I’m a bit more idealistic about the role of the Governor General. She does represent the Queen and is appointed on the advice of the Prime MInister, but I don’t think she answers to the PM. That position has largely been ceremonial and apolitical in the past, but I think that was mostly because we didn’t have anything to complain about. Now that we do, her role is to act within the principles of parliamentary democracy and responsible government. She serves as a guarantor of continuous and STABLE (emphasis mine) governance and as a nonpartisan safeguard against the abuse of power.
The Earl of Dufferin stated that the Governor General is “A representative of all that is august, stable, and sedate in the government, the history, and the traditions of the country; incapable of partizanship (sic), and lifted far above the atmosphere of faction; without adherents to reward or opponents to oust from office; docile to the suggestions of his Ministers, and yet securing to the people the certainty of being able to get rid of an Administration or Parliament the moment either had forfeited their confidence.”[
I hope all of that is true or free Canada ends. I trust the GG to take her role seriously and to protect Canadians’ Charter rights if enough of us say they’ve been violated.
Our Senate is unelected and mostly useless.
Adrienne Clarkson.