The big news last night was that the CBC had staff on the record about the climate of harassment and verbal abuse that has emerged at Rideau Hall since Julie Payette became Governor General, and her friend Assunta Di Lorenzo her Secretary. It’s not actually surprising – there are three years of stories coming out of Rideau Hall about the atmosphere getting increasingly toxic and that Payette’s behaviour has been mystifying at times – that she doesn’t want to do some of the ceremonial aspects of the job, and wants to have an active hand in portions of the job where she shouldn’t. My own sources have been saying that Payette and Di Lorenzo are “erratic,” and that most people can’t deal with them. Staff has left Rideau Hall in droves. All of the indications are that it’s a sick workplace – but Payette put out a press release saying that this is all news to her because nobody has complained through the official process (which isn’t really a complaint mechanism because it all goes back to Di Lorenzo and ultimately Payette). And if you need convincing, here are three years of stories (thread), including some of my own.

Ultimately, this is Justin Trudeau’s responsibility because he appointed her without due diligence that she would be suitable for the role. The fact that he did away with the vice-regal appointments committee in order to listen to his own inner cadre about Payette as a choice is pretty much the exact kind of thing we’re seeing with the WE Imbroglio playing out right now – nobody bothered to exercise critical judgment, and instead all went along nodding and drinking more of the Kool-Aid, and lo, a bad decision was made – and one that ultimately damaged one of our parliamentary institutions. It also is now up to Trudeau to do something about the situation, whether it’s managing Payette and Di Lorenzo and working on a plan to transition them out, or if they won’t go, calling up the Queen and asking her to dismiss Payette (which is a last resort because the first rule of constitutional monarchy is you don’t get the Queen involved). Any way you look at this, it’s not good, and it’s yet another black mark on Trudeau’s record.

Here’s Philippe Lagassé on the options available to dealing with Payette. And if you want to know more about the former vice-regal appointments commission and the role of the Secretary to the Governor General, and why Di Lorenzo’s appointment has been a problem from the start, read my chapter in Royal Progress: Canada’s Monarchy in the Age of Disruption, and learn more about it.

Good reads:

• The Commons passed Bill C-20 containing changes to the wage subsidy, disability payments and court timelines. No word on when the Senate will sit to consider it.
• The Clerk of the Privy Council testified that no red flags were raised about WE, and that the PM and Finance minister needed to be involved in discussions.
• The notion of paying student volunteers as part of the student grant programme seems to have people confused with it being an hourly wage, which it was not.
• BC’s premier has joined the Chiefs of Police in calling for decriminalizing small drug possession for personal use – but the government remains non-committal.
• The RCMP’s Civilian Review and Complaints Commission is expressing concern with how “wellness checks” have turned into a number of fatalities.
• Maclean’s looks into the annual trip to Washington DC by senior bureaucrats to learn how things work in that city as compared to Ottawa.
• Procedure and House Affairs committee is officially recommending remote voting, with the Conservatives dissenting. (FFS, does nobody listen to warnings?)
• Here’s an interesting and uncomfortable look at the history of institutionalized misogyny in Alberta, both in government and the energy sector.
• My column explores some of the considerations and calculations at play as the calls for Justin Trudeau to step aside start to mount.

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