Governor General of Canada

The governor general of Canada (French: gouverneure générale du Canada) is the federal representative of the Canadian monarch, currently King Charles III. The King or Queen is monarch and head of state of Canada and 14 other Commonwealth realms, and resides in the oldest and most populous realm, the United Kingdom. The monarch, on the advice of his or her Canadian prime minister, appoints a governor general to administer the government of Canada in the name of the monarch, performing most of the king or queen's constitutional and ceremonial duties. The commission is for an indefinite period—known as serving at His Majesty's pleasure (or Her Majesty's)—though five years is the usual length of time. Since 1959, it has also been traditional to alternate between francophone and anglophone officeholders; although, many recent governors general have been bilingual.

The office began in the 17th century, when the French crown appointed governors of the colony of Canada. Following the British conquest of the colony, the British monarch appointed governors of the Province of Quebec (later the Canadas) from 1763 onward. Consequently, the office is, along with the Crown, the oldest continuous institution in Canada. The present version of the office emerged with Canadian Confederation and the passing of the British North America Act, 1867, which defines the role of the governor general as "carrying on the government of Canada on behalf and in the Name of the Queen, by whatever Title he is designated".

Although the post initially still represented the government of the United Kingdom (that is, the monarch in his British council), the office was gradually Canadianized until, with the passage of the Statute of Westminster in 1931 and the establishment of a separate and uniquely Canadian monarchy, the governor general became the direct personal representative of the independently and uniquely Canadian sovereign, the monarch in his Canadian council. Throughout this process of gradually increasing Canadian independence, the role of governor general took on additional responsibilities. For example, in 1904, the Militia Act granted permission for the governor general to use the title of Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian militia, while command-in-chief remained vested in the sovereign, and in 1927 the first official international visit by a governor general was made. Finally, in 1947, King George VI issued letters patent allowing the viceroy to carry out almost all powers on behalf of the monarch.

As a result, the day-to-day duties of the monarch are carried out by the governor general, although, as a matter of law, the governor general is not in the same constitutional position as the sovereign; the office itself does not independently possess any powers of the royal prerogative. In accordance with the Constitution Act, 1982, any constitutional amendment that affects the Crown, including the office of Governor General, requires the unanimous consent of each provincial legislative assembly as well as the Senate and House of Commons of Canada.

The 30th and current governor general is Mary Simon, who was sworn in on 26 July 2021. An Inuk leader from Nunavik in Quebec, Simon is the first Indigenous person to hold the office. She was nominated on 6 July 2021 to replace Julie Payette, who had resigned in January; Richard Wagner, the chief justice of Canada, had served as administrator of the government of Canada in the interim.