Rideau Hall employees 'suffered a lot' with Julie Payette as governor general, says chief justice

The Canadian Press / Adrian Wyld

Staffers who worked for former governor general Julie Payette were "very unhappy" because they "suffered" for years. She eventually resigned for contributing to a "toxic" workplace.

"There are 150 employees at Rideau Hall. They were people who, I must say, were very unhappy because there had been very difficult circumstances leading up to the departure. They had suffered a lot for years," Chief Justice Richard Wagner said during a chat with former journalist Chu Anh Pham.

Payette quit in 2021 after a scathing workplace review alleged a "toxic workplace" in Rideau Hall, with incidents of "yelling, screaming, aggressive conduct, demeaning comments and public humiliation."

Wagner told attendees during a Québec journalism conference in May that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would appoint her successor "relatively quickly." Chief Wagner held the position temporarily for six months.

"We have the delays that we have," he said. "It was starting to get a bit difficult."

Half of Governor General Julie Payette's employees reported “workplace humiliation” last year.

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At the time, he worried that a Liberal minority government would lose a non-confidence vote, prolonging his tenure as administrator of Canada, a role with no involvement in the passing of legislation.

However, Wagner gave royal assent to 12 bills during those six months. He did not consider it necessary to recuse himself.

"I don’t have any intention of recusing myself because I did not give any legal opinion or any type of opinion," he told reporters at the time. "When I wear the hat of administrator, I don’t wear the hat of the judge."

When the topic was revisited during the May conference, Wagner said he would not have presided over a case that involved a bill that he gave royal assent.

"There’s a legitimate question to be raised about the appearance, and it had been raised at the time," Wagner said about potential conflicts of interest between the role of Supreme Court chief justice, and administrator.