What really happened between the GG and President Obama?
It’s not quite a constitutional crisis yet, but conflicting accounts of what happened during last month’s meeting between Governor General Michaëlle Jean and U.S. President Barack Obama hint at a growing rift between Rideau Hall and the Prime Minister’s Office. According to the Hill Times, the GG’s press office is sticking to its claim that the President invited Her Excellency to Washington to discuss the situation in Haiti, but according to a “source close to people who were present at the meeting,” what really transpired was a “vague request from the President to ‘stay in touch.’ The two sides can’t even agree on how long the meeting was—according to Rideau Hall, it was 26 minutes, but the anonymous source claims it actually lasted only 18 minutes—and adds that after the ten minute mark, the president was “already inching towards the door.”