At ease, Canadians

Early into his first term as Prime Minister, Stephen Harper mused aloud about how he wished Canadian reporters would stand when he entered the room. I believe the collective reply to this musing had something to do with weather forecasts and the temperature in hell.

But yesterday, on Canada Day, Global TV news  showed  us how Harper managed to get the military to give him a salute that's normally reserved for the Governor-General. As Heritage Minister James Moore explains in the video, this was something that the Prime Minister apparently wanted. 

 So if you do run across our Tim Horton's, hockey-dad, regular-guy PM this summer on the barbecue circuit, give him a little salute. Or stand up, or something. He really seems to appreciate deference.

Comments

[jenna]

I guess the fact that American reporters routinely give their Presidents the courtesy of standing when the President arrives is something that is beyond the sensitivities of our PPG.

NB They even used to stand for Bush !

[Gabby in QC]

Some fact-checking required, perhaps.

http://www.pch.gc.ca/pgm/ceem-cced/prtcl/salut-eng.cfm#a3
"Who is entitled
The current Canadian practice is to be found in the Canadian Forces Administration Orders (CFAO 61-8, mod 8/84).
Honours and salutes are accorded to the following dignitaries:
• Heads of state;
• The Queen's representatives in Canada
• Members of reigning royal families
• Heads of governments
• Ambassadors and high commissioners accredited to Canada; and
• Ministers of National Defence. ...

When are they accorded
The Prime Minister and the Minister of National Defence: a 19 rounds gun salute is fired for the Prime Minister and 17 for the Minister of National Defence when visiting a saluting station (but not more than once a year); full honours are given on occasions when the mounting of a guard of honour is warranted ..."

[Peter]

Canadian reporters would never show respect for the Prime Minister as Americans do for the President. I think this is primarily due to our reporters thinking they are superior and don't have to show respect to the leader of our country. Our PM is much better treated by foreign press than the local hacks such as Susan Delacourt. But then again, she would likely bow deeply if the PM was a Liberal. Shameful and worthless reporting, typical of the Star.

[Cam]

nice nag Peter but it probably has something more to do that in the US the President is both the Head of State and Head of Government. Here, until the PM changes it I guess, he's just Head of Government.

Me, I rather like our seperation of powers.

[John D]

Our PM is not the head of state and no one should be treating him as such.

[Mike]

His Imperial Majesty got his salute.

And now we have whiners complaining that he isn't being treated like the US President?

Hot flash from the newsroom, he isn't a President. He isn't the Head of State. We aren't Americans. It is not the tradition of OUR press corp to stand for the PM because he is merely a minister, where as the GG or the Queen rate standing.

And why should Harper get such an honour? He can't even be trusted not to steal and sell the Queen's silver tea service when she isn't around...

Why such contempt for our long-held parliamentary traditions from someone whose party always claims to "Stand up for Canada"?

Maybe if the PM did something worthy of respect, he'd get it. In the mean time, how about HE give some respect to our long held tradtion instead of trying to re-write protocols to satisfy his ego. Next thing, he'll have a gallery in the HoC with nothing but pictures of him...oh, wait...

[Darwin O'Connor]

The President of the United States is a Head of State. In Canada the Head of State is Her Majesty, The Queen. The Prime Minister is just the chair of the Privy Council, which advises the Queen's representative, the Governor General. There is no need to stand for an adviser.

[marie]

I would never stand up to Harper when he entered a room. I more than likely would boo him an promptly leave the room. This man is ridicules, a laughing stock of anyone who uses their brains and as far as I'm concerned, a nobody.Why do everybody let him get away with this crap? Where is the media on this. What ever happened to investigative journalism and being the watch dogs for Canadians?

[Skinny dipper]

Thanks for the info, Gabby in QC. Harper will have to wait until next year before he gets another 19 gun salute (if he is still the PM).

Why don't the press stand up when the prime minister enters a room? Let us remember that the PM is first among equals in parliament (and in the country). The PM's status in society is no higher than the average person including journalists. This is not a poke at Stephen Harper. It's just to remind people that the PM is a commoner like practically everyone else.

Anyway, the PM does get his salute every time he walks by the people standing on guard in the foyer in front of the House of Commons.

[Gabby in QC]

Maybe I'm old school, Marie and other like-minded individuals, but there are certain rules of decorum that have been traditionally observed - until recently, that is, when everyone apparently feels justified in flouting rules or observing only those they agree with.

The office of the Prime Minister AND its occupant deserve our respect. One may disagree with the individual in that office, but it does not call for actions like those Marie said she would engage in. That kind of behaviour would only serve to show one's own boorishness and lack of proper etiquette. Why would anyone who vehemently disagreed with the PM attend a function where s/he was going to be present, anyway?

As for Darwin O'Connor's comment "There is no need to stand for an adviser" this is similar to the kind of disinformation spread by anti-Harper and pro-coalition people.

Immediately after the coalition, the running argument was that Canadians do not elect a PM. The argument was that an MP becomes the PM once the election has taken place, and all the MPs decide among themselves to select the PM, giving him the confidence of the House.

Total crap, to use the vernacular. The party which gets a plurality of the seats gets to form the government, and the leader of that party becomes the PM. His/her job is then confirmed, i.e. the opposition MPs signify their confidence in his/her leadership as PM by voting on the Speech from the Throne.

While Canadians do not cast an individual vote for the PM, we are very much aware of the leader of each party, and s/he is a deciding factor in casting our vote, so indirectly we are indeed voting FOR a leader of a party to become the PM.
If the PM is merely an adviser, someone'd better inform Jack Layton. Last time he applied for the job of Prime Minister, not Prime "Adviser."