At what point do these competitive reality television series become ridiculous? Alex Trebek has been tapped to host a new Canadian television series called Canada's Next Prime Minister. The premise of the show being that a panel of former Prime Ministers will pick the next one. The CBC has already sold the show's format to the BBC.Obviously, it won't be too long before we see America's Next President on some channel (my guess would be Fox) with a panel of judges consisting of Bill Clinton, (the late) Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and George W.
Is it me, or does this seem to trivialize the office of leadership to a country? On the other hand, it seems that running for political office is a bit of a circus anyway. Perhaps electoral processes should be handled this way from now on.
I don't see how the winner of this competition would actually become Prime Minister as a result of the "victory". Of course, television creates fame so maybe the person will announce his/her candidacy shortly thereafter.
UPDATE - just for clarification, the show doesn't pick the ACTUAL next Prime Minister of Canada, but rather young people who would be good candidates for the position based on the judges' opinions.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-19-2009 @ 2:21PM
Dylan said...
They're doing this show again?
I think it's more of finding someone who they think has the potential and they pay to put them through school.
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1-19-2009 @ 2:33PM
Gill said...
It's already been done for a season.
This is the 3rd place today where i've read this "news" today where the poster didn't have the sense to do the slightest bit of research about what the actual show results in.
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1-19-2009 @ 2:34PM
MarkF said...
If they get Ford on the American version I'll watch for sure.
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1-19-2009 @ 3:40PM
Pingles said...
Can't wait for the swimsuit competition!
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1-19-2009 @ 4:10PM
La-Di-Dah said...
This reality TV circus got way out of hand; I do/did enjoy a few reality shows including Queer Eye, Project Runway, Top Chef, but I would really happily go back to a world without.
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1-19-2009 @ 4:34PM
Sherry said...
All you had to do was go to the website (http://www.cbc.ca/nextprimeminister/about.html) and click on About the Show to realize that this is not what you are making it out to be. I'll make it easy for you:
"What started as a written essay contest in 1995 by Magna International Inc. has become a nationally televised program on CBC Television and the largest online political debate in Canada.
Canada's Next Great Prime Minister is the competition of a lifetime. Young Canadians have the ears and eyes of the nation listening to their thoughts about what would make our country even better.
The competition begins online. Young Canadians aged 18-25 are invited to apply for the show and campaign to be a finalist. Through debate and challenges, the candidates are narrowed down to four who appear on CBC Television, where they engage in a heated debate on the issues facing Canada today. The audience votes and the winner receives $50,000 and a paid internship at Magna International, The Dominion Institute and the Canada-US Fulbright program. Second, third and fourth place winners also receive cash and internship prizes.
The show airs once a year on CBC Television."
As someone said above, it's all about potential in young people.
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1-19-2009 @ 5:26PM
Anthony said...
It would be AMAZING if they had Gerald Ford,
Considering, oh, he passed 2 years ago.
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1-19-2009 @ 5:31PM
Drake said...
Prime ministers don't "run" for office. Canadian politics is different from the US, instead of voting for a President, Senator, Representative, etc., Canadians vote for MP's, or members of parliament. There are a bunch of parties in Canada - Conservative, Liberal, NDP, etc., and whichever party wins the most seats in Parliament then has their party leader assume the Prime Minister role.
Furthermore, the role of Prime Minister is not very similar to that of the President. The PM has very limited powers, and most powers belong to Parliament.
Maybe do some research on the Canadian electoral system before making a post. Or, as others have stated above, actually figure out what the show is really about.
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1-19-2009 @ 10:22PM
Argus said...
Just wanted to note Drake, that compared to the President, the Prime Minister actually has far more power than the President. The Prime Minister can declare war and martial law, or suspend parliament (see last month), and spend money (to a point), without having to get the approval of parliament. The President can do none of those things.
1-19-2009 @ 5:50PM
Andy said...
Way to shoehorn that "update" in there to make it look like that's what you meant all along, you just forgot to say it.
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1-19-2009 @ 9:17PM
Brigden said...
My friend was on this show two years ago I believe it was. He came in second place and was awarded an internship. He loved doing the show and found it to be a fantastic opportunity. It's a great show, and if you have any interest in Canadian politics at all (i'd be surprised if you did!) it's worth watching.
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1-19-2009 @ 10:29PM
Argus said...
It doesn't trivialize the role of Prime Minister. Canadians have never had this "its our leader, lets respect them" attitude that American Presidents get. I know several people in the Canadian military who actually walked off their ship rather than shake the Prime Minister's hand. The PM isn't our head of state, and we don't vote for him (technically), this makes him much more "human" compared to the president, who acts as the "figurehead" of the U.S. as well as its leader. I suspect this distinction could be made in most countries with Westminster parliaments (Britain) as opposed to presidencies.
Another thing which affects the way we view the PM is the fact that he sits in the legislative body with the other MPs, meaning that we get to see him regularly make an ass of himself during question period.
Ignatieff, the current liberal leader, wishes we saw PMs the same way America sees its Presidents (probably only Trudeau ever accomplished that.)
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1-19-2009 @ 10:29PM
Argus said...
Also, Trebek got his start on CBC hosting the Reach for the Top game show, so this isn't really a stretch.
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