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GG Payette resigns 21 Jan 2021

Jarnhamar said:
I have no idea what the GG does off the top of my head but people smarter than me say it's an important position to keep the government in check. I'll buy that.

But the government has been doing some pretty rotten and unethical things and the GG hasn't said poop. Does someone in that position really keep the government in check it, is it really just a ceremonial position, or did we just have a really shitty GG?
Click to expand...

I don't recall any GG ever opposing a government decision in my lifetime (e.g. refusing to grant a bill Royal Assent). I'm sure someone will be along shortly to correct me if needed.
 
Jarnhamar said:
I have no idea what the GG does off the top of my head but people smarter than me say it's an important position to keep the government in check. I'll buy that.

But the government has been doing some pretty rotten and unethical things and the GG hasn't said poop. Does someone in that position really keep the government in check it, is it really just a ceremonial position, or did we just have a really shitty GG?
Click to expand...

It's not the GG's role to ride herd on the Government, that the responsibility of the opposition, courts, and ultimately, us.

Here's a decent analysis of 'reserve powers':

 
Holy crap. She actually said "We all experience things differently".

I thought that was just a jab at Trudeau people were making on their own.

So is she just getting let off the hook and resigning with her $150k a year and $200k (or whatever) travel expenses for a job well done?
 
Haggis said:
I don't recall any GG ever opposing a government decision in my lifetime (e.g. refusing to grant a bill Royal Assent). I'm sure someone will be along shortly to correct me if needed.
Click to expand...
Because every government has been following the rules.

I imagine the governor General needing to step in would be a last resort measure, not something done on a regular basis, if ever.
 
Haggis said:
I don't recall any GG ever opposing a government decision in my lifetime (e.g. refusing to grant a bill Royal Assent). I'm sure someone will be along shortly to correct me if needed.
Click to expand...
Off the top of my head, during the Byng-King Fling, Lord Byng refused PM William Lyon Mackenzie-King’s demand that parliament be dissolved and an election called. Instead, he gave Arthur Meighan a go at forming government since the Tories had more seats.

So while GG’s don’t stop PM’s from being unethical douche bags, they are a check on them acting against the constitution. We probably won’t see what happened down south with regards to bogus election fraud claims happen here.
 
My bad, I missed that qualifier.

Since Massey and Vanier (with the exception of Johnston) i think our governors general have been either political hacks or celebrities, so they may not have been willing to go toe-to-toe against a sitting prime minister. But I don’t think we have had any situation since Byng-King for a GG to smack down a PM that went seriously out of their lane.
 
Haggis said:
Do you include the current government in that? Many may beg to differ.
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I include every government in that.

I may not like what they do, decisions they make, but they are not using the military to arrest members of the opposition or having fraudulent elections, or anything like that.
 
I just remembered a more recent example.

In 2017 after the provincial election, the BC Liberals had the most seats but a minority government. Christy Clark attempted to form government but the NDP and Greens made a supply and confidence agreement. Clark tried to get the Lieutenant Governor to dissolve the Legislature and call new elections, but the LG invited John Horgan to form government instead.
 
RangerRay said:
My bad, I missed that qualifier.

Since Massey and Vanier (with the exception of Johnston) i think our governors general have been either political hacks or celebrities, so they may not have been willing to go toe-to-toe against a sitting prime minister. But I don’t think we have had any situation since Byng-King for a GG to smack down a PM that went seriously out of their lane.
Click to expand...

.... or a supporter of one of our few, effective domestic terrorist organizations.
 
dapaterson said:
The People's Front of Judea?
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Come clean, about the FLQ, Jean:

"An outspoken Quebec sovereigntist wants governor-general-designate Michaëlle Jean to say how she voted in the 1995 referendum.
The call comes after an article in a sovereigntist publication that says she and her husband supported Quebec independence and that Ms. Jean's spouse, filmmaker Jean-Daniel Lafond, was friendly with former Quebec terrorists.

Mr. Rheaume said Thursday that Prime Minister Paul Martin should have checked Ms. Jean's credentials more carefully and called him "an amateur to name a person who many believe is a sovereigntist, to name this person head of state."

He has written to Ms. Jean asking how she voted in Quebec's 1995 sovereignty referendum, which federalists won by a razor-thin majority."



www.theglobeandmail.com

Separatist says 'Come clean, Jean'

An outspoken Quebec sovereigntist wants governor-general-designate Michaëlle Jean to say how she voted in the 1995 referendum.
www.theglobeandmail.com www.theglobeandmail.com
 
RangerRay said:
I just remembered a more recent example.

In 2017 after the provincial election, the BC Liberals had the most seats but a minority government. Christy Clark attempted to form government but the NDP and Greens made a supply and confidence agreement. Clark tried to get the Lieutenant Governor to dissolve the Legislature and call new elections, but the LG invited John Horgan to form government instead.
Click to expand...
Perfect example of where the viceregal role can be very, very important. We could easily see such things play out federally.
 
Just a recent example from Italy. Their system is a 'parliamentary republic' with a separate Head of Government (Prime Minister) and Head of State (President) who is elected. It seems countries with more fractured political system in terms of numbers of parties (9 significant ones in Italy apparently), resulting in ever-shifting coalitions, keep their heads of state busier than we do. Systems need to be designed to account for this.

https://www.thestar.com/news/world/...to-resign-seek-nod-to-form-new-coalition.html
 
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