PM

Canada Day seems to be the right sort of day to unveil a little project I’ve been working on for the past few weeks, drawing each and every Prime Minister of Canada. As a student of history it was a neat review of the past personalities who’ve been at the helm of the country’s leadership. I’ve been around long enough as a doodler to be familiar with a whole third of these politicians, 3 of which very much so in my 18 years as the staff editorial cartoonist at the Hamilton Spectator. I had to temper some of my caricature exaggerations of Harper, Martin, and Chretien, in order to match the others, a few I’ve never even attempted to draw until now. Some, like Louis St. Laurent and Lester Person I approached with trepidation as they’ve never stood out to me as easy mugs to draw.

I’ve always viewed the longest reigning Prime Minister, William Lyon MacKenzie King as a bit of a bore to draw until I did a study of some photos and YouTube clips. That guy has one of the most comical comb overs I’ve ever seen. While some of the editorial cartoonists at the time had figured this trait out it seemed to be ignored by the vast majority of others. Nowadays I doubt anyone with such a unique coif would ever get away with it.

The above chart, which may or may not require alteration after this October’s election, is available for purchase on many neat accessories through the mackaycartoons boutique on Redbubble.com. Also, the whole range of your favourite Canadian Prime Ministers, from Sir John A. Macdonald to Stephen Harper is offered through my special Prime Ministers gallery.

Some other timely Prime Ministerial YouTubes