Senator COONEY (4:34 PM) —I would like to raise another issue here. This is a concept that runs through the American Constitution. It was brought in after President Franklin Roosevelt was elected four times. Up until that time the people had followed the precedent set by President Washington of filling the office for two terms only, that is, for two four-year terms. Senator Murray's amendment is reflecting that. One of the reasons for opposing this is that the President who will be appointed under this system will be quite different from the President who is elected under the American system. There the President has executive powers—is the executive—whereas here the President is to be a symbolic head.

Senator Murray interjecting—

Senator COONEY —He will not have the executive power that resides in the Prime Minister, and that is the point. Under our system it is the Prime Minister who has the executive power that the President has in the United States. If the President is to have some executive powers, reserve powers, that is good, but he will not have the extent of the powers that the American President has, nor the full range of those powers, and will not be able to exercise those powers in the way that the American President can. It is important that, even though we are using the title President, everybody understands that the President we talk about here is entirely—I use the word advisedly—different from the President that occupies the White House in Washington. It is important to keep that distinction alive.