The governor general of Canada is the federal representative of the Canadian monarch, currently King Charles III. The king or queen of Canada is also monarch and head of state of 14 other Commonwealth realms and lives in the United Kingdom. The monarch, on the advice of his or her Canadian prime minister, appoints a governor general to administer the government of Canada in the monarch's name. The commission is for an indefinite period—known as serving at His Majesty's pleasure—though, five years is the usual length of time. Since 1959, it has also been traditional to alternate between francophone and anglophone officeholders. The 30th and current governor general is Mary Simon, who was sworn in on 26 July 2021. An Inuk leader from Nunavik in Quebec, Simon is the first Indigenous person to hold the office.

In Canada, a lieutenant governor is the representative of the King of Canada in the government of each province. The Governor General of Canada appoints the lieutenant governors on the advice of the Prime Minister of Canada to carry out most of the monarch's constitutional and ceremonial duties for an unfixed period of time—known as serving "His Excellency’s pleasure"—though five years is the normal convention. Similar positions in Canada's three territories are termed "Commissioners" and are representatives of the federal government, not the monarch directly.