Roméo LeBlanc | |
|---|---|
.jpg) LeBlanc,c. 1979 | |
| 25th Governor General of Canada | |
| In office February 8, 1995 – October 7, 1999 | |
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Prime Minister | Jean Chrétien |
| Preceded by | Ray Hnatyshyn |
| Succeeded by | Adrienne Clarkson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Roméo-Adrien LeBlanc (1928-12-18)December 18, 1928 Memramcook,New Brunswick, Canada |
| Died | June 24, 2009(2009-06-24) (aged 80) Grande-Digue,New Brunswick, Canada |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Spouses |
|
| Children | Dominic LeBlanc Genevieve LeBlanc |
| Profession | Politician,Journalist,Teacher |
| Signature |  |
Roméo-Adrien LeBlanc (December 18, 1928 – June 24, 2009)[1] was a Canadian journalist and politician who served as the 25thgovernor general of Canada from 1995 to 1999.
LeBlanc was born and educated inNew Brunswick, and also studied inFrance prior to becoming a teacher and then a reporter forRadio-Canada. He was elected to theHouse of Commons in 1972, whereafter he served as aminister of the Crown until 1984, when he was moved to theSenate and becamethat chamber's Speaker.
In 1995, he was appointed as governor general by QueenElizabeth II, on the recommendation ofPrime Minister of CanadaJean Chrétien, to replaceRamon John Hnatyshyn asviceroy, and he occupied the post until succeeded byAdrienne Clarkson in 1999, citing his health as the reason for his stepping down. His appointment as the Queen's representative caused some controversy, due to perceptions of political favouritism, though he was praised for raising the stature ofAcadians andfrancophones, and for returningRideau Hall to the centre of life in Ottawa.[citation needed]
On August 8, 1974, LeBlanc was sworn into theQueen's Privy Council for Canada.[2] He died ofAlzheimer's disease on June 24, 2009, aged 80.
LeBlanc was born on December 18, 1928 inMemramcook, New Brunswick, where he was raised, the youngest of seven children of Marie Lucie Claire LeBlanc and Philias LeBlanc.[3] LeBlanc obtainedbachelor degrees inarts andeducation from theCollège St-Joseph before studying French civilization at theUniversité de Paris. He then moved on to teaching for nine years— atDrummond's high school from 1951 to 1953 and theNew Brunswick Teachers' College inFredericton from 1955 to 1959— after which he obtained work between 1960 and 1967 as a journalist with theCanadian Broadcasting Corporation'sFrench language broadcaster,Radio-Canada, serving in the bureaus inOttawa, theUnited Kingdom, and theUnited States.[4]
His first marriage, to Joslyn "Lyn" Carter, with whom LeBlanc had two children (Genevieve andDominic), lasted from 1966 to 1981;[5] in 1994, he marriedDiana Fowler, who also had two children from a previous marriage.[6]
LeBlanc stepped into the realm of politics when he became thepress secretary for successive prime ministersLester B. Pearson andPierre Trudeau. He then went further, winning in the1972 federal election a seat in theHouse of Commons as theLiberal Party representative forWestmorland-Kent, paving the way for his appointment as theMinister of Fisheries and Oceans in theCabinet chaired by Trudeau.
LeBlanc was a key figure in Canada's imposition of a200-mile fishing zone; the establishment of a new fisheries licensing system; the widespread use of quotas and zones that protected Canadian fishermen from overexpansion and competition fromtrawlers owned by large companies; the owner-operator rule, requiring licence holders to operate vessels themselves; the separate-fleet rule, preventing corporations from obtaining licences for an under-65-foot fleet; and for creating an additional system of advisory committees that permitted fishermen a larger voice in fisheries management.
On one occasion, LeBlanc also persuaded Trudeau to advise the Governor General to close Canadian ports toSoviet fishing vessels, a headline-grabbing diplomatic thrust that resulted in better co-operation, and forbade all foreign corporations from holding commercial fishing licences in Canada.[7]
On thePacific coast, LeBlanc oversaw the creation of the Salmonid Enhancement Program, which aimed at doubling salmon production, and quelled plans byAlcan that were deemed to threaten salmon rivers at the time.[8]
Late in 1982, LeBlanc becameMinister of Public Works for two years before being nominated by Trudeau to then Governor GeneralJeanne Sauvé for appointment to theSenate on June 29, 1984.[9] He was then selected in 1993 by Prime MinisterJean Chrétien as Governor GeneralRay Hnatyshyn's appointee asthat chamber's speaker.[9]
LeBlanc's time as the Queen's viceregal representative was considered to have been low key and largely uneventful, especially in comparison to that of his successor,Adrienne Clarkson.[10][11][12][13] He was, however, the first governor general ofAcadian heritage, which earned praise from the Acadian community, and he was also the first from the CanadianMaritimes to be appointed as viceroy.[10]
It was announced from theOffice of the Prime Minister of Canada on November 22, 1994, thatQueenElizabeth II had approvedPrime MinisterJean Chrétien's choice of LeBlanc to succeedRay Hnatyshyn as the Queen's representative.
Thereafter, LeBlanc was invited to anaudience with the Queen atSandringham House, and he was said to have been impressed and inspired by the devotion to duty on the part of both Elizabeth andher mother.[14]
The commission appointing LeBlanc under theroyal sign-manual andGreat Seal of Canada was issued on January 16, 1995.[15]
The greatest publicity LeBlanc attracted in his career came immediately after the announcement of his appointment as Governor General: although previous honorees had worked as politicians prior to and after serving as viceroy, the recommendation of a prominentLiberal Party politician and organiser was criticised as being little more than apatronage gift from the Prime Minister to a loyal party member.
In the1993 federal election, LeBlanc had been one of the chief architects of the Liberal Party's election strategy, and was a strong party loyalist. In protest, bothReform Party of Canada leaderPreston Manning andBloc Québécois leaderLucien Bouchard refused to attend LeBlanc's installation ceremony.[10]
As with each governor general, LeBlanc took on unofficial and personal mandates, choosing for himself:voluntarism, the teaching ofCanadian history,Canada's Aboriginal peoples, and the military. He spoke often about the generosity, tolerance, and compassion of Canadians, and admired the dignity and abilities of the common citizen.
To recognize the "unsung heroes" who volunteer their time and effort to help others, LeBlanc initiated in 1996 theGovernor General's Caring Canadian Award, and, on June 21, of the same year, was proud to issue aroyal proclamation inauguratingNational Aboriginal Day as an annual observance.[16]
As well, in 1996 LeBlanc formed the Governor General's Award for Excellence in Teaching Canadian History, in 1999 partnered with theCanada Council for the Arts to create theGovernor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts, oversaw the issuance of the Governor General's Canadian History Medal for the Millennium, and established the Governor General's Millennium Edition of the Map of Canada, which was taken into space in 1999 byJulie Payette.[17]
LeBlanc travelled to all parts of Canada and had a special affinity for small towns and cities, making himself particularly visible in those parts ofQuebec after theprovince's referendum on secession in 1995. He participated in more than 2,000 events, including the annual New Year'sLevée, which he moved to various locations around the country, seeing the party organised atOttawa,Ontario, in 1996;Quebec City,Quebec, in 1997;Winnipeg,Manitoba, in 1998; andSt. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, in 1999.
Over the same years, LeBlanc also had public access to Rideau Hall andits grounds expanded and improved— including opening a dedicated visitors' centre in 1997— so that the number of visitors increased threefold to approximately 125,000 people per year.[17] In keeping with his respect for the First Peoples of Canada, LeBlanc placed a totem pole and inukshuk prominently on the royal property.[citation needed]
Amongst numerous other official and ceremonial duties, the Governor General grantedRoyal Assent to amendments tothe constitution on three occasions: April 21, 1997, December 19, 1997, and January 8, 1998, and also issued the royal proclamation announcing the creation of the territory ofNunavut on April 1, 1999. LeBlanc welcomed to Rideau Hall the Queen,Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, andPrince Charles, Prince of Wales, along with a host of foreign dignitaries such asUnited States presidentBill Clinton and his wife,Hillary;King Hussein andQueen Noor of Jordan, and later Hussein's son,King Abdullah II, and his wifeQueen Rania; as well asPresident of South AfricaNelson Mandela; andPresident of ChinaJiang Zemin. Further, he undertook eightstate visits, becoming the first governor general of Canada to make such trips to theCzech Republic,India,Pakistan, theIvory Coast,Tanzania,Mali, andMorocco.[17]
As governor general, LeBlanc was viewed as having been a role model forAcadians, and was complimented for having drawn the attention of the country toAcadian history and culture. As such, he was seen as a symbol for reconciliation, given the past relations between the Acadians and theCanadian Crown's predecessor. At the same time, LeBlanc was also credited for returning Rideau Hall to a status closer to that which it held a century previous, when it was the centre of life in the national capital.[10]
Although LeBlanc enjoyed all the provinces and territories, his visits touching small towns as well as big cities, he travelled to events in his home province to a degree that some saw as disproportionate. Moreover, LeBlanc never sought media coverage, with the result that many Canadians were unaware of who he was, and his down-to-earth demeanour was thought by some to have been too "folksy" for the post.[14] The accusations of political patronage also failed to evaporate during LeBlanc's governorship; while LeBlanc was viceroy, his son,Dominic, continued to work for the prime minister's office until 1997, when he ran for election to the House of Commons in LeBlanc's old riding, where the Governor General had a series of events planned the very week he dropped theelection writs. Further, LeBlanc's daughter maintained employment as a political assistant to Liberal Cabinet ministers, and some of the Governor General's staff had close Liberal Party connections.[10]
Personal touches were also left onthe symbol of the Canadian viceregal office, from which LeBlanc removed the claws and tongue of the crowned lion,[14] saying that they were impolite and un-Canadian. Though the change did not gather much attention until near the end of LeBlanc's tenure, the reaction, when it came, was generally unfavourable, and the modifications were undone by his successor.[10]
After being released from the Queen's service, LeBlanc returned to New Brunswick. There, after a lengthy battle withAlzheimer's disease, he died on June 24, 2009, inGrande-Digue.[18]
He was, as is protocol for all incumbent and former governors general, accorded astate funeral, which took place on July 3 of the same year, in Memramcook. The casket's path through the community was lined with officers from theDepartment of Fisheries and Oceans, paying homage to LeBlanc's time asminister of the Crown with that portfolio,[19] and the sitting governor general,Michaëlle Jean, her prime minister,Stephen Harper, and LeBlanc's former prime minister,Jean Chrétien, all attended.[20]
Canada Post featured LeBlanc on a postage stamp released on February 8, 2010.[21]
Ribbon bars of Roméo LeBlanc
_ribbon_-vector.svg)
January 4, 1973 – July 9, 1984:Member of Parliament (MP) August 8, 1974 – June 24, 2009:Member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada (PC) February 8, 1995 – October 8, 2000:Chancellor and Principal Companion of the Order of Canada (CC)[22] February 8, 1995 – October 8, 2000:Chancellor and Commander of the Order of Military Merit (CMM) February 8, 1995 – October 8, 2000:Knight of Justice, Prior, and Chief Officer in Canada of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem[23]
February 8, 1995 – October 8, 2000:Chief Scout of Canada 1995 – June 24, 2009:Honorary Member of the Royal Military College of Canada Club
August 1, 2005 – June 24, 2009:Member of the Order of New Brunswick (ONB)[24] 1992:Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada February 8, 1995:Canadian Forces' Decoration (CD) 2002:Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal
2002 – June 24, 2009:Grand officier de l'Ordre national du Mérite[25]
February 8, 1990 – October 8, 2000: Colonel ofthe Governor General's Horse Guards February 8, 1990 – October 8, 2000: Colonel of theGovernor General's Foot Guards February 8, 1990 – October 8, 2000: Colonel ofthe Canadian Grenadier Guards 1977:Mount Allison University,Doctor of Civil Law (DCL)[4] 1979:University of Moncton, Doctor of Public Administration (DPA)[4]
1995:Université Sainte-Anne,Doctor of Laws (LLD)[4]
1996:Ryerson University,Doctor of Letters (DLitt)[17] 1996:University of Ottawa,Doctor of the University (DUniv)[17] 1997:St. Thomas University, Doctor of Laws (LLD)[17]
1997:Memorial University of Newfoundland, Doctor of Laws (LLD)[17]
1997:McGill University, Doctor of Laws (LLD)[17] 1999:University of New Brunswick, Doctor of Laws (LLD)[17]New Brunswick: LeBlanc Park,MemramcookNew Brunswick:Greater Moncton Roméo LeBlanc International Airport,Dieppe |
|
| Government offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Governor General of Canada February 8, 1995 – October 6, 2000 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| 20th Canadian Ministry (1968–1979) – First cabinet ofPierre Trudeau | ||
| Cabinet posts (5) | ||
| Predecessor | Office | Successor |
| New title | Minister of Fisheries and Oceans April 2, 1979 – June 3, 1979 | James McGrath |
| Himself as acting minister | Minister of the Environment September 14, 1976 – April 1, 1979 styled as Minister of Fisheries and the Environment | Leonard Stephen Marchand |
| Jean Marchand | Minister of the Environment (acting) July 1, 1976 – September 13, 1976 | Himself as minister |
| Jeanne Sauvé | Minister of the Environment (acting) December 5, 1975 – January 21, 1976 | Jean Marchand |
| n/a | Minister of State (Fisheries) August 8, 1974 – September 13, 1976 | n/a |
| 22nd Canadian Ministry (1980–1984) – Second cabinet ofPierre Trudeau | ||
| Cabinet posts (2) | ||
| Predecessor | Office | Successor |
| Paul James Cosgrove | Minister of Public Works September 30, 1982 – June 29, 1984 | Charles Lapointe |
| James McGrath | Minister of Fisheries and Oceans March 3, 1980 – September 29, 1982 | Pierre de Bané |
| Special Cabinet Responsibilities | ||
| Predecessor | Title | Successor |
| n/a | Minister responsible for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation September 30, 1982 – June 29, 1984 | n/a |
| Parliament of Canada | ||
| Preceded by | Speaker of the Senate of Canada December 7, 1993 – November 21, 1994 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forWestmorland—Kent October 30, 1972 – June 29, 1984 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
