GG Julie Payette and Rideau Hall’s top bureaucrat resign in wake of damning workplace review

OTTAWA — Governor General Julie Payette and Rideau Hall’s top bureaucrat, Assunta di Lorenzo, are both resigning in the wake of a damning review into the workplace culture at Rideau Hall, the National Post has learned.

More information is expected shortly in a news release. The government does not need to immediately appoint a new governor general, as the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada can fulfill the duties in the meantime.

Earlier, the Post reported that di Lorenzo has hired high-profile lawyer Marie Henein’s firm to help manage the fallout of the independent workplace review. The review was prompted by reporting from CBC last summer that alleged both Payette and di Lorenzo had verbally abused staff and created a toxic work atmosphere.

The review by Quintet Consulting was submitted recently to the Privy Council Office, the top federal department that reports to the Prime Minister’s Office.

Sources confirmed to the National Post that the review paints an extremely negative picture of the workplace culture at Rideau Hall. Sources expect the government will release a summary of the findings but not the full report.

Two sources told the Post that di Lorenzo hired Henein’s firm Henein Hutchison LLP to represent her, and had been conducting her interactions with PCO through lawyers — an extraordinary situation for someone in di Lorenzo’s position, which is equivalent to a deputy minister and is supposed to be the conduit between government and the Governor General. It is not clear if Henein is personally representing di Lorenzo; neither Rideau Hall nor Henein responded to a request for comment about the matter. It is also not clear who is paying the legal fees.

Henein last made headlines in Ottawa for representing Vice Admiral Mark Norman, once the second-highest commanding officer in the military, as he defended himself against a criminal charge of breach of trust. Crown prosecutors eventually stayed the charge after concluding there wasn’t a reasonable prospect of conviction, and Norman reached a settlement with the government.

Multiple sources, granted anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, saw the hiring of Henein’s firm as a sign that battle lines were being drawn at Rideau Hall, and that relations have been very strained between Payette and di Lorenzo over the workplace review and its fallout.

The Prime Minister’s Office declined a request for comment. The Rideau Hall press office has not yet responded to questions sent early Thursday morning.

Sources say the workplace review runs to nearly 200 pages. Participation in the review was voluntary, but one source told the Post that more than 100 people were interviewed as part of the review.

Di Lorenzo was an unusual hire by Payette, a corporate lawyer from Montreal with no experience in federal government filling a position that is normally given to someone knowledgeable about government operations or in administering vice-regal affairs. However, Payette had a close friendship with di Lorenzo, who she met decades ago through an international baccalaureate program.

The Secretary to the Governor General is the top administrator at Rideau Hall, serves as the liaison between the Governor General and most external organizations, and oversees all the public service staff (about 150 people). Di Lorenzo was appointed to the position by a cabinet order that took effect on Feb. 2, 2018, for a five-year term with a salary range of $192,600 – $226,500.

Payette’s tenure as governor general has been filled with controversy since she was nominated in July 2017 and took office that October. Along with the workplace complaints, media reports have detailed questionable spending projects at Rideau Hall, Payette’s clashes with her security team, and Payette’s refusal to live in Rideau Hall even after renovations were complete.

Last August, the Post reported that Payette had also generated turmoil among staff at her previous job running the Montreal Science Centre due to her harsh management style, foreshadowing many of the same complaints that are now coming out at Rideau Hall.

In September 2018, about a year after Payette took office, the Post published a lengthy investigation into Payette’s difficult entry into Rideau Hall, with sources close to the situation fuming that the Prime Minister’s Office had not done its due diligence before appointing Payette into such a sensitive post.

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