Parliament Hill will host a spectacle of pomp and circumstance on Friday as David Johnston is sworn in as the country's 28th governor general.
Johnston replaces Michaëlle Jean, whose five years in Rideau Hall have come to an end. Johnston has distinguished himself in a long academic career, where he has built a reputation as someone who brings people together. He led the University of Waterloo as its president and vice-chancellor since 1999. "Here I am at my age of 69 venturing forth from this wonderfully blessed place, the university, for the first time and having a real job, and it's a job in the public service," Johnston told CBC in advance of Friday's ceremony.
Educated at Harvard, Cambridge and Queen's universities, Johnston was made a companion of the Order of Canada in 1998, and he holds 13 honorary degrees. However, his friends say Johnston still has the common touch. "I think what David brings to the role of governor general is [an] extremely sensitive ability to relate to people of all levels of society," said Ken McLaughlin, the University of Waterloo's official historian and someone who has worked closely with Johnston for years.
"David is a man of a wide range of backgrounds — what he's achieved he's achieved because of his own talent and skill," said McLaughlin. "But he sees that talent in other people and he inspires them." Johnston is no stranger to public service. In 1995 he took a leave from McGill University to head up the "No" campaign during the Quebec referendum. "I guess I was driven by the sense of this marvelous country breaking up," he said.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/10/01/governor-general-david-johnston-ceremony.html?ref=rss#ixzz1175Ucfl1
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