John Ralston Saul
Culture and Foreign Policy
Republished with permission

This post is intended to be the non-political representation of what Canada is. It was clear from the first Canadian Governor-General that it was a post which should be used in encouraging culture. It is no accident that a whole series of cultural awards are the Governor General's. Since then the post has been expanded so that the Governor General travels abroad "representing" Canada.

These elements lead to a number of conclusions:

1. No one should be named to this post who is not perfectly bilingual.
2. One of the qualifications in choosing a Governor General should be an already demonstrated commitment to culture so that the post will be used to develop Canadians' sense of themselves.
3. Rideau Hall should be used much more as a showcase for Canadian culture.
4. The Governor General should be much more involved in gathering together visiting cultural figures and Canadian cultural figures. This is a proper marriage of prestige and culture and is done very effectively by Presidents in many countries (France and the Czech Republic among others). This has the effect of focusing foreigners on the culture of the country. The international reverberations of a cultural Governor General could be considerable. Those of a protocolaire Governor General are zero.
5. In other words, we must move away from the banalized politicization of the post. And we must avoid a sterile protocolaire model. This is a country whose culture is full of effervescence and the most appropriate public figure to be seen actively celebrating it is the Governor General.

John Ralston Saul is an essayist and novelist. He is the author of many books, including The Doubter's Companion - A Dictionary of Aggressive Common Sense, Voltaire's Bastards: the Dictatorship of Reason in the West, and Paradise Eater, which won the Premio Letterario Internazionale in 1990. Mr. Saul has a Ph.D. from King's College, London.