45 Facts About David Johnston

David Johnston was born and raised in Ontario, studying there before enrolling at Harvard University and later Cambridge and Queen's universities.

David Johnston went on to work as a professor at various post-secondary institutions in Canada, eventually serving administrative roles as dean of law at the University of Western Ontario, principal of McGill University, and president of the University of Waterloo.

David Johnston was in 2010 appointed as governor general by then monarch Queen Elizabeth II, on the recommendation of then Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper, to replace Michaelle Jean as viceroy and he occupied the post until succeeded by Julie Payette in 2017.

David Johnston served as a teacher of law at various Canadian universities, dean of law at University of Western Ontario Law School, on various boards, as commissioner of the Leaders' Debates Commission, and as Colonel of the Regiment for the Royal Canadian Regiment.

David Johnston was born on June 28,1941 in Sudbury, Ontario, to Lloyd David Johnston, the owner of a hardware store, and Dorothy Stonehouse.

David Johnston aimed to play in the NHL himself and was visited by scout Jimmy Skinner.

However, upon learning from Skinner that most boys drafted would not be completing high school, David Johnston's mother refused to negotiate further.

David Johnston suffered three concussions from playing football and hockey; he was told by his doctor to either wear a helmet or stop playing hockey.

David Johnston has had a long academic career, during which he came to specialize in securities regulation, corporation law, public policy and information technology law.

David Johnston was then appointed as dean of the University of Western Ontario Law School, serving between 1974 and 1979, at which time he was elevated to become the fourteenth Principal and Vice-Chancellor of McGill University.

David Johnston stepped down in 1994 as principal of McGill to remain at the university only as a law professor until he was, in 1999, installed as the fifth President of the University of Waterloo.

David Johnston has moderated several televised leaders' debates, the first being between Pierre Trudeau, Joe Clark, and Ed Broadbent, prior to the 1979 federal election, and he returned five years later to play the same role before the election of 1984, in a debate featuring Brian Mulroney, John Turner, and Broadbent.

David Johnston moderated the provincial leaders' debate featuring David Peterson, Bob Rae, and Larry Grossman, in the run up to the Ontario general election in 1987.

David Johnston has acted as moderator of two public affairs panel discussion programmes, The Editors and The World in Review, which aired in the 1990s on both CBC Newsworld in Canada and PBS in the United States.

Investigations commissioned by both federal and provincial Crowns-in-Council have been chaired by David Johnston, starting with the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy in the late 1980s, followed by the National Task Force on High Speed Broadband Access, the Committee on Information Systems for the Environment, the Advisory Committee on Online Learning, Ontario's Infertility and Adoption Review Panel between 2008 and 2009, and other scientific or public policy panels.

David Johnston is the only non-American citizen to chair the Harvard Board of Overseers.

On November 14,2007, David Johnston was appointed by Governor General Michaelle Jean, on the advice of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, as an independent adviser and charged with drafting for the Cabinet the terms of reference for the public inquiry, known as the Oliphant Commission, into the Airbus affair.

David Johnston completed his report on January 11,2008, listing seventeen questions of interest for further investigation.

David Johnston did not include as a subject the awarding of the Airbus contract, on the basis that this aspect had already been investigated by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, prompting criticism from opposition members of parliament and accusations that Johnston had acted as the Prime Minister's man.

David Johnston gained a reputation as a non-partisan individual, but has expressed explicit support for Canadian federalism, having written a book opposing Quebec separatism, If Quebec Goes: The Real Cost of Separation.

David Johnston has published numerous books on law, chapters in other volumes, magazine articles, and aided in writing legislation.

On July 8,2010, the Office of the Prime Minister of Canada announced that Queen Elizabeth II had approved Prime Minister Stephen Harper's recommendation of David Johnston to succeed Michaelle Jean as the Queen's representative.

David Johnston's swearing-in took place on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, on October 1,2010.

David Johnston undertook his first state visits in February and March 2011, journeying to Kuwait and Qatar.

David Johnston carried this theme on during his state and official visits to foreign countries, including in his itinerary, among other events, tours of early education facilities, delivering addresses at universities and colleges, and meetings with economic and social development groups, as well as education ministers.

David Johnston was sometimes accompanied by Canadian university and college presidents.

David Johnston thereafter participated in related commemorations, parties, and unveilings of monuments all across the country, throughout the year, as well as during a working visit to the Commonwealth realm Barbados between a visit to Brazil and a state visit to Trinidad and Tobago.

This, along with other factors, led Spence and other chiefs to boycott the Prime Minister's conference, though she did attend the meeting and ceremony for First Nations chiefs that David Johnston hosted at Rideau Hall the same evening.

Columnist John Robson said David Johnston displayed a "manifest sympathy for aboriginal causes".

David Johnston explained he misspoke and apologized for his statement during a ceremony at Rideau Hall to honour leadership on Indigenous issues.

David Johnston was credited with encouraging his Prime Minister to reinvigorate the federal government's promotion of international educational cooperation.

David Johnston was aided in the launch by George Stroumboulopoulos, who interviewed the Governor General on his show George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight.

David Johnston stated near the end of his tenure that he would remain as chairman of the Rideau Hall Foundation after his successor took office.

David Johnston called on the NHL to hold a summit on fighting and concussions.

David Johnston instead turned his attention to the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada and raising awareness among parents.

On March 19,2013, David Johnston headed the official Canadian delegation for the Papal inauguration of Pope Francis.

David Johnston accepted an invitation, offered in March 2015, to stay in the viceregal office until September 2017.

David Johnston stated to CTV News after the 2017 visit that he had discussed the matter of Liu and human rights with Xi.

On September 27,2017, in the week of his departure, David Johnston presided over a military farewell ceremony and military parade by a 100-man guard of honour from the Canadian Armed Forces at the Aviation and Space Museum.

Shortly after the end of his viceregal tenure, David Johnston joined the consulting firm Deloitte as an executive advisor.

David Johnston holds a volunteer position as chair of the Rideau Hall Foundation, the charity he established in 2012.

David Johnston has been a member of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation since 2018.

In October 2018, David Johnston was nominated to be the first commissioner of the Leaders' Debates Commission by the Cabinet headed by Justin Trudeau.

However, he resigned the post after Trudeau, on March 15,2023, chose David Johnston to act as special rapporteur investigating allegations of Chinese electoral interference in the 2019 and 2021 Canadian federal elections.

David Johnston said that he felt "privileged" to have been appointed and described attempts to undermine the country's democracy as "serious matters".