Roméo-Adrien LeBlancPCCCCMMONBCD (December 18, 1927 – June 24, 2009)[1] was a Canadian journalist and politician who served as 25th governor general of Canada from 1995 to 1999.
In 1995, he was appointed as governor general by Queen Elizabeth II, on the recommendation of Prime Minister of CanadaJean Chrétien, to replace Ramon John Hnatyshyn as viceroy, and he occupied the post until succeeded by Adrienne 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 of Acadians and francophones, and for returning Rideau Hall to the centre of life in Ottawa. [citation needed]
His first marriage, to Joslyn "Lyn" Carter, with whom LeBlanc had two children (Genevieve and Dominic), lasted from 1966 to 1981;[4] in 1994, he married Diana Fowler, who also had two children from a previous marriage.[5]
LeBlanc was a key figure in Canada's imposition of a 200-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 from trawlers 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 to Soviet 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.[6]
On the Pacific coast, LeBlanc oversaw the creation of the Salmonid Enhancement Program, which aimed at doubling salmon production, and quelled plans by Alcan that were deemed to threaten salmon rivers at the time.[7]
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.[9][10][11][12] He was, however, the first governor general of Acadian heritage, which earned praise from the Acadian community, and he was also the first from the Canadian Maritimes to be appointed as viceroy.[9]
Thereafter, LeBlanc was invited to an audience with the Queen at Sandringham House, and he was said to have been impressed and inspired by the devotion to duty on the part of both Elizabeth and her mother.[13]
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 prominent Liberal Party politician and organiser was criticised as being little more than a patronage gift from the Prime Minister to a loyal party member.
As with each governor general, LeBlanc took on unofficial and personal mandates, choosing for himself: voluntarism, the teaching of Canadian 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.
As well, in 1996 LeBlanc formed the Governor General's Award for Excellence in Teaching Canadian History, in 1999 partnered with the Canada Council for the Arts to create the Governor 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 by Julie Payette.[16]
Over the same years, LeBlanc also had public access to Rideau Hall and its 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.[16] 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]
As governor general, LeBlanc was viewed as having been a role model for Acadians, and was complimented for having drawn the attention of the country to Acadian history and culture. As such, he was seen as a symbol for reconciliation, given the past relations between the Acadians and the Canadian 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.[9]
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.[13] 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 the election 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.[9]
Personal touches were also left on the symbol of the Canadian viceregal office, from which LeBlanc removed the claws and tongue of the crowned lion,[13] 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.[9]
Post-viceregal life and death
St. Thomas Church in Memramcook was the location of his state funeral.
After being released from the Queen's service, LeBlanc returned to New Brunswick. There, after a lengthy battle with Alzheimer's disease, he died on June 24, 2009, in Grande-Digue.[17]
He was, as is protocol for all incumbent and former governors general, accorded a state 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 the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, paying homage to LeBlanc's time as minister of the Crown with that portfolio,[18] and the sitting governor general, Michaëlle Jean, her prime minister, Stephen Harper, and LeBlanc's former prime minister, Jean Chrétien, all attended.[19]
Canada Post featured LeBlanc on a postage stamp released on February 8, 2010.[20]
Just prior to his installation as Governor General, LeBlanc was granted a personal coat of arms that depicted his Acadian and Canadian roots.
Adopted
January 1, 1995
Crest
Four eagle feathers within a circlet of Micmac quill decration Gules
Escutcheon
Argent on a pile Gules the Star of Acadia ensigned by a representation of the Royal Crown Or.
Supporters
Two dolphins Argent each gorged with a collar of maple leaves Gules and fleurs de lys Or, pendand therefrom a plate Azure, dexter surmounted by a steam locomotive wheel Or, sinister surmounted by a book Or
Compartment
Issuant from a mound set with maple leaves all Gules flanked by waves proper
Motto
SEMPER AMISSOS MEMINISSE DECET (It is right to remember the forgotten)
Orders
The ribbon and insignia of a Companion of the Order of Canada. DESIDERANTES MELIOREM PATRIAM (They desire a better country)
Symbolism
The use of white recalls the LeBlanc family name, while the pile refers to the Memramcook Valley, where LeBlanc was born, and the dolphins evoke the Rivière Dauphin (now Annapolis River), where LeBlanc's ancestors settled in the mid 17th century, as well as LeBlanc's maritime heritage and his service as the minister of fisheries. The star is a symbol long used by the Acadians, as are the fleurs de lys representative of LeBlanc's roots in that community, and the royal crown represents LeBlanc's appointment as the representative of the Canadian sovereign. The eagle feathers, a symbols of peace, honour the Canadian First Nations, and the number represents LeBlanc's four children. More family links are depicted in the steam locomotive wheel – representing LeBlanc's father's service on the Canadian railways – and the book evoking LeBlanc's training and work as a teacher. The compartment symbolises a multi-ethnic Canada between two seas, and recalls the Micmac origin of the word Memramcook, meaning multi-coloured landscape.[25]
^Gough, Joseph (2007), Managing Canada's Fisheries: From Early Days to the Year 2000, Quebec: Carleton University Press, pp. 289–360, ISBN978-2-89448-523-1
^Boyce, Peter (2008), The Queen's Other Realms: The Crown and its Legacy in Australia, Canada and New Zealand, Sydney: The Federation Press, ISBN978-1-86287-700-9 Jackson, Michael D. (Autumn 2009). "The Senior Realms of the Queen"(PDF). Canadian Monarchist News. No. 30. Toronto: Monarchist League of Canada. p. 10. Archived from the original(PDF) on December 29, 2009. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
^ abcEditorial, "No Garish Sun", Canadian Monarchist News, Autumn 1999, Monarchist League of Canada, archived from the original on July 8, 2009, retrieved March 7, 2009
1The office of Minister of Marine and Fisheries was abolished and the offices of Minister of Fisheries and Minister of Marine were created in 1930. The Minister of Marine office was a precursor to the Minister of Transport. 2From 1971 to 1976 the Minister of the Environment was also the Minister of Fisheries.
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