Maybe I should mention I live in Canada.

I don't really follow this example with the GC. Are you referring to Harper/Michaëlle Jean?

The opposition parties based their strategy on the constitutional authority of the Governor General Michaëlle Jean to appoint a Liberal-NDP coalition able to hold the confidence of the House of Commons to form a government, should the Conservative government fall on a matter of confidence.

Let's put aside what Harper was doing to explore this: they were not even asking for a new election, they were asking to be recognized as an official coalition government, something that happened once before.

My understanding with respect to the prorogue is that there was no legal basis to deny it. What was agreed upon was a short duration and that a budget be proposed when they returned. Failure of the budget would mean the government would have to dissolve.

So I guess she did exert some influence, but we can't know for sure how much of that was imposed on the Harper gov vs seen as legitimizing the action? The public was pretty split.