Roméo-Adrien LeBlanc (December 18, 1927June 24, 2009) was a Canadian journalist and politician who served as the 25th governor general of Canada from 1995 to 1999.

LeBlanc was born and educated in New Brunswick, and also studied in France prior to becoming a teacher and then a reporter for Radio-Canada. He was elected to the House of Commons in 1972, whereafter he served as a minister of the Crown until 1984, when he was moved to the Senate and became that chamber's Speaker.

In 1995, he was appointed as governor general by Queen Elizabeth II, on the recommendation of Prime Minister of Canada Jean 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.

On August 8, 1974, LeBlanc was sworn into the Queen's Privy Council for Canada. He died of Alzheimer's disease on June 24, 2009, aged 80.

Early life

thumb|left|The rural community of [[Memramcook, New Brunswick, where LeBlanc was born and raised]]

LeBlanc was born on December 18, 1927, in Memramcook, New Brunswick, where he was raised, the youngest of seven children of Marie Lucie Claire LeBlanc and Philias LeBlanc. LeBlanc obtained bachelor degrees in arts and education from the Collège St-Joseph before studying French civilization at the Université de Paris. He then moved on to teaching for nine years at Drummond's high school from 1951 to 1953 and the New Brunswick Teachers' College in Fredericton from 1955 to 1959 after which he obtained work between 1960 and 1967 as a journalist with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's French language broadcaster, Radio-Canada, serving in the bureaus in Ottawa, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

His first marriage, to Joslyn "Lyn" Carter, with whom LeBlanc had two children (Genevieve and Dominic), lasted from 1966 to 1981; in 1994, he married Diana Fowler, who also had two children from a previous marriage.

Early political career

LeBlanc stepped into the realm of politics when he became the press secretary for successive prime ministers Lester B. Pearson and Pierre Trudeau. He then went further, winning in the 1972 federal election a seat in the House of Commons as the Liberal Party representative for Westmorland-Kent, paving the way for his appointment as the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans in the Cabinet chaired by Trudeau.

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.

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.

Late in 1982, LeBlanc became Minister of Public Works for two years before being nominated by Trudeau to then Governor General Jeanne Sauvé for appointment to the Senate on June 29, 1984. He was then selected in 1993 by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien as Governor General Ray Hnatyshyn's appointee as that chamber's speaker. 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.

The commission appointing LeBlanc under the royal sign-manual and Great Seal of Canada was issued on January 16, 1995.

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.

In the 1993 federal election, LeBlanc had been one of the chief architects of the Liberal Party's election strategy, and was a strong party loyalist. In protest, both Reform Party of Canada leader Preston Manning and Bloc Québécois leader Lucien Bouchard refused to attend LeBlanc's installation ceremony.

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.

LeBlanc travelled to all parts of Canada and had a special affinity for small towns and cities, making himself particularly visible in those parts of Quebec after the province's referendum on secession in 1995. He participated in more than 2,000 events, including the annual New Year's Levée, which he moved to various locations around the country, seeing the party organised at Ottawa, Ontario, in 1996; Quebec City, Quebec, in 1997; Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1998; and St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, in 1999.

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.

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, and the sitting governor general, Michaëlle Jean, her prime minister, Stephen Harper, and LeBlanc's former prime minister, Jean Chrétien, all attended.

Canada Post featured LeBlanc on a postage stamp released on February 8, 2010.

Honours and arms

Honours

;Appointments

  • January 4, 1973July 9, 1984: Member of Parliament (MP)
  • August 8, 1974June 24, 2009: Member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada (PC)
  • February 8, 1995October 8, 2000: Chancellor and Principal Companion of the Order of Canada (CC)
  • October 8, 1999June 24, 2009: Companion of the Order of Canada (CC)
  • February 8, 1995October 8, 2000: Chancellor and Commander of the Order of Military Merit (CMM)
  • October 8, 1999June 24, 2009: Commander of the Order of Military Merit (CMM)
  • February 8, 1995October 8, 2000: Knight of Justice, Prior, and Chief Officer in Canada of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem
  • October 8, 1999June 24, 2009: Knight of Justice of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem

thumb|upright|LeBlanc Park in LeBlanc's hometown of [[Memramcook, New Brunswick]]

  • February 8, 1995October 8, 2000: Chief Scout of Canada
  • 1995June 24, 2009: Honorary Member of the Royal Military College of Canada Club
  • August 1, 2005June 24, 2009: Member of the Order of New Brunswick (ONB)

;Medals

  • 1992: Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada
  • February 8, 1995: Canadian Forces' Decoration (CD)
  • 2002: Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal

;Foreign honours

  • 2002June 24, 2009: Grand officier de l'Ordre national du Mérite

Honorary military appointments

  • February 8, 1990October 8, 2000: Colonel of the Governor General's Horse Guards
  • February 8, 1990October 8, 2000: Colonel of the Governor General's Foot Guards
  • February 8, 1990October 8, 2000: Colonel of the Canadian Grenadier Guards

Honorary degrees

  • 1977: Mount Allison University, Doctor of Civil Law (DCL)

See also

  • List of people from Westmorland County, New Brunswick
  • Journalism

References

  • Website of the Governor General of Canada entry for Roméo LeBlanc
  • Roméo LeBlanc fonds at Library and Archives Canada