page_title: Governor General of Canada
section_title: Residences and household
hierarchical_section_title: Governor General of Canada / Residences and household
caption_attribution_description: Rideau Hall, Canada's governor general's residence
context_page_description: The governor general of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II. The Queen, as a political sovereign, is shared equally both with the 15 other Commonwealth realms and the 10 provinces of Canada, but she physically resides predominantly in her oldest and most populous realm, the United Kingdom. The Queen, on the advice of her Canadian prime minister, appoints a governor general to carry out most of her constitutional and ceremonial duties. The commission is for an unfixed period of time—known as serving at Her Majesty's pleasure—though five years is the normal convention. Beginning in 1959, it has also been traditional to rotate between anglophone and francophone officeholders—although many recent governors general have been bilingual. Once in office, the governor general maintains direct contact with the Queen, wherever she may be at the time.
  The office began in the 16th and 17th centuries with the Crown-appointed governors of the French colony of Canada followed by the British governors of Canada in the 18th and 19th centuries.
context_section_description: Rideau Hall, located in Ottawa, is the official residence of the Canadian monarch and of the governor general and is thus the location of the viceregal household and the Chancellery of Honours. For a part of each year since 1872, governors general have also resided at the Citadel (La Citadelle) in Quebec City, Quebec. A governor general's wife is known as the chatelaine of Rideau Hall, though there is no equivalent term for a governor general's husband.
  The viceregal household aids the governor general in the execution of the royal constitutional and ceremonial duties and is managed by the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General. The Chancellery of Honours centres around the Queen and is thus also located at Rideau Hall and administered by the governor general. As such, the viceroy's secretary ex officio holds the position of Herald Chancellor of Canada, overseeing the Canadian Heraldic Authority—the mechanism of the Canadian honours system by which armorial bearings are granted to Canadians by the governor general in the name of the sovereign. These organized offices and support systems include aides-de-camp, press officers, financial managers, speech writers, trip organizers, event planners, protocol officers, chefs and other kitchen employees, waiters, and various cleaning staff, as well as visitors' centre staff and tour guides at both official residences. In this official and bureaucratic capacity, the entire household is often referred to as Government House and its departments are funded through the normal federal budgetary process, as is the governor general's salary of CAD$288,900, which has been taxed since 2013. Additional costs are incurred from separate ministries and organizations such as the National Capital Commission, the Department of National Defence, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
  The governor general's air transportation is assigned to 412 Transport Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force. The squadron uses Bombardier Challenger 600 VIP jets to transport the governor general to locations within and outside of Canada.
caption: Rideau Hall, the official residence in Ottawa of the governor general
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