U of Waterloo president will be Canada’s next governor-general

[CHIMO]

The new Governor-General of Canada will be David Johnston, the current president of the University of Waterloo, The Globe and Mail has confirmed.

The academic, known and respected for his legal expertise, will replace Michaëlle Jean when her term ends in September.

The Queen has already given her blessing on the new appointment, presumably during her visit to Canada, a report from CTV said, and an official announcement could come as early as Thursday.

Mr. Johnston had long been rumoured to be a top candidate for the position, which has been held by two female broadcast journalists for the most recent terms.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/u-of-waterloo-president-will-be-canadas-next-governor-general/article1632368/

[EmilyKent]

1. Pale, stale, male.

A return to the fifties. That's all I've heard.

[HEyHEY]

2. Yeah, heaven forbid a guy who's worked hard all his life and is a decent person

Get chosen to represent our nation.

[EmilyKent]

3. Most Canadians are like that,

no matter their gender or ancestry.

[HEyHEY]

4. then why do you want to deny someone the job based on their gender and ethnicity?

[EmilyKent]

5. 28 GGs since Confederation.

Only 3 of them female or people of colour.

Then Canada is back to the same old thing. It's all I heard today.

What, again?

[HEyHEY]

7. Are we striving for a meritocracy without racism or not?

Ditch this kind of thinking. It holds the country back. There's no need for it anymore. 20 years ago, sure. I'd be all for it. But now it's done its job.

[EmilyKent]

10. Mr Johnston has no particular merit,

other than being white and male.

[HEyHEY]

13. Or being a judge, a professor, yeah what a loser he is. Lazy slacker for sure

And what "merit" did the others have? Being famous?

If Johnston was an ex-judge, and professor but not a white man I have a feeling you'd be singing a different tune. Bigotry is bigotry, no matter who is engaged in it.

[EmilyKent]

14. Johnston has no particular merit.

Unless you consider getting Mulroney off...merit.

[HEyHEY]

15. Just cause you keep saying it, doesn't make it true.

[HEyHEY]

16. How about this

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/07/09/tories-new-senator-ataullahjan.html

Oh a realtor and ex con candidate... but hey! Fits the ethnic bill! Boy what merit a real estate agent. What a joke of an appointment.

[IntravenousDemilo]

17. Plus

It fits the gender bill. Two birds with one stone.

[EmilyKent]

18. That doesn't make the GG appointment any better.

In fact he's being blamed for letting Mulroney off the hook.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Opinion/1191305.html

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/spector-vision/thanks-to-dr-johnston-airbus-became-airbust/article1633846/

[HEyHEY]

19. I'm well aware of his blame for mulroney

However, some would say that doesn't matter because he was interpreting the law.... which was his job as a judge.

[HEyHEY]

20. I'm well aware of his blame for mulroney

However, some would say that doesn't matter because he was interpreting the law.... which was his job as a judge.

[EmilyKent]

21. And some would say it's a pay-off.

[HEyHEY]

24. In my experience, many who accuse judges of such things don't know what they're talking about.

[EmilyKent]

25. He's not a judge.

He's not a constitutional expert either.

[Toilet]

26. Racist. bigotted, ignorant

But you probably don't see that.

[IntravenousDemilo]

6. This appointment, surprisingly, does not suck. n/m

[HEyHEY]

8. Hey man!

Good to see you!

[IntravenousDemilo]

9. You too, bud!

Downtown T.O. was interesting a couple of weeks ago. I half expected to see you.

[daleo]

11. I don't like the choice

The narrow focus he recommended for the Mulroney inquiry makes it a bad choice. It looks too much like a reward for getting Harper/Mulroney/Conservatives off the hook, and it will make his decisions as a GG suspect. Of course there will be a big taboo against stating these obvious facts (but see Norman Spector's and Rick Salutin's pieces in today's G&M).

[Spazito]

12. That's my take as well...

He is well established in Conservative circles, I believe, and here is an interesting take, written before the announcement:

Travers: Mulroney inquiry link could hinder GG contender
David Johnston's hopesDavid Johnston may fit the criteria, but his appointment would be a needless risk

Only in this capital where everything connects could Brian Mulroney’s grubby business dealings intersect with the search for a new Governor General. In a strange-as-fiction twist, the man who kept the Airbus scandal out of the Oliphant inquiry is a contender for the country’s most prestigious post.

snip

Johnston fits snugly with Harper’s criteria for Canada’s next de-facto head of state. Male, a fluently bilingual Anglophone and politically savvy without being overtly partisan, Johnston satisfies conditions defined for blue ribbon panelists by Guy Giorno, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff.

But Johnston comes with a caveat. The inquiry he so significantly shaped passed other tests important to the Prime Minister. Barred from examining what Johnston dismissed as the “well-tilled ground” of Air Canada’s 1988 Airbus purchase, Oliphant could only add explanatory detail and damning conclusions to what was mostly known about Mulroney’s links to Schreiber, now jailed in Germany.

snip

That anger, coupled with the already controversial choice to keep the inquiry at arms-length from the Airbus scandal, could well keep Johnston out of final contention for Jean’s job. A Prime Minister looking for a Governor General to be, among other things, a credible constitutional referee would take a needless risk naming someone who has already made a contentious decision that, fairly or not, is widely seen as tilting in Harper’s favour.

more

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/818273--travers-mulroney-inquiry-link-could-hinder-gg-contender-david-johnston-s-hopes?bn=1

"A Prime Minister looking for a Governor General to be, among other things, a credible constitutional referee would take a needless risk naming someone who has already made a contentious decision that, fairly or not, is widely seen as tilting in Harper’s favour."

Precisely why Mr. Johnston is being rewarded for a 'job well done', imo

[daleo]

22. I am surprised that Johnson took the job

Considering the obvious conflict of interest. You would think he would have cared more about the downside to his reputation. But people are funny, and some people just can't resist a (presumed) high status appointment, even if it puts their integrity in question.

I predict that it won't be long before Mulroney claims that this vindicates him in regards to Airbus. The status quo media will go along, and the rest of us will shake our heads. It's like the claim that Ford's pardon of Nixon put the Americans' long national nightmare behind them. All it really did was prove that the upper class was above the law. Same thing here.

[Spazito]

23. Yep, I also think his accepting of this appointment given his previous work...

for the harper government indicates to me a question as to his integrity over all. I would love to be proven wrong but, unless Harper, again, prorogues Parliament in order to avoid the democratic process and Johnston refuses to go along, I will continue to believe his appointments was payment by Harper for 'a job well done' in protecting his government and Mulroney.

It is disappointing but not at all a surprise, sadly.