|
Although he had been a
Conservative parliamentarian and a
Conservative Party choice for Speaker of
the House of Commons, there was little
surprise when Rt. Honourable
Roland Michener became a Liberal
appointee for the post of High
Commissioner in India, and even less
surprise when he was nominated by a
Liberal government as the twentieth
Governor General, the third native
Canadian to occupy the position.
Appointed after the
sudden death of the able and much-loved
General Vanier, Michener returned from
New Delhi and took office on April 7,
1867, in time to plunge into the arduous
though pleasant task of welcoming the
almost daily arrivals of the heads or
high representatives of state making
Centennial year visits to Canada.
Assisted by his wife,
herself an author, musician and Doctor
of Philosophy, the new Governor stepped
gracefully and easily into his new role.
Genial, imperturbable, full of political
wisdom and world knowledge, he possessed
an even, temperate understanding that
carried him through the speakership in
two stormy parliaments, including one in
which no party had an absolute majority.
A handsome, urbane,
silver haired combination of
legal-businessman-politico-diplomat,
Daniel Roland Michener was born on April
19, 1900 at Lacombe, Alberta , the son
of a Senator. He was educated at the
University of Alberta and is a Rhodes
scholar from that institution. He
completed his legal training at Oxford;
was admitted as a barrister of the
Middle Temple in 1923 and opened a
practice in Toronto.
His education was
interrupted briefly when in his 18th
year he joined the Royal Air Force.
Michener represented a
Toronto riding in the legislature from
1945 to 1948, part of which time he was
provincial secretary. He was elected to
the House of Commons in 1953 and again
in 1957, when he was elected speaker, a
post he held until the general election
of 1962 when he was defeated.
He was appointed to
New Delhi in 1964, and was studying
Hindi at the time he was recalled to
Canada. He also mastered French after
several years into his parliamentary
career. As Governor General he held many
roles including that of Chief Scout of
Canada for the Boy Scouts organization,
the Chairman of the Duke of Edinburgh
Awards in Canada and Commander in Chief
of the armed forces. He travelled widely
during his time in office and was
respected and admired by all parts of
the country. He was in power during the
particularly difficult time of the FLQ
Crisis and handled himself with great
composure and control.
He left office in
January of 1974 and took up the
challenge of promoting fitness among
Canadians for the rest of his life. He
continued to work with many charities,
organizations and served on the Board of
Directors on several companies until his
death on August 6th, 1991.
His personal motto
which he lived his life by and tried to
instil in others was "freedom with
order" which is quite representative of
Canadian society.
|
