Sunday April 27, 2025
Election 2025 Cartoons
A gallery of editorial cartoons leading up the the April 28, 2025 federal election campaign:
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As people get older and experience many elections, those elections often start to blend together into a blur—especially when it comes to minority governments. It’s one thing to remember the leaders from one election to the next; it’s quite another to keep track of the gains and losses of seats among the four main parties. Add in the key issues of each campaign, and it quickly becomes confusing for anyone who believes the components of campaigning truly matter.
For me, as well as for political enthusiasts and historians, the details of elections are crucial. Campaigns in Canada tend to follow a familiar pattern. They start with the issuing of writs, followed by polls, gaffes, the dropping of candidates, debates, advance polls, the unveiling of costed platforms, endorsements, and the last minute frenzy leading up to election day.
In olden days, politicians would actually show up for editorial board meetings and answer questions with thoughtful answers. Here, Bob Rae, interim leader of the federal Liberal Party before editors at the Hamilton Spectator. Often, I would go to sketch the visitors and listen in on the Q&A. This is long a thing on the past.
These elements have remained consistent in federal elections throughout my career as a political cartoonist. However, what has changed significantly is how media shapes and shares information about candidates and issues. Social media has lessened the need for political groups to communicate through traditional media. In recent elections, I’ve noticed that many local candidates have stopped responding to basic policy questions from newspapers. Many have also not made themselves available for interviews or editorial board meetings. Politicians, like Mr. Poilievre, have limited the number of questions asked during scrums and restricted media access to their campaign buses and planes.
Before anyone brushes this off with a “cry me a river, media dude” attitude, I ask how it helps the public when local party representatives skip all-candidates debates. In my riding of Hamilton Centre, only one candidate showed up to face the sitting NDP MP, Matthew Green, in a televised debate. Ironically, the candidate who attended was from the low-polling Green Party, resulting in a Green vs. Green comedy scenario. This turned into a trivial exercise rather than a meaningful discussion that should have included candidates from the two parties most likely to influence the next session of Parliament. What happened to the days when candidates would knock on doors to meet voters? It seems that the people we elect have either become too important to be accountable to their constituents or have become so trained to stick to party lines that they can’t engage in local conversations.
There are security issues that may prevent candidates from freely interacting with the public and canvassing in neighbourhoods as they used to. We may need to raise awareness that harassment of public figures, as we’ve seen recently, should not be tolerated.
The beauty of editorial cartoons is that they capture feelings and ideas that vanish as soon as the votes are counted and the election dust settles. Will anyone remember who Paul Chiang was, that Neil Young endorsed Mark Carney, or why the Greens weren’t included in the debates? Probably not. Did the Niqab ban influence the 2015 election? What about the Blackface scandal in 2019 or the vaccine mandates in 2021? I would argue that they certainly did.
Looking ahead to 2025, it’s a given that Donald Trump has played a giant role in this election, and this is reflected in the editorial cartoons I create. Other themes in my work that will hold relevance in the days to months ahead include Preston Manning’s fears about Western separation, Doug Ford’s comments on Pierre Poilievre, and Canada’s passive approach to bolstering its defence. For the record, I think Jagmeet Singh’s tenure as NDP leader is on the cusp of coming to its end.
Together, editorial cartoons tell a story that written articles cannot replicate. With all due respect to my colleagues who write, this is why editorial cartoons matter—they provide insights that extend beyond mere words.
In this election, I have openly rejected Pierre Poilievre. He has shown himself to be hostile toward mainstream journalism, often criticizing reporters in a manner reminiscent of Donald Trump. He doesn’t offer solutions for struggling legacy media outlets that are being overwhelmed by foreign media companies. It’s challenging to view any politician fairly when they dismiss the role of journalism in a democracy.
As for the future of editorial cartoons, the platforms we once relied on—mainly print media—are disappearing. However, satire has existed for longer than the printing press, and it should continue. I strive to remain relevant in my newspaper’s digital space by animating my editorial cartoons. While static cartoons are appreciated by my generation and older audiences, younger viewers seek movement, and I work on that every day.
Past Election Galleries
