As Canada gets a new governor general on June 8, a look back at Julie Payette's disastrous term
Despite controversy over outgoing Governor General Mary Simon's French-language skills, no one can deny that she's been nothing but dignified and committed to her role as the King's representative in Canada.
Has she been exciting? No, not really. Showy? No, not really. (Is that her role, though?) But sometimes that's perfectly OK to be a bit bland-yet-dependable - especially after the disastrous term of her predecessor - Julie Payette. Remember her? Payette's "reign of terror" was so bad that I started hearing jokes about her temper. "And then he went completely Julie Payette on us!" That was not a good sign - especially when a governor general is supposed to be - above else - dignified.
This article is a fascinating look back at her term and how it affected her. Let's just say, she's not exactly gotten over the fact that she was fired very publicly.
Article excerpt: "It should not have ended this way. It should have ended with a national celebration of an amazing, vibrant, and still young woman who managed to surmount all the challenges in a mostly male world; who managed to storm through a mostly male engineering school right up to the day she graduated summa cum laude; who managed to get through mostly male selection and training at the Canadian Space Agency; and ultimately, who managed two trips to outer space with mostly American male crews at NASA. As if all that were not enough, she also managed to crown this extraordinary record by being appointed governor general, the highest and noblest position Canada has to offer its most outstanding citizens.
Instead, it ended in national obloquy and left bitter feelings on all sides, which have yet to heal. On all sides. In effect, Julie Payette was forced out of high office before her term was over, having suffered all the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, as well as some undeniably self-inflicted wounds. After she severely irritated senior officials in the Privy Council Office who should have been her stout defenders, after she alienated more than a dozen institutions that looked to her office for moral and honorific support, after she reputedly bullied her own staff to a level of toxicity unprecedented in the history of the office, she more or less served herself up to a united and censorious media."
It's difficult to feel sorry for Canada's version of Marie Antoinette. Payette was completely void of humility and the ability to "suffer fools below her status", so speak. No one cried when she left. In fact, just writing about her stresses me out again. She was thoroughly unsuited to the job. This is a reminder that people who look good on paper are not always a good choice in real life.
While I did feel sorry for her a couple of times while the reading the article, I still ended it with a very real sentiment of "Good riddance!"
Read: Julie Payette’s disastrous reign as governor general: "Act of perpetual petulance".
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