Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday May 19, 2018
Why Prince Harry is giving the British press the cold shoulder
In many ways, Prince Harry’s raucous relationship with the media has been leading up to this.
August 23, 2012
His upcoming wedding to Meghan Markle signals the culmination of a lifelong tug of war over access to him and his family. And by allowing nearly no journalists into St. George’s Chapel on May 19, Harry may be indicating he finally has the upper hand.
“The Prince Harry that I know doesn’t like the press,” said Duncan Larcombe, a former tabloid reporter who wrote the book Prince Harry: The Inside Story.
While 28 reporters and 17 still photographers were allowed into Prince William and Kate’s wedding in 2011, only one reporter and two photographers will be welcome this time — a reflection, perhaps, of Harry’s antagonism.
“William allowed the press in,” Larcombe said. “Harry is basically shutting the door.”
Larcombe concedes the chapel in Windsor can only hold a fraction of the 1,900 guests invited to Westminster Abbey for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s nuptials.
But, he said, “hiding behind the excuse that this is a private wedding is pretty nonsensical.”
Longtime royal photographer Arthur Edwards describes Harry as genuine and warm in private. But he acknowledges the prince’s relationship with the press has “been a little bit difficult recently.” (Source: CBC News)
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
December 4, 2012
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.
February 24, 2007
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.
November 25, 2015
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)
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
This cartoon was featured during a panel of English speaking cartoonists at Le festival 1001Visages, VAl-David, Quebec on October 9, 2016. L-R: Me, Sue Dewar, Christian Vachon, Tim Leatherbarrow, and Wes Tyrell. A great venue that will host the convention of the Association of Canadian Cartoonists in 2018.
By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday November 26
Justin Trudeau meeting Queen, Cameron in London
Trudeau has a bit of history with the Queen, having met the now 89-year-old monarch as a young child in the late 1970s when his father Pierre Trudeau was Canada’s prime minister
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has reacquainted himself with Queen Elizabeth, this time as the prime minister of Canada rather than the son of Canada’s parliamentary leader.
Trudeau, making his second whirlwind tour on the international summit circuit in as many weeks, is meeting Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace Wednesday morning.
The Queen also met Sophie and the two youngest Trudeau children.
Canadian Press photographer Doug Ball took this iconic photo of Pierre Trudeau performing a pirouette during a photo session of several leaders at Buckingham Palace on May 7, 1977
Trudeau will then deliver a speech at Canada House in Trafalgar Square, followed by a sit-down with Prime Minister David Cameron at 10 Downing Street where it’s expected climate change, anti-terrorism measures and the Canada-European Union free trade agreement will be on the agenda.
Trudeau has a bit of history with the Queen, having met the now 89-year-old monarch as a young child in the late 1970s when his father Pierre Trudeau was Canada’s prime minister.
“She was very tall, which points out how little I was at the time,” Trudeau recalled in a comment released by his office prior to Wednesday’s audience.
“They were nice moments because I knew how much my dad liked her. You could tell my dad was really proud to be introducing his son to the Queen.”
Trudeau is travelling with his wife Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau and two of their own three youngsters, Ella-Grace and Hadrien, are along for the trip.
Trudeau will leave the United Kingdom on Thursday for Valetta, Malta, where the 54-country Commonwealth grouping is holding its biennial leaders summit.
Early version
Trudeau has said he’ll be working to encourage some of the Commonwealth members to step up their ambition on fighting climate change, while others in the Commonwealth are only too aware of the dangers from rising sea levels posed by global warming.
Malta’s prime minister will hold a special session on climate change Friday afternoon.
Trudeau and many of the other Commonwealth heads will then move on to France, where French President Francois Hollande has invited world leaders to open the 21st United Nations climate conference, or COP21, next Monday. (Source: Toronto Star)
By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Friday July 20, 2012
Carmen’s has mega-plan for HECFI
Banquet hall owner Carmen’s has pitched a grand plan for Hamilton’s convention centre that includes eliminating its annual taxpayer subsidy and adding a 44-storey hotel and condo development.
Owner Peter Mercanti vowed to immediately cut the annual taxpayer subsidy by $1 million if the city turned over control of the money-losing convention centre to his group, which also includes local entertainment promoter Loren Liberman.
“You will not find people more passionate about Hamilton than us,” said Mercanti, who has already built a $10 million hotel next to his Stone Church Road banquet facility. “Our family has a track record of delivering what we promise.”
The pitch was one of four councillors heard from groups competing to take over all or part of the Hamilton Entertainment and Convention Facilities Inc.
There were five until Monday, when the world’s largest venue management company and its partner withdrew their bid to run Copps Coliseum.
The Spectator’s Andrew Dreschel reported Wednesday that Los Angeles-based Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) and Edmonton-based Katz Group notified the city Monday that they are no longer taking part in the privatization talks.
Taxpayer subsidies to HECFI are pegged at about $6.5 million for 2012, but most years they average $7.5 million to $8 million.
AEG/Katz’s withdrawal leaves four other proposals on the table for running the three city-owned HECFI facilities — Copps, Hamilton Place and Hamilton Convention Centre. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)
Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday May 19, 2018
By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Friday July 20, 2012