by arthur Weinreb, associate Editor,
July 2, 2004
That is what Citytv’s Merella Fernandez said on the news on June 27, the day before voters did indeed go to the polls. But someone should point out to Cutesy that Canadians do not elect Prime Ministers.
as anyone who went to the polls and voted last Monday knows, the names of Paul Martin, Stephen Harper and Jack Layton did not appear on any ballots outside of the ridings that each of them ran in. Canadians elect members of Parliament; nothing more, nothing less.
after Parliament was dissolved in May and an election called, Paul Martin was the Prime Minister. No matter what happened on election day, he would remain the Prime Minister until he either resigned or was defeated in the House on a vote of non confidence. as hard as it is to believe, the jet setting circumpolar travelling adrienne Clarkson, Governor-General of Canada actually decides who the Prime Minister will be. Even if the Conservatives would have won more seats that the Liberal Party did, Martin would get first crack at forming a government because he was already the PM. If he was able to obtain support in the House of Commons from the Bloq, the NDP or even some members of the Conservatives that would allow him to govern and pass legislation, he would have remained as Prime Minister. If he decided to stay on but could not garner support of other parties, then the Governor-General would have called on Stephen Harper and asked him to form a government. If for some strange reason, neither Martin nor Harper could gain enough support to govern, the new Parliament would be dissolved and another election held. No matter what the permutations and combinations were after the vote was counted, Canadian voters play no part in the process other than to elect their local Member of Parliament.
This is not the only type of mistake that some in the media make when it comes to elections. When there is a change of government, you often hear the new leader referred to before he or she gets sworn into office as the premier-elect or the prime minister-elect when they should be referred to as the premier-designate or the prime minister-designate. They are not elected to their positions.
Merella Fernandez thinking that Canadians go out and actually vote for a Prime Minister was not a minor mistake. We live in a time when much of the population has no idea about how our political system actually works. Is it asking too much to expect those in the media like Fernandez to have at least a basic understanding of how are government works? apparently, it is.
Fernandez was reporting from Toronto’s Gay Pride Parade when she commented on Canadians voting for a new Prime Minister. Perhaps she should stick to parades and leave political reporting to someone who actually knows something.