band broke into a rendition of Hockey Night in Canada.
This was the way Chief of Defence Staff General Rick Hillier and his troops chose to bid, in what they billed as a "fond farewell," goodbye to their commander-in-chief.
He said Ms. Clarkson had brought the Canadian Forces out of a "decade of darkness."
The ceremony was unprecedented, emotional, folksy and all Canadian.
And Ms. Clarkson loved it.
She spent 30 minutes reviewing every single troop on Parliament Hill, as well as veterans and invited guests.
A handful of young cadets and a couple of regular soldiers collapsed in the midday heat during the nearly two-hour ceremony and were led away by medics.
Canadian actor Paul Gross was there as well, minding the heat. He stayed over last night at Rideau Hall, a guest of the viceregal couple.
Ms. Clarkson leaves her post on Tuesday after the swearing-in of her successor, former Radio-Canada journalist Michaëlle Jean.
It has been an emotional few weeks for Ms. Clarkson as she has presided over her last Order of Canada ceremony and spoken for the last time to the Empire Club of Canada.
But she had said that this goodbye to the troops would be her most difficult.
After the ceremony yesterday, she said it was a "triumph to get through to the end."
There was music and marching and there were glowing speeches, including the one by Gen. Hillier, in which he gave her credit for giving Canadian soldiers a confidence "that had been missing for a long time."
In her six-year term, Ms. Clarkson has become the darling of the Canadian Forces, working hard for the troops and spending Christmases with soldiers in Bosnia, the Persian Gulf and Afghanistan.
Gen. Hillier said Ms. Clarkson has put soldiers' families on the "radar scope" by highlighting their service, sacrifices and their need for support.
"Your time as our commander-in-chief has corresponded directly, and not accidentally, with an increasing awareness and acceptance by Canada of its responsibilities towards those families . . .
"It is not by accident that as the Canadian Forces started looking past a decade of darkness, past a long period of insecurity and past a lingering feeling of shame that you were our commander-in-chief."
And there was a subtext to yesterday's ceremony as well, and that was whether Ms. Jean can fill Ms. Clarkson's shoes.
Sergeant Lorne Ford, who was one of the soldiers wounded in the April, 2002, friendly fire incident in Afghanistan that killed four of his colleagues, thanked Ms. Clarkson on behalf of all the military.
In an eloquent and sometimes humorous speech, he remembered her visit after he had been wounded, and how he had used some "colourful language" in front of her.
Worried that he would lose his job and be "thrown in jail," she told him to forget about it and was concerned only about his welfare.
He ended by saying: "I hope our incoming commander-in-chief cares as deeply as you have about our Canadian Forces. It will be a hard job to duplicate."
Ms. Jean has attracted much controversy for her dual Canadian and French citizenship and allegations that she was once a separatist. However, Paul Greensides, a member of the Canadian Association of Veterans in United Nations Peacekeeping, said he'd like to see the media give Ms. Jean a chance.
"I think she has the background to do well," he said.
But his colleague, John Gardam, who has written about the role of peacekeepers and has served as a peacekeeper in Egypt, said the measure of a governor-general is the "wisdom you bring to the job."
"With all due respect to her [Ms. Jean], I don't think she has the maturity yet. Before each event she is going to have to be coached by her staff. Adrienne Clarkson knew [what to do] by instinct," he said.
I think people really underestimate how much good Adrienne Clarkson has done for Canada.
By JANE TABER
Thursday, September 22, 2005 Posted at 5:38 AM EDT
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
OTTAWA — Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson's bottom lip quivered and her eyes welled up with tears as she delivered her farewell speech to the troops yesterday on Parliament Hill.
"To be your commander-in-chief has been nothing but a privilege for me," she said. "It has been six precious years of knowing how much Canada owes to you and how closely I am tied to you."
She admitted later that she almost "lost it" again when the soldiers, sailors and airmen doffed their hats and cheered her three times.
And as she left the Hill, walking up the red-carpeted stairs to her limousine, the military band broke into a rendition of Hockey Night in Canada.
This was the way Chief of Defence Staff General Rick Hillier and his troops chose to bid, in what they billed as a "fond farewell," goodbye to their commander-in-chief.
He said Ms. Clarkson had brought the Canadian Forces out of a "decade of darkness."
The ceremony was unprecedented, emotional, folksy and all Canadian.
And Ms. Clarkson loved it.
She spent 30 minutes reviewing every single troop on Parliament Hill, as well as veterans and invited guests.
A handful of young cadets and a couple of regular soldiers collapsed in the midday heat during the nearly two-hour ceremony and were led away by medics.
Canadian actor Paul Gross was there as well, minding the heat. He stayed over last night at Rideau Hall, a guest of the viceregal couple.
Ms. Clarkson leaves her post on Tuesday after the swearing-in of her successor, former Radio-Canada journalist Michaëlle Jean.
It has been an emotional few weeks for Ms. Clarkson as she has presided over her last Order of Canada ceremony and spoken for the last time to the Empire Club of Canada.
But she had said that this goodbye to the troops would be her most difficult.
After the ceremony yesterday, she said it was a "triumph to get through to the end."
There was music and marching and there were glowing speeches, including the one by Gen. Hillier, in which he gave her credit for giving Canadian soldiers a confidence "that had been missing for a long time."
In her six-year term, Ms. Clarkson has become the darling of the Canadian Forces, working hard for the troops and spending Christmases with soldiers in Bosnia, the Persian Gulf and Afghanistan.
Gen. Hillier said Ms. Clarkson has put soldiers' families on the "radar scope" by highlighting their service, sacrifices and their need for support.
"Your time as our commander-in-chief has corresponded directly, and not accidentally, with an increasing awareness and acceptance by Canada of its responsibilities towards those families . . .
"It is not by accident that as the Canadian Forces started looking past a decade of darkness, past a long period of insecurity and past a lingering feeling of shame that you were our commander-in-chief."
And there was a subtext to yesterday's ceremony as well, and that was whether Ms. Jean can fill Ms. Clarkson's shoes.
Sergeant Lorne Ford, who was one of the soldiers wounded in the April, 2002, friendly fire incident in Afghanistan that killed four of his colleagues, thanked Ms. Clarkson on behalf of all the military.
In an eloquent and sometimes humorous speech, he remembered her visit after he had been wounded, and how he had used some "colourful language" in front of her.
Worried that he would lose his job and be "thrown in jail," she told him to forget about it and was concerned only about his welfare.
He ended by saying: "I hope our incoming commander-in-chief cares as deeply as you have about our Canadian Forces. It will be a hard job to duplicate."
Ms. Jean has attracted much controversy for her dual Canadian and French citizenship and allegations that she was once a separatist. However, Paul Greensides, a member of the Canadian Association of Veterans in United Nations Peacekeeping, said he'd like to see the media give Ms. Jean a chance.
"I think she has the background to do well," he said.
But his colleague, John Gardam, who has written about the role of peacekeepers and has served as a peacekeeper in Egypt, said the measure of a governor-general is the "wisdom you bring to the job."
"With all due respect to her [Ms. Jean], I don't think she has the maturity yet. Before each event she is going to have to be coached by her staff. Adrienne Clarkson knew [what to do] by instinct," he said.