Yes, $88,000 is a lot for clothes. No, the governor general shouldn’t have to pay for them herself

This week, the Governor General’s clothing budget hit the headlines. The expenses in question date back to January 2017, which encompasses both Mary Simon, who has been Governor General since July 2021, and her predecessor, Julie Payette. Together, the two expensed $88,000 for clothes.

According to a document from the office of the secretary to the Governor General, the nearly 200 items Simon and Payette expensed range from $18.95 white gloves for Simon to wear to a Platinum Jubilee event in London to a $3,000 black velvet dress with silk lining for Payette. There’s Payette’s $160 Canadian Olympic jacket; a $475 lilac organza trench that Simon wore for the televised 2022 Canada Day celebration.

The clothing budget for a Governor General is $130,000 over five years (reduced from $200,000 in 2021), with a limit of $60,000 in the first year that gradually drops to $10,000 in the final year. There is no clothing allowance for the Prime Minister or cabinet, nor the Prime Minister’s spouse.

Even though Simon and Payette’s expenses came in well below budget, the sticker shock is real, and I fully understand the outrage over this use of taxpayer money. Most of us, myself included, think three times before we spend our money on fashion. This is a time of financial constriction, when inflated housing, food and fuel costs are causing us to tighten our belts.

But this is a big job with a lot of formal dress requirements. The Governor General carries out the duties of head of state on behalf of the sovereign; it’s the oldest continual institution in our country. They represent the King in Canada, act as Commander-in-Chief of the military, summon, prorogue and dissolve Parliament, read the throne speech and give royal assent for parliamentary bills to become laws.

The job entails attending many official functions, including events like Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral and King Charles III’s coronation. It means meeting heads of diplomatic missions, senior public servants, military officials, election officials and viceregal representatives. Each of these requires a suitable outfit — for day, afternoon or evening in many different weather situations. The document of clothing expenses notes that prior to being appointed Governor General, Simon had retired from public life and donated all her business attire and formal wear to charity.

I can relate to the particular stress around procuring the appropriate outfit for a high profile occasion. When I was the editor-in-chief of a fashion magazine in the early 2000s, I often went to functions and galas three times a week to represent the brand I helmed. It was exhausting. It was also expensive. I did have a clothing allowance, as part of my contract, but it did not nearly cover the number of items I needed. That made my wardrobe a large part of my household budget at a time when two young children were the economic priorities. It sounds elitist, I know, worrying about fancy clothes, but when you are not an heiress and you still have to go to regular formal events for your job, there is a real economic cost.

I’m not here to argue for or against having a Governor General as our head of state. But we do have one, so here’s the question: do we want this role to only go to a rich person, who can afford to pay their own way? I personally do not: I hope we hire the best person for the job, and give them the tools they need to do it.

I interviewed legendary Canadian image maker and media consultant Gabor Apor earlier this week for an upcoming story. Apor is the guy who put Ontario premier David Peterson in his signature red tie. In the conversation — which did not include discussion of expense accounts for public servants — he said this about Mary Simon: “She achieves a fantastic balance in her style by always integrating Indigenous pieces with her outfits.”

Simon, Canada’s first Indigenous Governor General, has supported Indigenous fashion designers since she was inaugurated. She walked down the Senate chamber to the rhythm of an Inuit drum, wearing a navy dress and jacket by Inuk designer Victoria Okpik, who incorporated symbolic beadwork by Northern Quebec artisan Julie Grenier into the design. The new Governor General wanted the beadwork to represent traditions of Indigenous Peoples across Canada. Representation matters, and Canadian artists deserve to be paid.

On Simon, Apor also added, “and she has a great haircut.” This is worth noting because dressing for a formal event, particularly for women, does not end at the clothes. Haircuts are an expensive part of all our budgets — particularly for women, who are also expected to invest in blowouts or hairstyling for formal events, not to mention manicures, makeup and other grooming services — and this an integral part of our public-facing presentation.

Women are always judged far more harshly than men for what we wear every day, let alone for formal dress occasions, when men can just slip on the same dark suit each time and switch up the tie. And women in the public eye have to be careful about the number of times they “rewear” an outfit: get the ratio right and they are applauded for being sustainably minded, get it wrong and they are just lazy, showing up in the same dress all the time.

If you average out the expenses being scrutinized here, it comes to less than $15,000 a year on clothes. There are many things to complain about in this timeline, but the clothing expenses of the Governor General — which came in well under budget — are just low-hanging fruit.

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