Hurlabrick

Trudeau WILL however get hit by the door as she leaves - for rushing her appointment through without proper vetting. So who is next. Personally I would love to see Chris Hadfield in the job, but I suspect he would say no. One musical ex-astronaut to replace another musical ex-astronaut? Probably not!

caretaker

Peter Mansbridge doesn't need the money and Craig Oliver is too old; I like Measha Bruggergrosman, but she probably wouldn't like curtailing her career to take up diplomacy. That leaves Kevin Vickers, younger than me and takes his work seriously. He's been representing HRH in one form or another for most of his life already, and isn't going to embarrass anyone through lack of deportment.

Teaandtoday5

Pension of $150k a year for life? The older the better then.

caretaker

On the contrary, the longer it takes until we start paying it the better. Get Vickers now, get 15 or 20 years of stellar service then 5 or 6 of pension and a dandy funeral.

Teaandtoday5

I thought they did a five year term?

(love the dandy funeral concept though. Very Bridgerton.)

caretaker

Shit, I didn't know that, or about alternating between Anglo and French. There have been some really good Governors General in the past, so I hope the government does their due diligence in picking the next one.

scrubbedexpat091

Question should be why do they get a pension for such a short time in position?

If only us normal folk got such cushy pensions.


Why she was ever chosen is another question. A simple background and rederence check should have picked up her past behaviors in the workplace.

scilly

Yes ......... a 5 year term, which can be extended once only (so I believe).

Yes, they do usually alternate between Anglo and French since the Government has been responsible for choosing a new GG. The name is then submitted to the Queen for her "approval" ........... which has never so far been refused. In other words, her "approval" is a formality.

Julie Payette was born in Montreal, hence French-Canadian, and she succeeded an Anglo David Johnston who was born in (I think) Ontario. Before him was Michaelle Jean ...... who could forget her!

Julie Payette did seem to be a stellar choice, I know I silently cheered ......... a woman who had achieved all sorts of things.

I guess the problem was that Trudeau did not do his due diligence on her behaviour and rapport with ordinary mortals.

I've met some very brilliant people in my lifetime, and I suspect that she might be like a couple of those ................ a high achiever and perfectionist. The ones I knew could get very impatient with others who did not manage to do a job to the high standard that they expected.

It's called empathy!

caretaker

All she had to do in that job is follow the same instructions the old girlfriend gave me before her work Christmas party; show up on time, don't get drunk, don't insult anybody, and don't eat all the crab dip. If she was brilliant Payette wouldn't have screwed that up. I met a fellow at the party under the same rules as myself, and we drank and chatted right in front of the crab dip, and ate quite a bit of it.

scrubbedexpat091

Being brilliant or highly talented also doesn't excuse someone from treating others poorly, sure she may excel in her career, but that doesn't excuse her behavior.

scilly

No, it doesn't excuse her .................. except it is a little bit like being on the autism spectrum where the person just does not understand the niceties of social contact, although it is possible to teach those niceties, with a lot of patience.

Note that I am NOT saying she is on the spectrum in ant way, means or form, just that she just might not recognise how to behave to and with people.

I was pointing out that I had met very highly intelligent people who acted as she did.

OrangeMango

I would then guess that the next candidate for Governor General will be somebody form an Anglo background and possible male.

I've actually met Julie Payette once personally, in a totally different capacity than GG. I had come to know her also as a high achiever and a perfectionist and a specialist in her field, as you described. What I also noticed about her is she was often pushing others in front of several others on certain knowledge she expected others to have, even though these matters were not within their professional expertise and she had surprisingly absolutely no feeling for that. For somebody having spent some time on the space station I would have expected more interpersonal skills, but that's more my opinion based on my observations. That behaviour portrayed rang some bells when I've red the reports of the accusations against her. The rest I certainly can't comment on, but some things she was accused off sounded as if it had some truth to it.

As much as I value her scientific work, I think in the end it was a personality issue. As a GG I would rather have picked somebody with a background in law than a scientist.

scilly

Next GG ................. Anglo yes, male not necessarily.

The GG before Michaelle Jean was Adrienne Clarkson, born in Hong Kong, and brought to Canada as a child.

Of interest ............ the first female GG was Jeanne Sauve, mid-80s to ca 1990 if I remember correctly. She had achieved all other sorts of "firsts" in her career.

The first Canadian GG was Vincent Massey back in the early 1950s.


I personally like the idea of Chris Hadfield ........ apart from being female , he ticks all kinds of boxes, including seeming to be very empathetic

Jody Wilson-Raybould???? First First Nations woman, empathetic, understanding. But??????

Retired Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin ............ now she'd be great!!!


Note:-........... your experience with Julie Payette seems to be very similar to my experiences with super-intelligent people. Basically some of them seem unable to understand others, or to have any empathy with someone struggling.

OrangeMango

It may also have been the people Julie Payette was working with, or "had to work with" and what kind of level of knowledge they had and how they felt and not Her Excellency. After all, she wasn't working in a scientific community any more and probably not everyone she was working with was a well rounded individual..... I also had the experience in Canada that the "I am offended culture" is often a bit too much and the one who raises that subject first, has automatically the right of way......

Chris Hadfield will probably be a good and interesting choice. However I do have hesitations for any scientist, physician or any kind of technical engineer to take that role. I'd prefer somebody with a legal background as it's probably more fitting for the role. Scientists, physicians or technical engineers are meant to be in a different field, it'll be a waste of their talent, I think.

caretaker

We don't need an astronaut or a lawyer for a largely ceremonial position. My vote goes with recently retired journalists and newscasters, and maybe the occasional ex-ambassador, used to moving in a variety of social circles, world-wise and able to interact with everyone. I've known quite a few media people, and you might meet the odd producer who's a bitch nasty, but never a nasty news anchor.
Mistakes have been made appointing undeserving people to the Senate, so getting one bad GG was probably to be expected.