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Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday September 27, 2016

No five: Prince George refuses greeting from Canada’s Justin Trudeau

Justin Trudeau’s charm has finally met its match in the form of good old-fashioned British reserve.

The Canadian prime minister was shut down while trying to greet Britain’s Prince George on the runway when the royal family arrived for their tour of British Columbia.

Prince William and Kate’s children begin ‘lifetime of friendship’ with Canada

Landing in Canada on Saturday on a week-long official visit with parents the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the prince simply shook his head when Trudeau squatted down to the toddler’s level to offer a high-five variation, the low-five.

Trudeau then switched his palm for a high-five and subsequently offerTuesday September 27, 2016ed a handshake, both of which were seemingly rebuffed, creating an awkward moment at the airport in the western province.

Canadians felt the princely snub acutely, accustomed as they are to seeing their young premier win over millions of fans around the world and attain social media star status.

The prince has a history of unconventional meetings with heads of state. While he shook hands with Barack Obama on his visit to England in April, the prince received the US president in his pajamas. Obama later joked that the prince’s attire was “a slap in the face” and a clear breach of protocol.

The prince and his year-old sister, Princess Charlotte, are in Canada for the first time but it is the second trip for their parents, who visited in 2011.

On Sunday, the duke and duchess were to visit the Immigration Services Society of British Columbia to meet staff and volunteers who help recent migrants to the area. The couple also is scheduled to meet young leaders of various industries in Canada and some of Vancouver’s first responders.

Before leaving Canada on 1 October, the couple is expected to have more than more than 30 engagements, including with aboriginal Canadian communities.

William is second in line to succeed his grandmother Queen Elizabeth, who has been Canada’s head of state since she ascended to Britain’s throne in 1952. (Source: The Guardian)

 

 

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Letters to the Editor (Hamilton Spectator) October 1, 2016

Trudeau/prince cartoon one of the best

Coffee spewed out both my nostrils this morning after seeing Graeme MacKay’s morning cartoon. That has to be one of the best I’ve seen this year. The whole encounter with our PM at the airport shows that a three year old has more sense than the Canadian voting public. We all know that children can sense when something is not to be trusted.

Tony Fidanza, Hamilton

Royals would never be so insulting

I found MacKay’s cartoon, about Prince George’s hesitation to high five Justin Trudeau, to be inappropriate. Let’s look at it from the child’s perspective. After a 10-hour flight, it was midnight, British time, when the family arrived in B.C. Prince George was likely woken up, dressed and taken out onto the tarmac. The situation was overwhelming to a small child and the prime minister was a stranger. High five gestures are not used often in Britain. George acted like a three year old, because he IS a three year old.

The editorial cartoon has George saying to Justin, “Grow up and bow to your future king, you bloody selfie-aggrandizing peasant? And get a haircut, you’re a walking disaster.” Even an adult member of the Royal Family would never use rude or critical words, or suggest that Trudeau was beneath them. To suggest that they, or their three year old son would show such disrespect toward commoners, is offensive. 

Molly Shannon, Hamilton

Cartoon was Inappropriate

Shame on the cartoonist and The Record for publishing the so-called political cartoon in the Sept. 28 edition. He put nasty words into the mouth of Prince George, an innocent little boy. Obviously, they forget the joy that a child brings to the world. All in an effort to belittle a politician. If the cartoonist can’t find anything else, I guess he grasps at the smallest things to try to make his opinion known.

Sylvia Lusted., Waterloo

Don’t back off satirizing our celebrities

I have been following some of the social media outcry over this cartoon that pokes fun both at the Royals and Justin Trudeau. I am forced to conclude too many of your readers are humourless souls who don’t have a clue about irony and satire. Please don’t let them bully you into making the characters in our cult of celebrity into sacred cows. If anything, more fun needs to be poked more often.

Janice Henshaw, Hamilton

Stop harassing Trudeau and Royals

I have been subscribing to Hamilton Spectator for the last 80 years. I am shocked by this cartoon. If you think this is humorous, then I think you are a sick group of people. In the last few months you have been making jokes about Trudeau that are in poor taste. But now you are also including our Royal visitors to Canada. What is going to come next … these cartoons are lowbrow, not clever and definitely not amusing. I hope this harassment of both Prime Minister Trudeau and the Royal Family has come to an end.

William Bell, Burlington

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