CBC has tapped Jeopardy!‘s Alex Trebek to host the upcoming installment of its one-hour special Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister.

Trebek – who takes over for comedian Rick Mercer – will lead four young aspiring politicians as they are grilled by a panel of former PMs including Paul Martin, Brian Mulroney, Kim Campbell and Joe Clark. The studio audience will decide the winner.

The candidates will compete for a $50,000 cash prize and a six-month paid internship at a high-profile firm such as Magna International (a well-known source of politicos).

CBC looks to grow ratings for Next PM, which grabbed a solid 865,000 viewers in its debut year, 2007, when it aired in the Thursday 7 pm slot, but declined to 400,000 last year when it aired on Easter Sunday at 8 pm (all numbers 2+).

Next PM airs Mar. 18 at 8 pm.
From Playback Daily