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Stephane Dion, leader of Canada’s Liberal Party and would-be successor to Stephen Harper as PM.
prime minister,canada,interview,stephane dion,stephen harper,PM If you were the Prime Minister Now.. Worst interview ever!
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1. If you became prime minister today, what would you do to address this crisis?
2. If you were the prime minister since this crisis began, or came to prominence, what would you have done differently?
3. If you were prime minister since the last election, how would your policies have prevented/mitigated this crisis?
"If you were the Prime Minister today, what would you do differently?"
To which he responds "What time period are you asking about?" because he's focusing on the tense of the verb -- like you would in French -- and being confused by the past tense being used together with "today", because it implies a continuous period of time from an unknown point in the past through today (again, assuming French is your first language).
Still a huge gaffe, but it's a linguistic issue, not a truckload full of stupidity issue (like certain GOP VP candidates).
If you WERE = subjunctive (mood), not past tense.
Regardless, the question could have (and arguably, should have) been posed differently. Dion's reaction, in my opinion, is quite legitimate.
Yup, tenses are all mixed up. Question should have been:
"Had you been prime minister, what would you have done that Mr. Harper has not done?"
or
"If you become prime minister, what will you do that Mr. Harper has not done?"
or
"If you were prime minister today, what would you do that Mr. Harper has not done?"
As a native speaker of french, and an editor, I think it makes a world of difference. The interviewer's question is unclear.
"If a long time ago you had become prime minister in the far future, what would you do then, that is different from how things had or would not have been done, at all or none of the times when they were."
!
"If a long time ago you had become prime minister in the far future, what would you do then, that is different from how things had or would not have been done, at all or none of the times when they were."
....
Well.. I think.. that.. The..um... Canadians.. don't HAVE maps..
The interviewer may have just been asking "what would you do as Prime Minister" but it was asked ridiculously.
If Dion had been prime minister, would he have called an election to be voted into office to do the things he had done since being prime minister?
The question is stupid. The election was in 4 days and the guy interviewer corrected Dion that he was NOT asking about being elected on Election day (in 4 days) nor had been Prime Minister 2 and a half years ago. Then when? At the time of Confederation?
I think it was right for Dion to seek clarification. Sorry, *downvote for the biased title of this.