patriotism – mackaycartoons

Thursday February 20, 2025

February 20, 2025 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday February 20, 2025

Carney’s Calm vs. Poilievre’s Pandemonium

January 25, 2025

As Canada navigates a politically charged landscape, the winds of change seem to be blowing in favour of Mark Carney, whose candidacy is rapidly gaining traction against Pierre Poilievre. Recent polling data reflects a growing momentum for Carney, a seasoned economist with extensive experience in both Canadian and international finance. This shift signals a potential realignment of Canadian political dynamics, with voters increasingly drawn to Carney’s steady and pragmatic approach.

Poilievre, long seen as the frontrunner with his Trump-inspired rhetoric and combative style, now finds himself in a precarious position. His past pandering to Trump’s supporters, characterized by divisive slogans and rhetoric, is increasingly at odds with the prevailing mood among Canadians. As Trump issues threats about tariffs and annexation, Canadians are unifying against such rhetoric, seeking leadership that stands for national sovereignty and constructive international relations.

NYT: Trump’s Threats Against Canada Upend Conservative’s Playbook

February 15, 2025

Moreover, Poilievre’s relentless use of rhetoric that once resonated with voters is now faltering. His attacks on Justin Trudeau lose their bite as Trudeau steps off the political stage. The slogan “Axe the Tax,” aimed at the Liberal federal consumer carbon tax/rebate scheme, is becoming outdated as all leadership hopefuls and leaders, including Carney, plan to end it. Additionally, the narrative that “Canada Seems Broken” inadvertently aligns with Trump’s suggestion that Canada might as well become the 51st state, a notion that undermines national confidence and unity.

Poilievre’s recent attempts to soften his tone and adopt a more inclusive message appear to be a strategic response to Carney’s rising popularity. However, this shift in rhetoric may come across as disingenuous to voters who have witnessed his previous alignment with Trumpian ideals. The challenge for Poilievre lies in convincing Canadians that his change in approach is more than superficial sloganeering.

In contrast, Carney’s candidacy offers a compelling alternative. With his background as a former governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, Carney brings a wealth of experience and a reputation for sound economic management. His pragmatic, solutions-oriented demeanour resonates with Canadians seeking stability and hope amid economic uncertainties and geopolitical tensions.

Opinion: Poilievre excelled at taking people down. Can he lift people up?

December 5, 2024

Carney’s ability to engage with complex issues, such as navigating relations with the United States, positions him as a credible leader in the eyes of voters. His approach, characterized by thoughtful discourse and a commitment to national interests, stands in stark contrast to the polarizing tactics often associated with Poilievre.

As the political narrative unfolds, it becomes evident that Canadians are looking for leadership that rises above partisanship and populism. The momentum building for Carney suggests a collective desire for a leader who embodies integrity, competence, and a vision for a prosperous future.

In this critical moment, the choice before Canadians is clear: a decision between the divisive rhetoric of the past and a new path forward, led by a leader who can unite and inspire. As the polls indicate, Mark Carney is emerging as the candidate who can offer that hope and direction, setting the stage for a transformative chapter in Canadian politics.

Mark Carney’s Rise Should Be Bringing Pierre Poilievre To Tears

Those who know my work understand that I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with politicians gaining too much popularity. For over a year now, Pierre Poilievre has been the big man on campus in Ottawa, seemingly miles ahead of other leaders. But let’s face it—his rise to fame might have more to do with Justin Trudeau’s declining popularity. Ever since Trudeau got that strong majority in 2015, his approval ratings have been on a slow, steady decline.

Poilievre seized on Trudeau’s weaknesses, turning his failing leadership into a bit of a personal punching bag with his sharp, often biting style since taking over the Conservative helm in 2022. But now, the tables are turning. Enter Mark Carney—a real contender with a unique set of credentials. Poilievre made a name for himself critiquing Trudeau’s shaky economic policies, playing up his role as a “fake economist.” Now he faces a real economist with the kind of pedigree that reads like a dream—Harvard, Oxford, former Governor of the Bank of Canada, and the Bank of England. Meanwhile, Poilievre holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Calgary.

Sure, education is just one piece of the puzzle, but life experience matters too. Poilievre has been a career politician, while Carney has been setting key interest rates and serving on bank and law firm boards. The old Conservative line of “He’s just not ready” won’t work this time around.

We’re on the brink of a major showdown between these two, and I have to say, it’s going to be quite the spectacle. As for me, I’m rooting for one of them for now, knowing that whoever wins will soon find themselves at the sharp end of my satire. But when it comes to Trump, he is, and will always be, my ultimate target—regardless of who holds the title of Prime Minister.

As Canada’s political dynamics evolve, Mark Carney’s candidacy is swiftly gaining traction against Pierre Poilievre, whose reliance on Trump-like rhetoric is losing resonance. Carney’s experience and pragmatic solutions appeal to Canadians seeking stability amid economic uncertainties and geopolitical tensions. Poilievre’s slogans, once powerful, now seem outdated, especially as rhetoric against Trudeau becomes irrelevant and narratives like “Canada Seems Broken” inadvertently align with Trump’s annexation suggestions. Carney’s rise reflects a shift towards leadership that embodies integrity, competence, and a hopeful vision, positioning him as a compelling alternative for a transformative future in Canadian politics.

Please check out my making-of animated editorial cartoon for February 20, 2025, below! If you haven’t yet, please subscribe to my Substack newsletter, where I release my post every Saturday morning summarizing the week through my editorial cartoons. What you’re reading here is a “note,” designed to help craft my weekly posts and display the animated versions of my daily cartoons. Enjoy!

– The Graeme Gallery

Read on Substack

Wednesday February 5, 2025

February 5, 2025 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday February 5, 2025

Donald Trump’s tariff threats have united Canadians, sparking renewed patriotism and prompting a reassessment of economic independence and national identity.

Maple Resurgence: How Trump’s Tariffs Sparked Canadian Unity

Canada stands at a crossroads, grappling with its colonial history and the complex issues it brings, such as the toppling of statues and the reevaluation of historical figures. While these events have sparked important debates, an unexpected force has recently united Canadians: the economic and political pressures from Donald Trump’s administration.

For years, Canada’s economic prosperity hinged on access to the U.S. market through agreements like NAFTA. However, Trump’s tariff threats and talk of annexation have disrupted this relationship, forcing Canada to rethink its strategy. This pressure has ignited a renewed sense of Canadian unity and pride, transcending political lines and regional divides.

News: How Donald Trump’s attacks on Canada are stoking a new Canadian nationalism

June 27, 2017

Across the country, citizens and leaders are rallying around the “Buy Canadian Instead” movement. Actions like removing U.S. products from shelves in British Columbia and Ontario illustrate a collective stand against economic coercion. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s firm stance and the viral slogan “Canada Is Not For Sale” have resonated deeply, reinforcing the nation’s independence and shared values.

This resurgence of Canadian patriotism isn’t merely a reaction to external threats. It’s about embracing an inclusive, diverse, and resilient identity. While Canada’s colonial past and economic dependencies are acknowledged, they now contribute to a narrative of a nation ready to adapt and thrive.

Editorial: Donald Trump has done Canada one big favour

June 30, 2021

Public sentiment reflects a readiness to redefine Canada’s economic landscape, emphasizing internal free trade and global partnerships. The realization that reliance on the U.S. has been both beneficial and limiting has led to a push for a self-reliant and competitive economy.

In these challenging times, Canada’s unity and resilience shine brightly. The nation is coming together to face the future with confidence and pride, demonstrating that it is defined not just by its history, but by its ability to learn, adapt, and unite for a better tomorrow.

You know, it’s funny how Canadians pretty much define ourselves by what we aren’t. A big part of being Canadian is not being American, and let’s be real, there’s a side of that which leans into anti-American sentiment. It’s been a part of our relationship with the U.S. for as long as we’ve known each other. Despite being the closest of neighbours, sharing a language, and fighting together for freedom, we have our own distinct customs and traditions.

But then, Donald Trump came along and rattled things up. His tariff threats have stirred up a hornet’s nest of Canadian pride and, yes, some anti-American feelings too. This has brought us together, but it’s also a wake-up call to do more than just react.

We need to bolster our country beyond the usual talk of restoring the military and breaking down trade barriers. Let’s start by taking pride in our history. Sure, it’s not all pretty, and the people of the past didn’t live by today’s standards. But burying history doesn’t help us grow. We should learn from our mistakes and celebrate our successes because our nation is born from them.

Whether English, French, Multicultural, or First Nations Indigenous, we need to embrace our rich and diverse identity. This is who we are, and it’s something to be proud of. So while Trump’s actions have united us, let’s use this moment to build a stronger, more self-reliant Canada. One that isn’t just proud of not being American, but proud of being Canadian for all the right reasons.

– The Graeme Gallery

Read on Substack

Saturday February 12, 2022

February 12, 2022 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday February 12, 2022

Flying the Maple Leaf

After the first full week of Winter Olympic competition in Beijing, Team Canada has won a total of 12 medals: one gold, four silver and seven bronze. (The Globe & Mail)

July 22, 2021

Meanwhile, an expected protest at the Peace Bridge in Fort Erie, Ont., has police, border services, public health and politicians watching closely, fearing it could endanger people or further business woes.

Social media posts show people opposed to continued pandemic mandates have plans to bring transport trucks and crowds of people to the border crossing that connects southern Ontario to Buffalo.

Currently, protests are ongoing in border cities like Coutts, Alta., Emerson, Man., and Windsor, Ont., as rallies that started in Ottawa two weeks ago continue. (CBC)

Nobody is threatening gridlock or shutting down the U.S.-Canada border as groups are in Ottawa and at northern crossings over the past few days.

Wednesday June 30, 2021

July 7, 2021 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday June 30, 2021

Make Canada Day a time for reflection

By almost any standard, Canada can be judged one of the world’s best countries. Yet its riches, rewards and life-changing opportunities are not enjoyed equally by all who inhabit this land.

June 25, 2021

By almost any estimation, Canada’s history is filled with rousing stories of courage, vision and achievement. Yet there remains a long and shameful record of past injustices — many of which have yet to be set right.

Most notably, evidence of the glaring wrongs done to the people who first called this place home is now out in full public view as never before. As shocking as the recent discoveries of almost 1,000 unmarked gravesites at former First Nations residential schools in British Columbia and Saskatchewan have been, they have also provided one more necessary jolt to this nation’s collective conscience.

All these contradictions and paradoxes explain why it is so difficult for people to know how to mark Canada’s 154th birthday on Thursday. Do we wave the flag or lower it to half-mast? More than a year into a devastating pandemic and just as the arrival of another summer offers glimmers of respite, many Canadians ache for something to celebrate, something like the festive national holiday they’ve cherished in years past.

June 2, 2021

Yet Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has wisely called for this July 1st to be a more sober affair. Having reached a similar conclusion, many communities across the country have cancelled their traditional Canada Day festivities.

This is not the same as cancelling Canada Day itself, however, and no one is seriously recommending such a move that would, even for this one, fraught year alone, deny the country its nationwide holiday. But let’s also agree that after the discoveries of the graves of so many First Nations children, many Indigenous people would understandably consider the traditional celebrations with their parades and fireworks to be completely tone-deaf.

We do not anticipate a clear national consensus on the matter of July 1, 2021. Whatever people do or don’t do this Canada Day, we would only urge everyone to pause and reflect upon what Canada is, how we got here and what remains for us to do — together.

There are abundant national treasures for which we can all give thanks. Judged by our national living standard, our health care and education systems and by the enviable rights and freedoms we enjoy, it is easy to see why this is so. The land itself, in all its staggering beauty and enormity stretching across a continent, lies waiting for new generations to explore. No wonder hundreds of thousands of people from around the world arrive eagerly each year to start a new life with this goal in mind: becoming new Canadians. And how wonderful it is that they do.

June 26, 2018

But none of this can or should drown out the voices of the Indigenous people who knew and loved this land for millennia. They are reminding us daily of what we need to regret, lament and correct. For this to happen, the Trudeau government must move from reflection to taking the action it has promised for years. It continues to ignore far too many of the recommendations from the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The recent passage through Parliament of new legislation, Bill C-15, could bring overdue, transformative change by codifying with greater meaning than ever before the rights of Indigenous people to their land and self-government. But an even greater commitment to learn and change must be there, not just for our federal leaders but for all of us.

When that happens, even those who feel unable to celebrate the creation of Canada 154 years ago may be able to support something different: the creating of a new Canada today. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial)

Friday June 25, 2021

July 2, 2021 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday June 25, 2021

Prime Minister Trudeau must expand residential school investigations

Like a nightmare Canada can’t wake up from, the real-life horror stories about the country’s Indigenous residential schools won’t go away.

June 1, 2021

On Thursday the Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan announced it had located as many as 751 unmarked graves in a cemetery located beside the community’s former residential school.

This mind-boggling discovery, which the band’s chief, Cadmus Delorme, believes is evidence of criminal acts, comes less than a month after the remains of 215 Indigenous children, some as young as three years old, were found in unmarked graves near a former residential school outside Kamloops, B.C.

That first, grisly finding stunned the country. It also led to a national outpouring of grief and solemn commitments from our political leaders to help discover the truth about what happened to Indigenous children who died or went missing at these hellish, misguided institutions.

Now more than ever, as the shock waves from the Cowessess First Nation reverberate across Canada, the federal government needs to ensure the money and expertise will be there to achieve this.

After all, the 2006 Indian residential School Settlement Agreement covered 138 schools across the country. So far, investigators using ground-penetrating radar technology are looking at unmarked, nameless gravesites at just two of them. We have but scratched the surface of what might lie buried across this land.

By now, everyone in Canada should have a basic awareness of the dreadful things that happened at institutions supposedly created to educate Indigenous children but which were, in reality, diabolical machines for forced assimilation, a practice the Truth and Reconciliation Commission called “cultural genocide.”

June 3, 2015

From the late 19th century to the late 20th century, about 150,000 First Nations, Métis and Inuit children were torn from their families and compelled to live in appalling conditions in these institutions which, while instituted and funded by Ottawa, were operated by the Roman Catholic, Anglican, United and Presbyterian churches.

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation register counts 1,420 children as having died of disease or accidents while attending residential schools across the country. But Murray Sinclair, the former head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, has long maintained as many as 6,000 children died. The discoveries from the past month have led to speculation the final death toll could be even higher.

That’s why the $27 million Ottawa has freed up to help Indigenous communities with their own searches is nowhere near enough when it comes to addressing the scale of the challenges ahead. It’s also worth remembering this isn’t new money. The Liberals set it aside in their 2019 federal budget and simply hadn’t spent it.

June 27, 2017

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should consider that money a mere down-payment on what this country still owes to its Indigenous peoples. We all need to find out if crimes occurred at these schools and if coverups took place. Investigators — who should be chosen by Indigenous communities — will need the power to subpoena records from governments and churches that ran the schools, as well as access to the locations.

We need as much information as possible to know what happened, what might remain to be done and if anyone alive today should and can be held accountable.

The path ahead will not be a straight one. The Cowessess cemetery was used by the community both before and after the residential school operated there. There are likely adults buried there, too. Only a much broader investigation will take us to the truth. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial)