Role of the Governor General of Canada Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Role of the Governor General of Canada - Essay Example Other arrangements have the queen/king as ceremonial leaders alongside the heads of states and heads of governments. The governor general is appointed by her majesty the queen of England (UK) and the queen has the discretion to choose a man or woman for that job. Initially the appointments by any monarch wherever in the world have been reserved for men except for a few cases where women have had a chance to be appointed by the monarch to head governments. Out of the five governor generals that have been appointed to lead government of Canada since the 1980s, three of them have been women. This demonstrates the issue of women leadership in top places and the general affirmative action in the entire Canada. This paper seeks to highlight and analyze the roles and duties of the governor general of Canada in a bid to establish the roles and duties of a governor general and hence evaluate whether or not the powers accorded to this office can be abused. The analysis and highlight of the roles and duties of the governor general of Canada has been dealt with by a number of authors who have written books or articles to this effect. At least three of these literary works shall be reviewed to show the coverage that has been made concerning an analysis of the roles of thee governor general of Canada. ... It cited Australia as the working example through which it analyses the constitutional relationship between the Queen and the governor general. The book just as well tries to highlight and examine the degree to which the judiciary represented by the courts is able to review the actions of government as provided by the constitution. Besides the governmental action, the prerogative powers in the federal government are also highlighted with the possible judicial review of these powers. As the book closes, it does so by paying specific attention to the roles and powers of a governor general which are provided for by the constitution. The relevance of book is the fact that it considers a government structure similar to that in Canada and the roles of the Australian governor general only varies slightly from that of the Canadian one. Australia is only used as an example but the book pays specific emphasis to the prerogative powers given to the federal government top leaders such as the Pri me Minister, the Governor General and how these powers are not easily reviewable not even by the legislature or even judicially. From the constitutional power conferred on the governor general, it is easier to analyze his/her roles (Winterton, 1983). Adrienne Clarkson's Heart Matters: a Memoir is a classical relevant piece of literature as far the topic of this paper is concerned. It should be remembered that Adrienne Clarkson herself was a governor general of Canada (1999-2005) and during her leadership, the governor general's office spent millions and millions of dollars on issues that were not even related tot eh official roles of Clarkson as a governor general. The book, as a memoir dwells most on Clarkson's role as a governor general. Basically the book tries to help the