mackaycartoons

Graeme MacKay's Editorial Cartoon Archive

  • Who?
  • Archives
  • Sharing
  • Boutique
  • Kings & Queens
  • Prime Ministers
  • Presidents
  • Special Features
  • Young Doug Ford

Leaders

Tuesday June 11, 2019

June 18, 2019 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday June 11, 2019

The politics of basketball

The country is roaring for the Raptors as they take on the Golden State Warriors in the NBA finals, and politicians are capitalizing on the buzz.

October 16, 2015

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh both attended previous playoff games, and former U.S. president Barack Obama also made a surprise appearance at a game in Toronto.

Former high-level staff members to two prime ministers say there’s all kinds of political and personal reasons for politicians to try to tap into the Raptors’ crowd.

“It’s young, it’s urban, it’s hip, it’s diverse. And so if you’re Justin Trudeau, you dig being around that because you think that’s on brand for you. If you’re Andrew Scheer, being around that demonstrates ‘see I’m not not those things,'” Scott Reid, director of communications to former prime minister Paul Martin, told The House.

But he also cautioned it’s not just about the politics.

“Let’s not lose sight of the possibility that people are fans and occasionally politicians are also people.”

Aside from potential fan-motivations, Dennis Matthews, who served as head of advertising for former prime minister Stephen Harper, said it’s never a bad thing to be connected to a success.

“Politicians like to be associated with things that are winning,” he said.

When asked whether they thought Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would be making an appearance at a finals game, they both thought it’s a possibility — though it would have to be calculated.

Both men said you don’t want a politician at a deciding game (lest a loss result in the notion they somehow cursed the game), and you don’t want them courtside (or seeming out of touch with Canadians).

The diversity of the team and Toronto has factored in to the political appearances at the games, Reid and Matthews agreed.

The team is situated in an election battleground, and the demographics represent votes to be snapped up.

“I’d be looking at that audience base and I’d be saying ‘hey I want these people to to vote for me,'” Matthews said,

Reid agreed, adding how he’d look at those votes for political strategy.

“How do I get those? Because if I do, I am bringing in new votes into the column and I’m bringing them for me.” (CBC) 

 

Posted in: Canada Tagged: 2019-21, Andrew Scheer, Canada, Conservative, Elizabeth May, Green, Jagmeet Singh, Justin Trudeau, Leaders, Liberal, NDP, pandering, party, Raptors, Toronto

My Button Fascination

August 27, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

button-collectionI’m guessing that 21st century kids don’t obsess over accumulating stuff as much as the ones which grew up in the pre-smart phone era. Hockey/baseball cards, comic books, stamps, coins, marbles, matchbox cars etc. used to be commodities aspiring capitalists like me amassed and openly traded in imaginary markets based on dreams and trends. One of my odd pursuits with the thought of aspiring wealth was hoarding political campaign buttons. Not the American ones you see above but Canadian political buttons. So in the 1980’s I found out that if you mailed letters to politicians asking for campaign buttons chances were very likely that their staff were more than happy to use their stationary and postal benefits to accommodate my requests. An added bonus was the fact that if you were mailing letters to MPs you didn’t have to affix postage stamps – just pop the letters in the mail to proper addresses in Ottawa or Queen’s Park and watch the bubble packages pour in. Eventually, Parliamentary officials got wind of my postage dodging scheme and a letter arrived from the Speaker of the House of Commons demanding I cease taking advantage of the stamp amnesty. Cool! By then, I had accumulated hundreds of buttons from lowly backbenchers to cabinet ministers and the Prime Minister, Brian Mulroney himself.

cdn-buttonsAfter that button acquisition continued to be a bit of an obsession and it extended to provincial premiers like the ones shown to left, and U.S. politicians. The buttons were posted on cork boards through my teens until my parents moved the same year I went off to University when they all went into boxes and stored in various basements for the next 20 years.

When my wife’s war on hoarding began in the mid 00s it was time to unload those one thousand plus buttons from politicians, many of whom had gone on to humiliating defeats, purgatory, or faded glories where they were enjoying their golden pensions at taxpayer expense. Still, I couldn’t bear the thought of taking them curb side so I began an ambitious undertaking to post them in batches of 20 on ebay. The proceeds of those transactions allowed me to empty two large plastic Tupperware tubs in exchange for the tiny US buttons you see above which were individually won in ebay auctions before fitting quite nicely in a small shadowbox. My oldest one is of President William McKinley, though I’m quite happy I’ve got a not so easy to find Theodore Roosevelt button, and there is one Canadian relic from 1942 celebrating Confederation’s diamond jubilee.

A one-time print license has been extended to Redbubble.com. Unauthorized use is prohibited. All kinds of stickers, greeting cards, postcards, framed prints and t-shirts displaying the illustrations of Graeme MacKay are available for purchase through Redbubble via http://www.redbubble.com/people/mackaycartoons Donald Trump, Election, Canada, Canadian, politics, hair, Justin Trudeau, Thomas Mulcair, Stephen Harper, Liberal, Conservative, NDP, political, buttons, satire, #elxn42, memorabilia

Now with a federal election ticking away with just less than 2 months to go I thought I’d blend my fascination with political buttons and my day job as an editorial cartoonist, to come up with some gag buttons – available at the Mackaycartoons Boutique at Redbubble on various accessories. My inspiration is Margaret Atwood’s piece in the National Post last Friday on the topic of hair in the election campaign, which set off a bit of a scandal after the article disappeared on the Post’s website bringing on howls from social media accusing the newspaper of censorship. It became better known as #hairgate.  Anyway, the headline asked if hair is crucial to the question of your vote, which I answered in a most definite affirmative, and motivated me to do these buttons of the four main national leaders. Unlike the 3 men running, not much has been said of Elizabeth May’s hair in the 10 years she’s been kicking around as a veteran leader of the Green Party. However, I do bring up a question of May’s leadership longevity no one bothers to even ask about. I suppose it comes down to the same problem the withered Bloc Quebecois has having Gilles Duceppe as it’s only leader-for-life-if-its-party-has-any-chance-to-grow. Needless to say, I won’t even bother doing a Duceppe button.

Posted in: Cartooning Tagged: #elxn2015, election #elxn42, election2015, Leaders, memorabilia, political buttons, politics, Redbubble

Saturday August 8, 2015

August 7, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

Saturday August 8, 2015By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday August 8, 2015

Thomas Mulcair’s Clarity problem

Wednesday, April 9, 2014At about the midpoint of last night’s debate, during an otherwise necessary chat about the state of democratic institutions, things veered into a constitutional abstraction of the sort that has obsessed this country’s political class for a half century. It lasted about five minutes and was prompted by Justin Trudeau, who looks younger than his 43 years but, at that moment at least, could have passed for pater Pierre Elliott circa 1968, shaking his fists at the evil Quebec separatists in our midst.

Friday, February 1, 2013“One of the things that really frustrates a lot of people is when they see politicians pander, when they say one thing in one part of the country and a different thing in another part of the country. One of the things that unfortunately Mr. Mulcair has been doing quite regularly is talking in French about his desire to repeal the Clarity Act, to make it easier for those who want to break up this country to actually do so. And in doing so, he is actually disagreeing with the Supreme Court judgment that said one vote is not enough to break up the country.”

Thursday, March 13, 2014The Clarity Act was wrought by Jean Chrétien’s government in 2000 to try and address the question born in 1995’s Quebec referendum, which the No side won by all of 54,288 votes: would it have been enough to separate the country had the Yes side won by as many (or fewer) votes? The Supreme Court’s answer was no: a province would need a “clear majority.” Except no one defined what, exactly, constituted this clear majority. The resulting lack of clarity has obsessed Canada’s political class and legions of its journalists ever since.

Friday, March 1, 2013Three things usually happen whenever this issue is brought up in a federal campaign. First, chest puffed, each leader will say what good Canadians they are. Then the others will say how irrelevant it is to talk about separatism, because Quebec’s sovereignty movement is stuck somewhere between cryogenic sleep and outright death. Finally, they do exactly that—talk about an apparently irrelevant issue. For over 50 years, it’s been our political quicksand: impossible to avoid, and even harder to escape. (Continued: MacLean’s)

Posted in: Canada, Quebec Tagged: Canada, debate, election 2015, Elizabeth May, Gilles Duceppe, Justin Trudeau, Leaders, MacLeans, mask, Pierre Trudeau, Quebec, Rene Levesque, Stephen Harper, Thomas Mulcair, unity

Wednesday October 1, 2008

October 1, 2008 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday October 1, 2008

Economy engulfs TV debates

The financial crisis in the United States has forced the economy to the forefront of Canada’s televised leaders’ debates.

Broadcast executives yesterday rewrote the format of tonight’s French-language debate and tomorrow’s English-language event to allow the five politicians more time to discuss the fallout from the financial storm that has been pummelling stocks and financial markets.

The decision to devote more time to what has become the key issue in the election came after the Conservatives appealed to the broadcast consortium that runs the debates to reserve an hour – instead of 12 minutes – for the economy.

The New Democrats and the Green party endorsed the request, and the consortium agreed to set aside the first 30 minutes for the economy.

Gone are the opening and closing statements by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion, Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe, NDP Leader Jack Layton and Green party Leader Elizabeth May.

“Given recent events in the global economy and its impact on Canada the economy has become a paramount issue,” the consortium said in a statement.

“In addition, the moderators will take advantage of the flexibility built into the debate format to allow for more time to be devoted to this important issue.” (Source: Toronto Star) 

 

Posted in: Canada Tagged: Canada, debate, economist, Economy, Elizabeth May, Gilles Duceppe, Jack Layton, Leaders, sleep, sleeping, snooze, Stephane Dion, Stephen Harper

Wednesday October 1, 2008

October 1, 2008 by Graeme MacKay

Wednesday October 1, 2008

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday October 1, 2008

Economy engulfs TV debates

The financial crisis in the United States has forced the economy to the forefront of Canada’s televised leaders’ debates.

Broadcast executives yesterday rewrote the format of tonight’s French-language debate and tomorrow’s English-language event to allow the five politicians more time to discuss the fallout from the financial storm that has been pummelling stocks and financial markets.

The decision to devote more time to what has become the key issue in the election came after the Conservatives appealed to the broadcast consortium that runs the debates to reserve an hour – instead of 12 minutes – for the economy.

The New Democrats and the Green party endorsed the request, and the consortium agreed to set aside the first 30 minutes for the economy.

Gone are the opening and closing statements by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion, Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe, NDP Leader Jack Layton and Green party Leader Elizabeth May.

“Given recent events in the global economy and its impact on Canada the economy has become a paramount issue,” the consortium said in a statement.

“In addition, the moderators will take advantage of the flexibility built into the debate format to allow for more time to be devoted to this important issue.” (Source: Toronto Star) 

 

Posted in: Canada Tagged: Canada, debate, economist, Economy, Elizabeth May, Gilles Duceppe, Jack Layton, Leaders, sleep, sleeping, snooze, Stephane Dion, Stephen Harper
1 2 Next »

Please note…

This website contains satirical commentaries of current events going back several decades. Some readers may not share this sense of humour nor the opinions expressed by the artist. To understand editorial cartoons it is important to understand their effectiveness as a counterweight to power. It is presumed readers approach satire with a broad minded foundation and healthy knowledge of objective facts of the subjects depicted.

  • The Hamilton Spectator
  • The Toronto Star
  • The Globe & Mail
  • The National Post

Social Media Connections

Link to our Facebook Page
Link to our Flickr Page
Link to our Pinterest Page
Link to our Twitter Page
Link to our Website Page
  • HOME
  • Sharing
  • The Boutique
  • The Hamilton Spectator
  • Artizans Syndicate
  • Association of Canadian Cartoonists
  • Wes Tyrell
  • Martin Rowson
  • Guy Bado’s Blog
  • You Might be From Hamilton if…
  • MacKay’s Most Viral Cartoon
  • Intellectual Property Thief Donkeys
  • National Newswatch
  • Young Doug Ford

Your one-stop-MacKay-shop…

T-shirts, hoodies, clocks, duvet covers, mugs, stickers, notebooks, smart phone cases and scarfs

2023 Coronation Design

Brand New Designs!

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets
Follow Graeme's board My Own Cartoon Favourites on Pinterest.

MacKay’s Virtual Gallery

Archives

Copyright © 2016 mackaycartoons.net

Powered by Wordpess and Alpha.

 

Loading Comments...