Meet Canada's next Governor General

The Prime Minister made the official announcement yesterday: the 27th Governor General of Canada will be CBC television journalist Michaëlle Jean.

At just 48 years old, the award-winning journalist will become one of the youngest governors general ever, the third woman in the job and the first black person to call Rideau Hall home. . . .

Jean is probably best known to English-Canadians as the host of The Passionate Eye and Rough Cuts on CBC Newsworld.

She was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. She left in 1968, her family fleeing the oppressive regime of Fran�ois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, settling in Quebec with her family. She has a six-year-old daughter and is fluent in five languages: French, English, Spanish, Italian and Haitian Creole.

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Ms. Jean takes over the reins from current Governor General Adrienne Clarkson on October 1.

While pointing out the number of "firsts" her appointment comprises, this article overlooks an interesting "second": Michaëlle Jean is also the second consecutive broadcast journalist to serve as our head of state. Realizing that the CBC isn't exactly the cutting edge of hipness, are we trying to turn the GG into a pop-culture icon?