this corporate, government, charitable, and academic work, Johnston was in 1988 appointed to the Order of Canada as an Officer; he was promoted within the order to the rank of Companion in 1997. Johnston also gained a reputation as a non-partisan individual, but has expressed explicit support for Canadian federalism, having written a book opposing Quebec separatism, If Quebec Goes: The Real Cost of Separation. He has also published numerous books on law, chapters in other volumes, magazine articles, and aided in writing legislation. and sat as the co-chair of the Montreal No Committee during the 1995 Quebec referendum on independence. As governor general-designate On July 8, 2010, the Office of the Prime Minister of Canada announced that Queen Elizabeth II had approved Prime Minister Stephen Harper's recommendation of Johnston to succeed Michaëlle Jean as the Queen's representative. A special search committee convened by the Prime Minister recommended Johnston for the viceregal position; the group was headed by Sheila-Marie Cook, secretary to the Governor General, and further consisted of Kevin MacLeod, the Canadian Secretary to the Queen, Usher of the Black Rod of the Senate of Canada, and parliament's top protocol officer; Christopher Manfredi, dean of the Faculty of Arts at McGill University; Rainer Knopff, a political scientist at the University of Calgary; Father Jacques Monet, of the Canadian Institute of Jesuit Studies; and Christopher McCreery, historian and private secretary to the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia. The committee conducted extensive national consultations with over 200 people including academics, sitting and retired political leaders of all political persuasions including provincial premiers, current and former political party leaders, former prime ministers and others in order to develop a short list of candidates for the position. Also on the short list were other distinguished Canadians, including John de Chastelain and John Fraser. The appointment was widely praised, its announcement garnering positive words from individuals like former University of Toronto president Robert Prichard, columnist Andrew Coyne, and Opposition Leader Michael Ignatieff. The press in Quebec generally focused on Johnston's ties to McGill University and his prominent role during the 1995 Quebec referendum. The president of Quebec's Conseil de la souveraineté, Gérald Larose, declared Johnston to be an "adversary" of Quebec independence and Mario Beaulieu, head of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society, called the nomination of Johnston "partisan" and the governor general-designate himself a "federalist extremist", statements that columnist Richard Martineau criticized for creating a "fake