Governor General of Canada
It was on December 14, 1989 announced from the Office of the Prime Minister of Canada that Queen Elizabeth II had, by commission under the royal sign-manual and Great Seal of Canada, approved Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's choice of Hnatyshyn to succeed Jeanne Sauvé as the Queen's representative. He was subsequently sworn-in during a ceremony in the Senate chamber on January 29, 1990.
Hnatyshyn thereafter made an effort to open up Rideau Hall— the monarch's and governor general's residence in Ottawa— to the public, establishing a visitors' centre and initiating guided tours of the palace and the royal park in which it sits. These moves marked a complete reversal of the policies of Hnatyshyn's predecessor, Jeanne Sauvé, who had closed Rideau Hall to the general public. In 1991, Hnatyshyn, on the other hand, staged on the grounds the first of the annual Governor General's Summer Concert Series, and, the year after, mounted His Excellency's Most Excellent Rock Concert and re-opened the skating rink to the public. These events blended with some of Hnatyshyn's self-imposed mandates during his viceregal tenure, which included a desire to engage Canadian youth and focus attention on education, and to encourage the arts. In these veins, he established in 1992 the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Voluntarism in the Arts, and the Governor General's Flight For Freedom Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literacy. Further, he founded the International Council for Canadian Studies, the Governor General Ramon John Hnatyshyn Education Fund, the Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Law, and the Governor General's International Award for Canadian Studies.
Amongst numerous other official and ceremonial duties, the Governor General presided over celebrations to mark the 125th anniversary of Confederation, and welcomed to Rideau Hall the Prince and Princess of Wales, along with a host of foreign dignitaries such as President of Russia Boris Yeltsin and King Hussein and Queen Noor of Jordan. Further, Hnatyshyn undertook a number of state visits, including one to Ukraine, before his time serving at Her Majesty's pleasure ended on February 6, 1995.
Throughout his tenure as the Canadian viceroy, Hnatyshyn was both defended and criticised by the Monarchist League of Canada. In their final summary of Hnatyshyn's years in office, though, the former governor general was generally viewed to have not stood up for the Canadian Crown that he represented, choosing to follow, instead of Vincent Massey's example, that of Sauvé, who was herself seen as a republican. This lack of loyalty, it was argued, left Hnatyshyn with few defenders when he was targeted by members of the Reform Party for his salary and taxes.
Read more about this topic: Ray Hnatyshyn
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