OTTAWA—Julie Payette resigned Thursday as Canada’s governor general, saying that to protect the integrity of her office and for the good of the country it was time for her to go.
Payette joins a very short list of governors general who have left the post early and is the first to do so mired in controversy. Her decision to leave will have both political and practical consequences for the minority Liberal government.
Payette, 57, handed in her resignation ahead of the imminent release of results of an independent investigation into allegations of a toxic workplace at Rideau Hall, over which she has presided since being appointed in 2017.
Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc presides over the Privy Council Office, which requested the investigation. He said the government received the report late last week.
“The conclusions were compelling and they were stark,” LeBlanc said in an interview.
“It was obviously an unacceptable workplace. Public servants who work for the government of Canada have the right to a secure, safe and healthy workplace and we are adamant ... that that standard be upheld at every institution of the government of Canada.”
He said the report “painted a picture that was not consistent” with that standard.
LeBlanc said he talked to Payette about the report on Tuesday and she then talked to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday evening, at which time “she indicated that it was her intention to offer her resignation,” which was received Thursday afternoon.
While he wasn’t part of Trudeau’s conversation with Payette, LeBlanc said he didn’t think the prime minister asked for her resignation or threatened to fire her if she didn’t resign voluntarily.
“I think she had arrived at the conclusion that it would be best for the institution and the country that she terminate her mandate.”
