FACT CHECK: Did The Governor General Of Canada Say She Needs 958,000 Emails To Remove Justin Trudeau From Power?

An image shared on Facebook claims Canada’s governor general said she will remove Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau from office if she receives 958,000 emails in support of the idea.

Verdict: False

There is no evidence the governor general made such a statement. A spokesperson for the governor general’s office stated the information included in the post is false.

Fact Check: 

Trudeau’s Liberal government recently won approval in the Canadian House of Commons for a plan to extend emergency powers for police to clear or stop any protests associated with the “Freedom Convoy” in Ottawa, according to Politico. Law enforcement officers successfully cleared most demonstrators out of the area by Sunday evening, the Associated Press reported.

Now, an image shared on Facebook claims Governor General of Canada Mary Simon said she will remove Trudeau from office if she receives 958,000 emails in support of the idea. “The Governor General of Canada said she needs 958,000 emails to remove Trudeau,” reads text featured in the image, which also includes a sample email addressed to Simon.

The governor general is the representative of Queen Elizabeth II in Canada, according to CBC.

There is no evidence that Simon made such a promise. No credible media reports about such a statement could be found in Canadian news outlets such as CBC and the Toronto Star. A search of the governor general’s website and its verified social media accounts also failed to yield any results relating to the alleged announcement.

Josephine Laframboise, a spokesperson for the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General, told Check Your Fact in an email that the “information is false.” (RELATED: Is The Ottawa Police Force Exempt From The COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate?)

The governor general does have the power to remove the prime minister in “a time of great constitutional and political impasse,” according to CBC, but no governor general has ever invoked this power, the outlet reported.