OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to name a new governor general at a press conference in Ottawa on Tuesday.

The governor general is appointed by the Sovereign on the advice of the prime minister and usually holds office for five years.

Mary Simon, Canada’s first Indigenous governor general, will reach the five-year mark of her tenure in July.

Following controversy over Simon’s struggles with French, Carney said the next viceregal representative would speak both official languages.

Simon speaks English and Inuktitut and has improved her French but she is not fluent, despite taking lessons.

Whit Fraser, the viceregal consort, told the Globe and Mail newspaper last month that he and Simon were apartment hunting.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 4, 2026.

The Canadian Press