The one and only duty of the Governor General is to represent the Queen in Canada during the Queens absence (most of the time) When the Queen is on Canadian soil we have no Governor General as she needs no representative. Likewise, when the Governor General leaves the boundaries of Canada she is no longer representing the Queen in Canada. She automatically becomes a private citizen at that point in time and her trip sure as hell is a junket if I am paying the fare as a taxpayer. I don't give a damn if it is her budget, the military's , or external Affairs' it is all from the same pot and such waste is a bloody shame. Wherever she got her medals she did not earn them, but I suppose the same could be said of much of the military brass.
The disgrace remains that those on the front lines have shitty equipment and you can't put a positive spin on that.
When we see Paul Martin fly in a Sea King we will have a bit more faith in what the lying bastards in Ottawa (politions and military brass) keep telling us about how good our equipment is and what a great deal we got purchasing it. Pure crap!
          Obie