The Legislature Raids

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By BC Mary
4 June 2011

Go ahead. Call me old-fashioned.

At first, I never quite knew what to think of our latest governor-general (David Johnston), especially in comparison to the lady he replaced. Michaelle Jean was a class act. Didn't need interpretation. Easy enough to see that she gladly represented us ... all of us ... and that she wanted the best for us, and would try to make it so ... with that one, unnerving exception when we desperately needed the Queen's representative to stop Harper ... and instead, she listened to the wrong advisors, and let Harper cancel Parliament rather than answer the people's questions. 

But, fair enough after two terms for Jean, it was time for a new governor general. I was pretty much OK with that, except for thinking that Jean might've taken that episode to heart, and would do an even better job as Governor General with an extended term of office. But no. Too late ... the prime minister had someone else in mind.

So up pops David Johnston. And I can't say I've paid much attention to David Johnston until recently. After the recent federal election, to be exact. And here's where things get old-fashioned. I figure it's quaintly OK to have Queen Elizabeth as the head of government as long as she remains absolutely clear of political favouritism. She's done pretty well on that, so far. But there was a nasty incident in Australia when a reigning governor-general scooped an elected prime minister (Gough Whitlam) and replaced him with a man who had "the right stuff". The facts gradually came out, over the decades ...

But this new dude of ours (David Johnston), I could see him doing quite the opposite: keeping a prime minister when the citizens are screaming for help. Why do I think this?

Well, the new governor-general (David Johnston) gave the game away at the swearing in of Stephen Harper's new Cabinet.

At the swearing-in, the whole Harper Gang was at Rideau Hall, official residence of the Queen's Representative in Canada. Seated, row upon row, they awaited the semi-royal personage (David Johnston) and Harper.

Do you remember the part where Himself and that other fellow (Stephen Harper) were shown on TV news as they walked toward the seated mob of new Reform/Alliance/CPC Cabinet Ministers?

Shoulder to shoulder, the two men  marched across the carpet. Then all of a sudden, our Governor-General, absolutely  bursting with joy, raised his arms above his head, clenched his two hands vigorously together ... brandished them ... thus greeting the large new Harper Cabinet with the sign of victory! With the beaming approval of the dude at his side.

Sheesh.

The official representative of our carefully non-political Queen Elizabeth -- our "Man of Steel" -- was using the universally-understood signal to declare before the world that "WE WON!" The WE meaning Harper's Gang. Our new Governor General (David Johnston) was confirming, with that Victory sign, that he was Harper's man. That the Harper Gang is comprised of "the right stuff" while the rest of us, apparently, are not and never will be. "You bastard!" I decided.

It doesn't surprise me one bit, that the hotel where I am staying, which calls itself "Grand", is so old-fashioned that it spreads around free copies of Reader's Digest. What's worse, people actually read them. This morning, I was walking past a small lounge when I saw a picture of Himself (David Johnston) on the cover of an old Reader's Disgust for November 2010; the story was: "Canada's Man of Steel."  With the divisive sub-title, "Why David Johnston, our new Governor General, has the right stuff." It should be HERE but it isn't.

The right stuff? Written by Wah Keung Chan.  In my mind's eye, I could see that Victory Salute again. "We won!"

Call me old-fashioned, but I think that was a disgraceful moment in Canadian history ... as Himself (David Johnston) with Harper at his side, declared "WE won!"

It's not as if the whole country approves of Harper's agenda. Read about that HERE.

http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/stop-harper-placard-gets-senate-page-turfed-from-throne-speech/article2046548/?service=mobile

I picked up that old Reader's Digest and read the story a couple of times. No mention of His (David Johnston's) huge mistake in cheering Harper's team on. Even though the Governor-General is not supposed to be cheering ANY faction on, much less deciding which team was "right" and which team is "wrong".

Wah Keung Chan created a beautiful story about David Johnston, a renowned story-teller, a star HOCKEY player, who even married his "childhood sweetheart" after, of course, sending her a rose every day for a year ... after which... well, never mind. Let Reader's Digest tell the story. Only ha ha! good joke on us ... you can't do that on-line. If you're made of "the right stuff" you'll buy a subscription.

The hard copy says nothing whatever about Johnston's cozy relationship with Stephen Harper. I thought I'd look up the original story under its Reader's Digest headline for November 2010 ... but guess what? No chance. "Page overboard" they say coyly.

Instead, they offer other tantalizing stories such as "5 things you can do with steel wool".  Call me old-fashioned, but I could suggest a 6th thing they should do with steel wool.