For the task, Prime Minister Stephen Harper convened a special search group—the Governor General Consultation Committee[2]—which consisted of Sheila-Marie Cook, Secretary to the Governor General (the chairperson); Kevin MacLeod; Christopher Manfredi, dean of the Faculty of Arts at McGill University; Rainer Knopff, a political scientist at the University of Calgary; Jacques Monet; and Christopher McCreery, historian and private secretary to the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia.
[6] The group, which was described as a "tight circle of monarchists," was instructed to submit a list of non-partisan candidates, each of whom would respect the monarchical aspects of the viceregal office.
Harper later explained that he set up the committee and did not legislate it because he saw it as "only a first step to creating a much more formal selection process, beyond the sole judgment of the prime minister of the day."
Writing this after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Harper also stated, "I hope that, as King Charles III [...] takes the throne, there will be more discussion as to how he should be best represented in Canada and its provinces.
[18] This committee consisted of Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic LeBlanc, acting Clerk of the Privy Council Janice Charette, Inuit leader Natan Obed, Université de Montréal rector Daniel Jutras, interim Canada Post chair Suromitra Sanatani, and Judith A. LaRocque, a former secretary to the governor general.