Governor general “far superior in prestige than just a mere governor” says Captain Kirk .. and he’s right!

Oct 1st, 2010 | By | Category: In Brief

In 2006 the 44th Field Engineer Squadron of the Canadian Army erected a large and very visible Canadian Flag on the peak just below the Mount Heinze Summit, above Upper Sunningdale, a subdivision of Trail, British Columbia – not far north of the Canada-US border.

As the Edmonton Journal aptly explained this past Wednesday: “Whether or not this country remains a monarchy, Canadians appreciate the need for an official, largely ceremonial national figure – the sort Americans lack – who serves as an embodiment of the nation’s best qualities and aspirations, untainted by the daily dross of partisan politics.”

In this spirit we offer at least one-and-a-half cheers for the installation of Governor General David Johnston today, and salute the departure of his predecessor, the excellent Michaelle Jean. And we underline our essential agreement with the broad thrust of the Vancouver Sun editorial yesterday: “New G-G has hard act to follow, but Jean’s term paves his way.”

We are restricting ourselves to just one-and-a-half cheers, of course, because we also agree with yesterday’s editorial in The Gateway – “the official student newspaper at the university of alberta,” headlined: “Monarchy shouldn’t be part of Canada’s political future.”

Democratically elected Members of Parliament with new Canadian flag during the flag debate, Ottawa, 1964. Courtesy NAC/PA-142624.

This does not mean that we want to get rid of the office of governor general. Again, see the apt Edmonton Journal editorial above, “Whether or not this country remains a monarchy,” etc, etc. We do resolutely believe, however, that the current selection method for the office must be democratically reformed, as soon as possible. This will pave the way for waving goodbye to the British monarchy in Canada at the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II (or even a bit before, for that matter?) – and having a more democratically selected governor general assume all of the role of the “largely ceremonial national figure … who serves as an embodiment of the nation’s best qualities and aspirations,” in theory as well as in practice.

(And for greater detail here see two particular posts on this website from earlier this year: “PM Harper’s new governor general shows office continues to evolve?” [Jul 8th, 2010] ; and “Electing governor general is only option that finally makes sense” [Apr 14th, 2010].)

Meanwhile, we’d like to note as well that there is an argument for continuing to call our official ceremonial head of state, in theory as well as practice, a governor general (as opposed to a president, say, or even something completely different), even after we at long last wave a decisive and absolutely postcolonial goodbye to the British monarchy in Canada.

A piano technician apparently called “canadagirl” celebrates her good feelings about the sovereign Canadian people, summer 2010. Far in the distance behind her is the Canadian Arctic coast.

On one ancient and altogether misconceived view, Canada must remain attached to the umbilical chord of the British monarchy forever. Otherwise it will just fall into the hands of the red republican United States of America. This obsolete Tory colonial boilerplate decrees – albeit on the basis of no evidence whatsoever – that a Canada without the British monarchy will simply become the 51st State of the Adjacent Union.

American states, as is widely known, even in Canada, are presided over by governors – a semantic legacy of the USA’s own colonial era, it would seem. And in this context yesterday Vanity Fair featured an interview with William Shatner – who, as some may remember, was frequently touted as Canada’s next governor general, until David Johnston got the official call from PM Harper.

In this feature (cleverly entitled “Question Time: William Shatner and Betty White Are Making a Sex Tape for A.A.R.P.”), interviewer Eric Spitznagel remarked to the born-in-Canada former Captain Kirk of the Starship Enterprise: “I recently learned that there’s a Facebook page devoted to getting you to run for governor.” Mr. Shatner deftly replied “A governor general. That’s far superior in prestige than just a mere governor.”

He is absolutely right, of course. And if we do call our new democratically selected head of state a governor general, once we have followed the advice of “the official student newspaper at the university of alberta,” and acted on the wise pronouncement that “Monarchy shouldn’t be part of Canada’s political future,” the title “governor general” will make it clear to citizens of the USA and everywhere else in the world that an altogether independent Canada is NOT the 51st State.

Elesia Turner flies Canadian flag at her home in Happy Adventure, on the east coast of Newfoundland and Labrador.

We are aware as well, we hasten to add, that continuing to call our new Canadian blue republican head of state a governor general would be anathema to some among our fellow Canadian republicans. And we are not suggesting that anything be cast in stone.

We do think, however, that the proposal makes a suitable way of offering our one-and-a-half cheers on the installation of what we also hope will prove to be the first and last governor general appointed by PM Harper. (Or any other mere prime minister of Canada, as opposed to the diverse and multicultural sovereign Canadian people of the 21st century, in both official languages, from coast to coast to coast – and including of course the Québécois nation in a united Canada, what the Constitution Act 1982 calls “the aboriginal peoples of Canada,” recent migrants from Casablanca, Old Mesopotamia, East St. Louis, and the Isle of Man, etc, etc, etc.)

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