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Payette is the one to resign, but Justin Trudeau must wear it.

In the appointment of Payette, we can see the effects of a PM leaping before looking at

In the last three and a half years, Julie Payette might still want to discuss the details of what exactly happened inside Rideau Hall. But she apparently could not escape an increasingly obvious conclusion that it would risk inflicting serious damage on the office for her to continue as governor general.

In a statement released Thursday, Payette said, "I am a strong believer in the principles of natural justice, due process and the rule of law, and that these principles apply to all equally,"

"Notwithstanding, in respect for the integrity of my vice-regal office and for the good of our country and of our democratic institutions, I have come to the conclusion that a new governor general should be appointed."

If she chooses, Payette can now plead her case as a private citizen. And if the next person manages to fulfill the role with little to no trouble, the office's injuries should be limited.

Payette is going to go down in a scandal as the first Governor General to have to resign, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is not going to leave unscathed.

It is the office that matters.

The Governor General's office is larger than the individual who temporarily occupies it. However interesting or noteworthy the appointee may be, with a popular mandate, he or she does not come to it-it is the office that matters. Every Governor General may hope to leave a mark, but it is the office that is at the center of the democratic system of Canada. That imposes upon the occupant a special duty of care.

As governor general, Payette's time threatened to tarnish that office. Other general governors have landed in controversy and perhaps no one gets through their time at Rideau Hall without being criticized, either for being too interesting or not enough interesting.

The allegations against Payette, however, concerned both her interest in attending to certain aspects of the job and her treatment of others, particularly her own employees. Those staff members' claims about a "toxic" environment at Rideau Hall were quite serious, and reports suggest that at least the gist of those charges was confirmed by an independent review of the office.

As one commentator noted on Thursday, it might not have been enough to treat people badly in the workplace to get someone dismissed from a job in years past. But tolerance for the misuse of power is now greatly reduced. And it was too much to overcome for the nominal head of state.

The GG is a figurehead, but an essential one.

Discounting or disregarding the Governor General is very easy. The work is about attracting as little attention as possible in many ways.

A figurehead, the representative of Queen Elizabeth II and the embodiment of the Crown, is the governor general on most days. While carefully remaining apolitical, the governor general should represent and celebrate the best of the country.

Since the governor general is widely seen as someone who hands out awards and reads the speech of the throne, it is tempting to imagine that it is easy to get rid of the office.

But in the Canadian system of government, the Crown is central. It is the governor general who presides over power transfers, imposes some implicit restraint on the prime minister and settles disputes over who will be given the opportunity to govern in rare circumstances.

Without important ramifications for the rest of the system, the office could not be reformed or eliminated, a system that has served Canada well for the most part.

How extensively was Payette vetted?

So it's not something with which to trifle. And when serious charges are leveled against the occupant of the office, the integrity of the office must be considered. With her conduct, Payette put that office at risk, and whoever takes the next job will do so at a uniquely delicate moment.

But the end of the time at Rideau Hall for Payette leads back to questions about how it began. Doubts about how well she was vetted have already been raised about whether gaps in the process led to the appointment of an individual who was unsuited to the assignment. Such questions will now receive fresh attention.

Were there missed or discounted warning signs? Did the prime minister know enough about who he was going to appoint? Did Payette have enough knowledge of what she was asked to do?

The appointment of Payette may now seem like an artifact of Justin Trudeau's version that existed between 2013 and 2019, and that may still live under the more workman-like version that was mostly (but not entirely) on show through 2020.

The Trudeau pre-beard was more ostentatious. Kick-starting Senate reform, legalizing marijuana or resettling 25,000 Syrian refugees, he sometimes took a leap and managed to get to the other side. Other times, as he did with electoral reform, he failed to look before leaping and ended up taking a nasty fall.

Julie Payette was very much the kind of governor general that you would have imagined picking Trudeau. A bookish, grandfatherly university administrator was chosen by Stephen Harper. Justin Trudeau picked an astronaut who could play the piano and sing. It's easy to imagine Trudeau thinking about how great it would be for Payette if everything worked out. But really it never did.

It will now be noted, sadly for Trudeau, that Harper appointed a panel to come up with potential nominees and that Trudeau did not do the same. Perhaps that would not have prevented Trudeau from choosing someone better. But no one can claim that picking someone worse would have resulted in him.

The new governor general may be fine and the public may go back to not thinking much about who or what they do occupies Rideau Hall. Without a doubt, more stories will emerge from Rideau Hall, and maybe Payette will try to clear her image with an interview or two. This might go down as an unfortunate footnote in time, though.

But Payette, Trudeau, and the Governor General's office, if that's as far as the fallout goes, will be lucky. For 153 years, without having to resign in scandal, Canadian governors general were able to serve. It may not be the end of Canada's constitutional order to break that streak, but it is no small thing.