SPRING 2014
FMI
*
IGF JOURNAL
23
Challenging Issues for Canadian Leaders
J. William Galbraith
Unbalanced budgets, federal-provin
cial wrangling, national unity, trade
negotiations,
issues
about
the
organization of government and about
the public service, questions about the
environment and development, about
Canada’s role in the world, international
conflict and doubts about the efficacy of
the major international organization to
contribute to international peace.
This is a challenging inventory for
Canadian leaders and government in
2014. Would it come as a surprise that
this was also the challenging inventory
of issues for Canadian leaders and
government in 1935?
Perhaps such a listing that seems
so distant in time from us but yet
still so familiar could be the source
of cynicism or resignation. Rather is
it not encouraging? The preceding
generations not only managed to deal
with, though some may say muddled
through, these issues and not only
survived — including the existential
Nazi threat — but also thrived. Our
standard of living rose dramatically
in the intervening years and Canada
has become one of the most desirable
countries of the world in which to live.
That earlier, challenging period,
however, is unique in the coincidence
of a remarkable individual who was
appointed Governor-General in 1935.
The 1930s were defined by economic
and social crises resulting largely from the
Great Depression, severe drought on the
Prairies, and by governmental structures
struggling to meet the challenges. There
were as well challenges resulting from
1931 Statute of Westminster which gave
Canada effective constitutional equality
with Britain. Canada became responsible
for its own foreign policy and was forced
to develop its position with respect to
international affairs and the troubled
League of Nations. The Statute also
gave legal sanction to the Governor-
General representing the Sovereign only
and no longer the British government. It
was now the Canadian Prime Minister
who proposed a name to the King for
appointing as GG. In effect, the Statute
of Westminster created a new position
that would be shaped by a remarkable
individual.
Mr. John Buchan was appointed
Governor-General by King George V
in March 1935. His appointment was a
break with the tradition of appointing
peers from the House of Lords and
sparked a nation-wide controversy in
Canada about who should be Governor-
General: peer or commoner and if
a commoner, why not a Canadian?
King George, however, wanted his
representative to be a peer. Two months
later he raised Buchan to the peerage
and John Buchan became the first Baron
Tweedsmuir of Elsfield. The title did
not conceal the John Buchan who was
a best-selling author of thrillers like
The
Thirty-Nine Steps
(made into a movie
in 1935, directed by Alfred Hitchcock)
and
Greenmantle
, and many historical
biographies (including
Cromwell, Sir
Walter Scott, Augustus
). But he was much
more.
Buchan was a polymath; writing from
the age of 17, which helped finance
his way through university, along with
scholarships to Glasgow University and
Oxford. He was also a lawyer, journalist,
publisher, public administrator, director
and deputy chairman of Reuters, head of
information and intelligence in World
War I, a Member of the Westminster
Parliament, an outdoorsman and
incurable fisherman, and involved on
a volunteer basis in numerous not-for-
profit organizations. Born in Scotland
in 1875, his father was a Presbyterian
minister and his mother the daughter of a
farmer in the Borders region of Scotland,
where Buchan spent his summers as a
youth. It was a region that inspired him
throughout his life and is described so
evocatively in much of his writing.
It can be a fascinating insight to
examine how this remarkable individual
engaged some of the issues referred to
above, and reflect on a legacy that helped
re-mould the governor-generalship.
Public service
With a sound moral grounding and
steeped in a classical education, Buchan’s
early career displayed a strong element of
humanity. Throughout his adult life and
varied careers, he believed that “public
service is one of the most honourable of
all pursuits.”
In an address to the Civil Service
dinner in Ottawa in October 1937,
Tweedsmuir set out fundamental
Sir John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir,
15th Governor General of Canada
(1935‑1940)
Photo courtesy: parl.gc.ca
