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August 16, 2005

Governor General Disarray

Peter Worthington needs an editor in the worst possible way:

Will our new governor general refer to herself as the army's "commander-in-chief?

For many, Adrienne Clarkson's habit of referring to herself as "commander-in-chief" of our military was irritating and silly.

Soldiers tended to raise an eyebrow when they heard it and smiled knowingly.

Few of our past GGs -- not Field Marshal Lord Alexander, nor Maj.-Gen. Georges Vanier, nor Roland Michener, nor their successors -- exploited the title, though technically they were entitled to.

Think of how much more irritating it will be if our new Haitian-born GG, who is also a citizen of France, uses that pretentious title.

Ick. Sorry, but of all the reasons to dislike this appointment, the fact that she was born in Haiti really shouldn't be one of them. Judge her unfairly if you must — everyone else certainly is — but at least judge her, and not the perennial basketcase whence she came. The "the GG should be a full-blooded Canadian" ship sailed with Adrienne Clarkson's appointment, I'm afraid, so why exactly would Jean's background make anything about her more or less irritating to Peter Worthington than her predecessor?

Worthington offers no clue (I'd wish for a clarification, but that's not exactly Worthington's forté), which is a shame because he makes some very reasonable points elsewhere in his column:

Some Conservative MPs (who should know better) want assurances from Madame Jean that in past elections and referenda she didn't vote separatist.

What relevance would such assurances have?

It's no one's business how she voted, especially since there's no way of knowing, short of a polygraph test, if she'd tell the truth. The suggestion itself is insulting.

Right, and if she really is the devious separatist she's being made out to be by, um, devious separatists, then I don't imagine she'd be above lying about it.

That said, let me just clarify my position: if Michaëlle Jean is a separatist, then she should not be Governor General. And Paul Martin, furthermore, should not be Prime Minister. The fact that Jean-Daniel Lafond almost certainly is a separatist might itself be enough to tip me towards the "nay" side, but this "smoking gun" clip from CTV News that everyone from Bourque to Levant (watch the clip and note his misleading description) is howling at the moon about isn't half of what it's cracked up to be. It's definitely something, though, and not an altogether pleasant something — Calgary Grit sums it up nicely. I wouldn't trust the current PMO's due diligence on a new flavour of potato chips, so I'm more than willing to believe they completely buggered this up.

On the other hand, Bourque reports that Stephen Harper is breaking his relative silence on this, and it occurs to me just now that this is guaranteed to go badly for him. It could very well play right into the anti-immigrant, anti-woman, anti-francophone image that his party has been trying to shake, and Harper's advisors clearly don't have the guile to steer him away from such missteps. It seems unlikely that this whole thing was a Liberal ploy, but you just never know. That's the great thing about the Grits: they might be smart, they might be stupid, or they might actually be both at the same time.

(Note to barflies: unless my eyes deceive me, the scene of the now-infamous group chinstroke featured on the CTV clip is rue St-Denis' inimitable Quai des Brûmes. They may want to tear my country apart, but at least Quebec's leading intellectuals have good taste in watering holes.)

Posted by Chris Selley at August 16, 2005 09:27 PM

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Comments

Posted by: Anonymous at August 16, 2005 09:13 PM

Posted by: Sean at August 17, 2005 04:17 AM

Posted by: ed at August 17, 2005 09:59 AM