July 5, 2009
This is what I drew for today:
…but what I really wanted to draw was something on these lines:
Sadly though, my newspaper sided with the angels and gave Mr. Chretien a big pat on the back for entering into a club reserved for only the greatest figures of our time (according to whoever sits on the throne as the monarch of England.) The powers here aren’t very comfortable if my cartoons deviate noticeably from the editorial.
If the award is for record time spent as a career politician, then so be it, Chretien is worthy of the prize, especially since the appointment is solely at the whim of the sitting monarch without the guidance of any committees. The Queen has obviously had a thing for him going back decades to when he entered politics. Is it obvious I’m not a great fan of Mr. Chretien? — (at least not of the Chretien post losing to John Turner for the Liberal leadership of 1984.)
Many in the media are asking why Chretien was awarded with this honour alongside the truly great personalities of the past century including Winston Churchill, Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela, Florence Nightingale, Robert Baden-Powell, and Albert Schweitzer, to name a few. But on closer inspection of the current cast of the Order of Merit you may be left scratching your head wondering about the importance of some of Chretien’s other colleagues in the club. It may not be that bad of a thing afterall having our own lone Canadian amongst a bunch of British stuffed shirts.