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Former Astronaut Julie Payette To Be Canada's Next Governor General (www.cbc.ca)
MightyMartian shares a report from CBC.ca: Former astronaut Julie Payette will be the Queen's new representative in Canada, CBC News has confirmed. The 53-year-old Montrealer, who speaks six languages, will be named the 29th governor general, a position that comes with a $290,660 annual salary and an official residence at Rideau Hall. Payette, who is also an accomplished athlete, pianist and choral singer, will succeed outgoing Gov. Gen. David Johnston. A computer engineer with a commercial pilot license, Payette was picked from among 5,330 applicants in 1992 to be one of four new astronauts with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). She participated in two space flights to the International Space Station and served as the CSA's chief astronaut between 2000 and 2007.
MightyMartian adds: "I defy anyone else to find a head of state who is an astronaut!"
MightyMartian adds: "I defy anyone else to find a head of state who is an astronaut!"
Follow the money.
That must be nice.
is not "a head of state"
I'm not here to disparage the person's achievements.
I'm here to be sad about the term "astronaut" being watered down to include people who haven't even left the atmosphere. The ISS is only 400 km up, still well within the thermosphere.
We used to send people to space!
i can use maple syrup for lube and no one cares. in fact, when it happens my neighbors bring tim hortons.
"Astronaut" is a ceremonial position, she'll be a shoo-in for the job.
Julie Payette is a high-quality person and I applaud her transparency. ;)
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state, not her Governor General
Be relentless!
It's been awhile since I've seen someone get so angry defending the global warming lie. MightyMartian is incredibly aggressive and is a total piece of shit. It is a fact that humans have virtually no effect on climate, but he aggressively believes otherwise. The atmosphere doesn't care about MightyMartian's investments or his political positions. Global warming is a hoax. Period. End of motherfucking discussion.
Whatever. How big are her jugs?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Does that count?
The Queens representative in our western most province just made a decision on who should be able to form the government there. There was also the case a few years back where our minister of defense admitted to a war crime* in the in the house of commons and the prime minister asked the Governor General to prorogued parliament so that the senate inquiry into his actions would die (er so we could watch the winter Olympics, I think was the prime ministers excuse). I think the Governor General got that one wrong but at least we have a mechanism to solve parliamentary issues that only takes a single day. Having the government paralyzed for weeks waiting for a decision is worse.
*Canadian soldiers had handed over prisoners of war to American and Afghan forces without getting guarantees that they would not be miss treated. It' not just that they were subsequently mistreated it's the fact that we didn't take reasonable steps to ensure they were not that is a crime.
My congratulations to Julie Payette on her appointment to her new post. Bear in mind she isn't the first Canadian astronaut to assume a role as a senior government official, either.
Since 2015, former astronaut Marc Garneau has served as the federal Minister of Transportation--which seems just a little bit on the nose.
(That compares rather favorably, incidentally, to the 1995 appointment of Al Palladini - a used-car salesman - to serve as Ontario's Minister of Transportation...)
~Idarubicin
Well may we say God Save the Queen (pause) because nothing will save the Governor-General...
Anyone from a constitutional monarchy with QE2 knows damn well that her Majesty's representativies, the governors general, are not the Heads Of State.
Really. What has happened to Slashdot??
What exceptional talents or skills merit this adoration? They are ballast strapped to a seat in a rocket. If we are celebrating their "bravery" then shouldn't we instead honor the bravery of the first ones to go into space and prove it was safe: the dogs and monkeys with "the right stuff"?
Obviously the real accomplishment is due to the engineers who made it happen and sweated out every detail in design and test and every second in mission control. These people remain largely unknown. Instead society rewards busy body attention seekers who contribute little or nothing to the mission. This government sinecure sounds like a perfect fit for an astronaut: an important sounding administrative title and the chance to bask in the glory of other people's work.
Disclaimer: The preceding rant excludes astronauts with real science and engineering pedigrees who contribute real science and engineering work during and after their time in the space can.
> Former astronaut Julie Payette will be the Queen's new representative in Canada, CBC News has confirmed.
Wow. An astronaut
> The 53-year-old Montrealer, who speaks six languages,
Six? She has some smarts on top of the astronaut
> Payette, who is also an accomplished athlete, pianist and choral singer
What? No. Now this isn't fair. I guess, if I work a bit harder I could...ok, a LOT harder, I could,....
> A computer engineer with a commercial pilot license,
No. No no no no no.
She makes me look like I didn't even try at life.
Recycle PCs and build a wireless community network www.hillsborough.org.nz
I, for one, welcome our new celestial Overlord^H^H^H^Hlady. Someone that isn't there as a token female, but someone that has actually done something and every Canadian can be proud to call their Governor General. Hopefully that spirit of accomplishment inclusion will remain, the opposite of an 'activist' type person that does what they do for a club they themselves are a member of.
When the copyright term is "forever minus a day", live every day like it's the last.
fuck the fucking queen if we are paying this from taxes.
fucking rediculous, if she wants a representative she should fucking pay for it...
Since Trudeau is a space cadet.
""I defy anyone else to find a head of state who is an astronaut!"
probably already been said, but Trump's a fucking space cadet if ever there was one.
It's always funny to read Americans stumbling over a parliamentary system description and thinking it overcomplicated and bizarre (and that QE2 is still, really, in charge).
There's a reason your system hasn't caught on anywhere in 230 years; a reason nearly everwhere else is some sort of parliament.
Yours makes your elected Head-of-State an elected King by our lights; Commander-in-Chief and repository of all national glory and honour. I wouldn't use the word "Warlord" but I note that the terrorist-fighting action-hero of "Air Force One" was named "President James Marshall". (Distributing Martial Law to the evil-doers, clearly).
It makes your Presidents want to look more Presidential by hitting people. Except with bombs.
By moving all the colourful honours and glory and ceremony related to the *nation* onto a ceremonial queen, we deprive our politicians of wrapping themselves in the national symbols to puff themselves up; by moving the commander-in-chief role away from the Prime Minister, we take away much of his action-figure status; most PMs can't get a military adventure going without the approval of at least several members of his cabinet, who are also (unlike your system) legitimate replacements for him that could be doing his job tomorrow if that cabinet thinks the PM has lost it.
It's too late for you guys to switch to Parliamentary, but we sure do thank you for highlighting its virtues for us with your brave experiment. Your written Constitution, alas, protected no torture victims, nor did all your three-sided checks and balances.
And then the most recent Presidential situation! My god, how we pity you. A massive systemic failure. We'll keep our system, which you are welcome to make all the fun of that you want. We don't need to make fun of the system that elected a leader who spoke of "Prime Minister Shinzo" and "Two Corinthians". Some jokes can't be improved upon.
Maybe the US of A could stop electing lawyers and billionaires to high office and look to engineers and scientists instead. Nah, what am I thinking - it'll never work because they typically have principles and core honesty.
The Head Of State is a symbolic position only, it signifies the Nation of Canada. Queen Elizabeth II has moral and symbolic power but cannot rule Canadians.
All hard power flows up through elected representatives, ultimately to the Prime Minister of Canada. The Queen is not an "even higher authority figure" than the PM, she is off to the side. It is not even considered acceptable for the Queen to offer unsolicited advice. The matter is sensitive enough that even advice that was asked for, would probably be gently deflected by the Queen or her Ministers.
This is a common mistake for Americans to make. Are you American? They get confused because the US President is both a practical administrator as well as a symbol of the nation. The unitary nature of the US system is simply different, but Americans can be forgiven for thinking every nation organizes itself this way.
Now, the Governor General has some power, though it must be used very carefully and sparingly. All legislation that the House of Commons passes, must be signed by the GG. This is a rubber stamp process and it is almost unheard of for the GG to even mention not doing so. The GG also, when an election produces an unclear result, acts as an authority figure to get a party to become the governing party. The GG can invite a party to form a coalition government, for instance.
Well if the GG has some power, and the GG is the Queen's Representative, does not the Queen have power too? No. The GG is appointed by the Prime Minister and owes allegiance to Canada. There is a notional idea of "honoring" the Queen, and official communications from Canada to the Queen goes through the GG as a matter of protocol. It helps to be a Monarchist, sitting as the GG. However if a conflict of loyalties were to arise, the GG must represent the interests of Canada first (I believe actual protocol would require the GG to resign as the conflict of loyalties would put the GG into an impossible situation).