Great Britannia, Britannia rule the world

A comment on the article in "Globe and Mail" on the inauguration plans of Governor-General to be, David Johnston

Check out this Globe and Mail article "New governor-general plans ‘highly symbolic’ swearing in" at http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/new-governor-general-plans-highly-symbolic-swearing-in/article1728399/?service=email&utm_source=Shared+Article+Sent+to+User&utm_medium=E-mail%3A+Newsletters+%2F+E-Blasts+%2F+etc.&utm_content=1728399&utm_campaign=Shared+Web+Article+Links.


The Governor General has a merely representative function, he nevertheless has the power to form governments (the last Governor General, Michaelle Jean, supported Stephen Harper´s minority government by preventing a liberal-NDP coalition) signs new laws and has the power to support or contradict the Prime Minister´s politics. The nomination of David Johnston caused rumors and criticism that the Governor General will be less neutral but more openly supportive of the Prime Minister´s equally often criticized style of governing. Additionally, his support for the cause of Canada´s war veterans is not in every Canadian´s favor and i another sign that he will interpret his role more conservatively.

After former General Governor Michaelle Jean his nomination indeed seems to be some sort of role-back in good old times. Users on www.globeandmail.ca describe him as "angry white old man". Whether he is angry or not only people who have met him might be able to decide, whereas he is, quite obviously an old white man. he is the first General Governor in a few years, yes decades that has not come from a minority background and is not a woman. Well, one can say, still nothing the matter with nominating a white man for the change. In a functioning democracy like Canada is one, he should be able and willing to represent the rest of the country´s population as well. That he is an old man might justify, with all due respect, a bit more concern. Michaelle Jean has represented a modern approach to politics and life, whether it was by being a role-model with her own lifestyle, her active agenda to empower young women, especially from migration backgrounds or her emotional and touching way of speaking and leading, that brought people a bit closer to that far-a-way political scene in Ottawa. Old man Johnston has to prove that he can do likewise. His own arrangement of the inaugural ceremony might lead to the assumption that he thinks he is already a tiny bit to big for his new office. The office itself has been questioned often enough in the past, especially by younger and more open-minded Canadians who see it as an anachronistic legacy from the times when monarchy ruled the world. The same voices know speak up against his addition of new and personal twists to the swearing-in-ceremony, seeing it as a sign of arrogance and overestimation of one´s own person. Maybe a bit more modesty would have been a better start, stick through the ceremony the way it is, one wants to say. It would have enhanced people´s acceptance of Canada´s unique constitutional extra in times when people sometimes have a hard time liking politicians and democracy anyway.