Julie Payette

Julie Payette, 2017.

Julie Payette CC CMM COM CQ CD FCAE (born October 20, 1963) is a Canadian engineer, scientist and former astronaut who served from 2017 to 2021 as Governor General of Canada, the 29th since Canadian Confederation.

Payette holds engineering degrees from McGill University and the University of Toronto. She worked as a research scientist before joining the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) in 1992 as a member of the Canadian Astronaut Corps. She completed two spaceflights, STS-96 and STS-127, and has logged more than 25 days in space. She also served as capsule communicator at NASA Mission Control Center in Houston and from 2000 to 2007 as CSA's chief astronaut.

In July 2013, Payette was named chief operating officer for the Montreal Science Centre. She also held a number of board appointments, including the National Bank of Canada. On July 13, 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Queen Elizabeth II had approved the appointment of Payette as the next governor general of Canada. She was invested on October 2, 2017.

Payette resigned on January 21, 2021, following the conclusion of a workplace review that found she had "belittled, berated and publicly humiliated Rideau Hall staff" and "created a toxic, verbally abusive workplace". The review was initiated by the Privy Council Office to investigate accusations of harassment of civil servants in the Office of the Governor General. The report's official goal was not to validate nor make findings of fact, as it only relied on what interview participants reported. She is the second governor general to have resigned the office, after Roméo LeBlanc (who resigned due to health issues), the first to resign due to scandal, and the first to have left a vacancy upon resignation.

Conservative Canadian daily newspaper the National Post has reported that Payette and the next Governor-General Mary Simon have claimed significantly clothing expenses that were apparently for personal use.

See Also

• Assunta Di Lorenzo
• Mary Simon

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