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PrintPM, GG should use La Citadelle more often
Her Excellency and the new GG-designate should host more medal ceremonies, more state dinners, more ceremonies such as the swearing-in of ministers at La Citadelle to remind us, particularly those in English Canada, about this important piece of our patri
On Aug. 6, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and a few soon to be promoted members of his cabinet trooped through the front doors of Rideau Hall, the Governor General's official residence in Ottawa, for one of the most important ceremonies in our constitutional monarchy. The swearing-in of ministers is a striking visual reminder of how we exercise power in this country. There is something very humbling in having the PM, the man who effectively controls the levers of power, leaving his own crumbling residence to walk across the street to the much more palatial home of Her Majesty's Representative. Once there he has to suffer all manner of indignities like staying a few steps behind the GG, sitting off to the side in a smaller chair, all designed to remind him that in Canada he is only number three on the table of precedence (after the Queen and GG). That serves a very useful function, a cap on the egos of even the most imperial-minded of prime ministers.
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PM, GG should use La Citadelle more often
Her Excellency and the new GG-designate should host more medal ceremonies, more state dinners, more ceremonies such as the swearing-in of ministers at La Citadelle to remind us, particularly those in English Canada, about this important piece of our patri
On Aug. 6, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and a few soon to be promoted members of his cabinet trooped through the front doors of Rideau Hall, the Governor General's official residence in Ottawa, for one of the most important ceremonies in our constitutional monarchy. The swearing-in of ministers is a striking visual reminder of how we exercise power in this country. There is something very humbling in having the PM, the man who effectively controls the levers of power, leaving his own crumbling residence to walk across the street to the much more palatial home of Her Majesty's Representative. Once there he has to suffer all manner of indignities like staying a few steps behind the GG, sitting off to the side in a smaller chair, all designed to remind him that in Canada he is only number three on the table of precedence (after the Queen and GG). That serves a very useful function, a cap on the egos of even the most imperial-minded of prime ministers.
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