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The Hnatyshyn Years
by Garry Toffoli, Associate Editor, Monarchy Canada

On February 8th Ramon Hnatyshyn ended his five year service as the Queen�s Representative for Canada. Over those years Monarchy Canada and its editors publicly defended the Governor-General (to the approval and sometimes at the request of his officials) when he was in the right. An example was the unfair and unjustified attack by the Reform Party on His Excellency�s salary and tax status. We also criticised His Excellency (to the chagrin and objection of the same officials) when he was wrong. His agreeing to attend the D-Day anniversary celebrations, usurping the place of the Queen, when he should have refused provided such a situation.

Rideau Hall

Perhaps the best place to start an overall assessment of the Hnatyshyn years is at the end. On January 21st I attended a Government House reception launching a new book on Rideau Hall entitled Rideau Hall: Canada�s Living History, written by Mrs Gerda Hnatyshyn and Paulette La Chapelle-Belisle. The book is an exquisite table-top production filled with colour photographs of the various rooms and artifacts which express Canada�s heritage at Ottawa�s regal and viceregal residence. (The next Monarchy Canada will include a full review of the book.)"The reception was held in the Long Gallery, which has been restored to its earlier Chinese decor. This decor reflects both the future of Canada as a Pacific Rim country, as one aide explained, as well as the 1920s era of the Willingdons who first gave it that look. It is now also a far more beautiful room than it was. "It is appropriate to start an assessment with this last event because it is concerning Government House that Ramon Hnatyshyn�s legacy will be felt. A legacy the importance of which is not insignificant."Soon after taking office in 1990 the Governor-General re-opened the grounds of Government House to the public. It was an important gesture. The grounds had been closed by Jeanne Sauv�. Her act would have been comparable to a decision by the Queen to close off the Mall, St James�s Park and Green Park, all of which constitute the equivalent Palace grounds in London. Along the same lines His Excellency established the Governor-General�s Summer Concert Series, reopened the historic skating rink to the public, expanded the programmes of guided tours of Rideau Hall and those of outdoor walking tours. These all brought our royal heritage closer to the people."Government House was also improved under the Hnatyshyns. In addition to the previously mentioned changes to the Long Gallery, the Hnatyshyns generally re-furbished the interior of Rideau Hall. Mrs Hnatyshyn established the Friends of Rideau Hall as a fund-raising entity to generate financial donations and gifts of furnishings to the residence. A new Heritage Garden has been planned for the grounds and four stained glass windows were installed marking the 40th anniversary of the Queen�s Accession, the 40th anniversary of the appointment of Canadian-born Governors-General, the performing arts and the Governor-General�s Performing Arts Awards.

Mr Hnatyshyn also maintained a programme of public engagements more extensive than his immediate predecessor, which he carried out with more warmth and sincerity than Mrs Sauv� ever managed.

In many respects therefore the Hnatyshyns have departed from Ottawa leaving a well-earned favourable image in the memory of Canadians. It is when one moves beyond the domestic life of Rideau Hall and the day-to-day social and �good news� stories, important though they are, that the Hnatyshyn record becomes murky.

The Roles of A Governor-General

A Government House fact sheet, summarising Mr Hnatyshyn�s accomplishments, listed five duties for the Governor-General: to carry out the responsibilities of the Queen�s representative, to act as Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian Forces, to honour excellence and achievement in a variety of fields, to promote national identity and unity, to reinforce Canadian values.

In fact the last four are all sub-headings of the first: being the Queen�s Representative. Honours, for example, are gven by the Governor-General as the Queen�s Representative not as an independent exercise. That Government House could consider these as separate roles captures the whole problem with the office today.

Mr Hnatyshyn did not create this situation, he inherited it and is not to blame for it. He even made some minor improvements. But he did nothing substantial to rectify what was self-evidently wrong to any Canadian with respect for Canada�s Queen and form of government.

While Mr Hnatyshyn was in office the Queen�s cypher did not reappear at Government House, the Governor-General still spoke of representing the people of Canada rather than the Queen of Canada, and the Queen was still treated as the international rather than the national element of the Canadian Monarchy, as a visitor to Canada rather than a part of Canada. The excessive emphasis on Canadian-born Governors-General I have always found more than slightly offensive. It contains an implicit critique of our Royal Family which is not Canadian-born, and an explicit statement that Canadian-born is better than immigrant, something which is inappropriate for a country to which immigrants have been so important. While being the Queen�s Representative is the first role of a Governor-General, there is another and only one other role. That second role is to be the Queen�s Champion. The notion that because a Governor-General, like the Queen, is politically non-partisan he must be neutral in the battle between monarchists and republicans is as nonsensical as suggesting that a non-partisan judge or human rights commissioner should be non-partisan between justice and crime or rights and racism respectively, or that the Governor-General should be neutral between Canadian unity and separatism. Mr Hnatyshyn�s public statements avoided any mention of the virtues of monarchy over republicanism. Regardless of his personal beliefs, he presented himself as a neutral.

During Mr Hnatyshyn�s years the Royal Family was also under unprecedented personal attack. Whatever their faults, all members of the family, especially the Prince of Wales, have served Canadians dutifully and they deserve open support. They received much from ordinary Canadian monarchists. A spirited public defence by the Governor-General would have been of great help. It did not occur.

Vincent Massey was a Queen�s Champion, Lincoln Alexander has been too, as are Hal Jackman and David Lam, to name but a few viceroys. When he took office Mr Hnatyshyn had a choice of models. The older, yet more progressive, model was Vincent Massey, a truly great Canadian who said "During my time in office everything possible was done to bring home the position of the Queen in the life of Canada". The more recent model was Mr Hnatyshyn�s immediate predecessor, the republican Jeanne Sauv� who said, "Mais absolument, on devrait abolir la monarchie au Canada!" ("But absolutely, the Monarchy must be abolished in Canada!")

Mr Hnatyshyn's Choice

The hard choice was to reassert the Massey model. It would have required courage, determination and a will to assert leadership. But it was the right choice. The easy choice was the wrong choice: to follow Mrs Sauv�s model because it was in place and could be accepted by default. With only minor alterations to the model, and apparently despite his personal belief in monarchy, Mr Hnatyshyn made the easy choice. He allowed the destructive policies of Mrs Sauv� to continue.

Loyalty begets loyalty. The lack of enthusiasm for defending the rights and person of the Queen meant that there were few defenders of the Governor-General, and even fewer enthusiastic ones, when criticism of his finances and travel habits or his general performance surfaced.

I believe Mr Hnatyshyn is a good man. And he probably is a monarchist in principle. But evil flourishes when good men do nothing. I fear he did little in the battle against the evils of republicanism, when the challenge faced him and the opportunity was given him. In 1990 Canada and the Monarchy needed another Vincent Massey. Ramon Hnatyshyn was not a Vincent Massey. In a different time it might not have mattered. In 1990 it did matter. As a result not only the Canadian Monarchy but Canada itself is the poorer. Mr Hnatyshyn�s governor-generalship will be judged at best as functionally adequate and the past half-decade will be remembered as an opportunity lost.

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