Reply #17: (Haiti-born) Jean called 'inspired choice' for governor general (Canada) [View All]

[iverglas]

(Explanatory parentheses added in the subject line for anyone not familiar with CBC Newsworld's "Passionate Eye" documentary series, of which Michaelle Jean is currently the host.)

This is the woman who will be
Canada's formal counterpart to the President of the US.

(She'll be in office for five years, so we can expect her to be the first head of state to greet your new Democratic president, when the victor in 2008 remembers his/her country's manners, after an 8-year lapse into rudeness, and pays a formal courtesy call on Canada right after getting elected.)

CBC: Jean called 'inspired choice' for governor general

Michaelle Jean will be Canada's next governor general. The official announcement will be made by Prime Minister Paul Martin at 11 a.m. ET on Thursday.

At just 48 years old, the award winning journalist will become one of the youngest governors general ever, the third woman in the job and the first black person to call Rideau Hall home.

... Historian David Mitchell says Jean will play an important role, at a critical time in Canada's history. "She will be a voice for Canada in Quebec and she will represent the new Quebec to the rest of Canada very effectively. She has that potential and that sense, this is an inspired choice."

Jean was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. She left in 1968, her family fleeing the oppressive regime of Francois 'Papa Doc' Duvalier, settling in Quebec with her family. She is fluent in five languages: French, English, Spanish, Italian and Haitian Creole.

The retiring Governor General of Canada is Adrienne Clarkson, also a former CBC journalist, who was born in Hong Kong and also came to Canada as a refugee, during WWII.

(She's the one in the middle ;) Her husband, John Raulston Saul on the right, is a writer who does a decent Prince Philip.)

Prior to her, GGs have been old politicians who had achieved some statesman/woman ... or hack ... status.
In brief:

Under the 1982 Constitution of Canada -- written in Canada -- the British monarch is the head of state of Canada. The Governor General is, formally, appointed by the Queen, but on the "recommendation" (i.e. orders) of the Prime Minister. It is essentially a figurehead position with formal/ceremonial functions.

The Queen's executive functions in government are, technically, performed by "the Governor in Council" -- the Governor General and the federal cabinet, consisting of the Prime Minister and the ministers appointed by him/her -- all of whom, like the PM, are elected members of Parliament. (The Queen plays no role whatsoever in the governing of Canada.)

In practice, this means that legislation is passed by the House of Commons and the Senate, and then signed into law as a pure formality by the Governor General, who acts "on the advice" of the PM; the formality is also carried out when the government calls an election. The last time a Commonwealth Governor General took matters into his/her own hands was in Australia in 1975
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_constitutional_crisis_of_1975
and it ain't likely to happen again in any near future. The only time anything similar happened in Canada was in 1926, in the "King-Byng affair". Both instances involved the GG replacing minority governments with the opposition rather than calling or consenting to an election. Background for anyone curious:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/governorgeneral/

More bio info about Michaelle Jean (pronounced mee'-khile zhahn ... let's all imagine George saying it now):
http://www.cbc.ca/programguide/personality/index.jsp?personality=Jean%2C+Michaelle&program=Passionate+Eye

Among her many awards: the Amnesty International Journalism Award in 1995 for a 15-part series on women; the 1994 Anik Prize for information reporting and the 2000 Galaxi Award for best information program host. Jean has also worked with renowned filmmaker Jean-Daniel Lafond to produce three independent documentaries: L'heure de Cuba (1999), about the 40th anniversary of the Cuban revolution, Tropique Nord (1994) about being black in Quebec and the Hot Docs award-winning Haiti dans tous nos rêves (1995).

One thing that might be hoped is that Canada will kind of have to step up to the plate on Haiti now, or look rather oddly hypocritical. Like Miss Universe, the GG tends to have pet projects and target audiences. I look forward to Jean's agenda.

She gets my vote.