In Parliament we have "Qustion Period" ,why doesn't the USA?

[Swede]

We GRILL our PM, he has to listen. And answer/

[Kellanved]

1. When was the last time that the Canadian Parliament grilled the Queen?

:shrug:

[Swede]

5. Google search it.

Martin has to stand up and answer the questions asked.

[Kellanved]

15. Martin is just Head of the Executive

He draws his authority from the Parliament, thus has to answer to it.

The Head of State is not questioned in Parliamentary systems either.

That history has turned most Heads of the Executive into de-facto Heads of State is a rather recent development.

[Spazito]

12. The Queen is not in charge of policy in Canada, the PM is...

so why would we question her? I am not sure I get your point. I thought Swede's question was quite clear, the leader of our government has to face his critics and answer questions, the leader of the US does not, good question, imo.

[Swede]

13. Have you seen the PM squirm?

Why doesn;t the USA have this forum?

[iverglas]

17. gee, when was the last time

... the Queen did anything that affected the Canadian Parliament, or Canada?

Perhaps you're alluding to the fact that the Prime Minister is the head of government, while the Queen (as represented for all functions by the Governor General, Adrienne Clarkson) is the head of state -- whereas George W. Bush is both head of govt and head of state.

Should that exempt him from being grilled in his capacity as head of government?

Our PM (and the Brits', and the head of govt in any other parliamentary system) has to actually participate in the processes of government, as a member of the legislative branch. This does involve getting grilled, but it also simply involves being present in the legislature and behaving like someone who is responsible to the electorate, and not like a tinpot Napoleon.

Our PM doesn't just get grilled in the House, s/he gets swarmed by the press in the corridors outside the House every day s/he is there. (And yes, we have had a woman PM.) It's called the "scrum", and any politician who avoids it is castigated in the media.

And the PM also gets accosted regularly by Marg the Warrior Princess and forced to participate in humiliating little skits to be shown on the TV show This Hour Has 22 Minutes.

22 Minutes did get to accost Bush once while he was still candidate Bush. They informed him that he had been endorsed by Prime Minister Poutine of Canada. He thanked them.

http://www.dewit.ca/archs/poutine/index.html

OTTAWA (AP) Stung by a pop quiz about foreign leaders earlier in his campaign, U.S. Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush has fallen victim to a foreign affairs prank.

Canadians are chuckling over his on-air answer when a comic posing as a reporter made up a story that Canadian Prime Minister "Jean Poutine"; had endorsed him.

"I appreciate his strong statement<,> he understands I believe in free trade," Bush replied. "He understands I want to make sure our relations with our most important neighbour to the north of us, the Canadians, is strong and we'll work closely together."

Canada's prime minister is Jean Chretien, not Poutine, and he has endorsed no one in U.S. politics. Poutine is a popular food in the French-speaking province of Quebec, consisting of french fries, gravy and cheese curd.

[No2W2004]

2. Because

The President and the Congress are 2 seperate branches of government. Normally, the President would work with congress in order to get important bills passed.

Since the Republicans gained the majority in both houses, congress has been rendered little more than a rubber stamp for the exeutive branch. This is very dangerous, for the obvious reasons we are seeing now.

The checks and balances system has been done away with. The only cure is to be rid of the republican majorities in both houses, and then for the new Democratic congressmen to grow some balls and expose the neocon agenda.

[No Mandate Here.]

3. If * is up in front of any audience that is not completely

Pre screened, selected, inspected and otherwise 100% predictable, he would be completely frozen in his tracks. He can't even do an effective press conference with the questions submitted three days in advance. He hasn't been before the general public in nearly four years. The last time he didn't have complete control over his audience was the inauguration parade- and evidently his Limo was hit by an egg.

Say what you will about Tony Blair. In The Prime Minister's Questions, (Sundays at 9 Eastern on CSpan), he is quick witted, articulate and usually well prepared. * would last about thirty seconds. Maybe.

[shraby]

4. This country is very large so

we depend on the media to ask the questions, which they used to do quite well. Unfortunately that is no longer the case. Bunnypants couldn't answer a question that is harder than "see Spot run?" so we have what's called "a press conference" where the media ask the questions to a white house spokesperson. The spokesperson doesn't give answers but just sidesteps most of the questions. The media is caught in a catch 22.
In order to change the status quo, our media has got to start being journalists once again and hit the white house hard with hard questions on their front pages. They might as well, they aren't getting access to real information anyway.

[bossfish]

6. Ha Ha ha haha haha hahahahahahaha

ha ha ha...

Have you ever actually seen Shrub try and talk?!

ha ha haha hahahaha

[DavidDvorkin]

7. Clinton thought about instituting an American version

But decided against it. Or possibly was argued out of it.

Of course, Clinton could have handled it. As others have posted, one can't imagine Bush doing it, at least not in the face of questions as sharp and non-subservient as one sees in broadcasts of the British Parliament's question time. (I haven't seen broadcasts of the Canadian version, but I assume the exchanges are just as sharp.)

Bush, Reagan, Bush Sr., Ford, ... Hmm. It's been a loooong time since there's been a Republican president who could have dealt with a real question time.

[Jim Warren]

8. Funny you should ask

Late last night I was having a chat with son, age 15, about what would occur if * ever had to face opposition mps in a parlimentary system, as a follow-up to story about * whining to the Irish reporter.
My son's one word answer was: madhouse.

Of course, that assumes you HAVE an opposition party.

[Swede]

9. Of cours this democracy is a mess.

I wouldn't have it any other way.

[AntiCoup2K4]

10. See the Irish TV interview for an answer to your question

Basically, Junior can't handle unscripted questions. Because the answers are fed to him through his little earplug. So when the Irish interviewer asked him the serious questions, he couldn't handle it. It would be the same if he had to deal with unrehearsed questions from Congress in the way that Blair or the Canadian PM does from their Parliaments.

[Swede]

11. Why? America doesn't need a king.

[NWHarkness]

14. The PM is a member of Parliament, the President is not

When a parliament questions a PM it is an internal matter within that body. In the US system, the President heads a separate branch of government.

While the current alignment may make us wish it were otherwise, consider what it would be like if the shoe were on the other foot. Imagine how much the Gingrichites would have abused the system after the 1994 election.

[Yupster]

16. Correct NW Harkness

Our Constitutional system was set up specifically to have three separate and distinct branches of government.

The Prime Minister is selected and immediately answerable to parliament.

Our president is selected by the electors. The electors used to be selected by the state legislatures. Now they are selected by the people. That's who the president is answerable to.