royalty – mackaycartoons

Wednesday July 24, 2019

July 31, 2019 by Graeme MacKay

July 24, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday July 24, 2019

Boris Johnson prepares to take the reins of power as U.K.’s next PM

June 27, 2016

Boris Johnson takes office on Wednesday as U.K. prime minister, and will unveil the names of the team he has tasked with delivering Brexit by the end of October, with or without a deal.

Johnson enters Downing Street at one of the most perilous junctures in post-World War British history — the United Kingdom is divided over Brexit and weakened by a three-year political crisis since the Brexit referendum.

His pledge to energize the country and deliver Brexit — do or die — on Oct. 31 sets the United Kingdom up for a showdown with the European Union and thrusts it towards a potential constitutional crisis, or election, at home.

June 22, 2016

“Like some slumbering giant we are going to rise and ping off the guy-ropes of self-doubt and negativity,” Johnson, 55, said on Tuesday after he was elected by Conservative Party members.

“We are going to energize the country. We are going to get Brexit done on Oct. 31 and we are going to take advantage of all the opportunities it will bring in a new spirit of can do.”

Wednesday will combine arcane British political choreography with the realpolitik of appointing a new government — likely to be heavy on Brexit supporters.

January 18, 2019

Prime Minister Theresa May will leave Downing Street after a three-year premiership that was mired by crises over Brexit. She will travel to Buckingham Palace to formally tender her resignation to the Queen.

Johnson will then have an audience with the Queen, who will request he form an administration. His formal title will be prime minister and first lord of the Treasury.”

He will enter Downing Street in the afternoon and is expected to give a speech before appointing key members of the government — names that could give a hint of how he will handle Brexit, the U.K.’s most significant decision in decades.

June 25, 2016

“Boris will build a cabinet showcasing all the talents within the party that truly reflect modern Britain,” a source close to Johnson said.

But Johnson — known for his ambition, mop of blonde hair, flowery oratory and a cursory command of detail — must solve a series of riddles if he is to succeed where May failed.

The 2016 Brexit referendum showed a United Kingdom divided about much more than the European Union, and has fuelled soul-searching about everything from secession and immigration to capitalism, empire and modern Britishness.

The pound is weak, the economy is at risk of recession, allies are in despair at the Brexit crisis and foes are testing the the U.K.’s vulnerability.

March 30, 2017

His party has no majority in Parliament, so the Conservatives only govern with the support of 10 lawmakers from the Brexit-backing Democratic Unionist Party in Northern Ireland.

While Johnson said he does not want an early election, some lawmakers have vowed to thwart any attempt to leave the EU without a divorce deal. Brexit Party Leader Nigel Farage said he was open to an electoral pact with Johnson.

Investors are braced to see who will be handed the top jobs such as finance minister, foreign secretary and Brexit minister. (CBC)

Tuesday September 27, 2016

September 26, 2016 by Graeme MacKay

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)

Letters to the Editor (Hamilton Spectator) October 1, 2016

Trudeau/prince cartoon one of the best

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.

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Saturday June 11, 2016

June 10, 2016 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday June 11, 2016

Britain expresses ‘profound gratitude’ for Queen Elizabeth as 90th birthday celebrations kick off

Britain celebrated Queen Elizabeth II’s 90th birthday and her service to the country Friday with solemn pomp, pageantry and prayer at St. Paul’s Cathedral ahead of a weekend of festivities.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, set the tone by reminding Britain of the queen’s long life and dedicated service. In essence, he said the nation was lucky because Elizabeth only became queen by chance.

“We look back on Your Majesty’s 90 years in the life of our nation with deep wonder and profound gratitude,” he said. “Through war and hardship, through turmoil and change, we have been fearfully and wonderfully sustained.”

Gov. Gen. David Johnston is among thousands of people gathered in London for the celebrations.

He and 14 other governors general had lunch with the Queen following the service St. Paul’s Cathedral.

He says one of the topics discussed was the usefulness of having apolitical heads of state.

Johnston says the strength of a constitutional monarchy lies in the stability and serenity it brings, allowing countries to avoid extremes.

The celebration has been a lengthy affair, starting with her real birthday in April. The monarch’s official birthday is traditionally celebrated in June when Britain’s weather can be more favourable. (Source: Toronto Star)

Tuesday August 25, 2015

August 24, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday August 25, 2015

The Growing Power of the PMO

In 2006, Stephen Harper rode into Ottawa with a mandate to clean up the ethical wreckage of the Liberal sponsorship scandal. The Conservative Party leader moved quickly as the prime minister of a minority government. He banned corporate and union donations, and lowered the individual donation limit to $1,000. He toughened federal lobbying rules, created the Parliamentary Budget Office and gave additional powers to the Ethics Commissioner.

His goal, he said over and over, was to return accountability to Ottawa. And he did that, to a degree. His reforms have helped bring the federal government up to date on important issues of political financing and budget oversight.

Not surprisingly, though, Mr. Harper failed to target the real source of Ottawa’s accountability crisis. As the trial of Mike Duffy has reminded us, the greatest threat to responsible government in Canada is none other than the Prime Minister’s Office.

Over the past 40 years, the PMO has morphed into a parasite on the body of Parliament that prospers by sucking the democracy out of its host. The court-documented efforts by Nigel Wright, the former chief of staff to Mr. Harper, to control the Senate from inside the PMO are outrageous only because they have been exposed by Mr. Duffy’s lawyer. The real scandal lies below the surface, where the PMO uses its toxic tentacles to neutralize every part of government that might compete with it for power, so that today we are ruled by an imperial prime minister, unaccountable to anyone or anything.

Do not blame Mr. Harper alone for this. The expansion of the PMO began under Pierre Trudeau, and every prime minister since then has been responsible for increasing its malignant grip on Parliament. Brian Mulroney was the first to name a “chief of staff” and elevate that person above the principal secretary who was, up till then, the highest unelected authority in the PMO. Jean Chrétien relied on the protective coating of the PMO to shield himself from direct responsibility for the sponsorship scandal, just as Mr. Harper is now doing in the Duffy affair. (Continued: Globe & Mail)

Saturday August 15, 2015

August 14, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday August 15, 2015

Dundas filming ban lifted with limitations

A petition created on Thursday to end the moratorium — that is now not a moratorium — on filming in Dundas has exceeded its original goal of 1,000 signatures.

After six days its new target is 2,000.

Petition creator and Dundas local Kevin Ramage, 32, is trying to set up a meeting with Coun. Arlene VanderBeek to give the community a voice.

He set out to speak to locals and business owners to get a grasp on how they feel about the original ban, and new case-by-case limitations.

Meanwhile, the properties that were originally flagged as temporarily unavailable on the Ontario Media Development Corporation (OMDC) website now have a new message.

After VanderBeek released her statement of “re-examination,” Susan Monarch, manager of tourism Hamilton, told The Spectator on Aug. 7 the wording on OMDC files were changed to say there may be limitations, and if interested in the property to contact the film office.

There are three check marks available on the OMDC listings — not available, available and caution — Monarch said.

Ramage reached out to VanderBeek Tuesday to set up a meeting, hoping to present his findings, but he has not yet received a response.

“None of the businesses that I spoke to, and that signed the petition, had any knowledge that a moratorium or filming limitations were ever going to be put in place,” he wrote in the statement.

Most business owners pulled Ramage into their back rooms, speaking to him at length about their thoughts on the issue. He said business owners either found out about the changes from customers coming in and asking them why they didn’t want production in town, or from the media.

“They were not pleased about the lack of community involvement on the issue.”

The decision for the moratorium, and now limitations, were made following discussions with the city’s film office staff, some residents and the BIA board of directors, which includes VanderBeek. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)