From the beginning of the year to the end of 2007, the issue of climate change dominated headlines throughout Canada.

The year old cartoon above depicting Stephen Harper as Ebenezer Scrooge captures the moment of epiphany in late 2006 when the Prime Minister came around to the realization that, like it or not, the environment had to become a Conservative priority.

The next cartoon, from February, compares Harper and Jean Chretien with both trying to reverse sagging polls by throwing buckets of money at instant priorities.

Speaking of former Prime Ministers, Brian Mulroney reemerged in public after years of being out of the lime light. 2007 was to be the year the unpopular former PM would attempt to elevate his legacy by defending his record with a 1152 page book of Memoirs. While historians will be eternally grateful, his jabs at Pierre Trudeau provoked predictable howls of outrage from those who thought it was unfair for a living PM to criticize his dead nemesis.

With great anticipation and fanfare, 2007 saw the entry of the next generation of Trudeaus to public life when the stylish but not so substantive Justin was nominated as a Liberal candidate to run the next federal election.

Finally, the other big story of 2007, the strength of the Loonie, and how it has sent thousands of Canadians across to the United States in order to spend, spend, spend.

       

North Pole Oil, Fat Friends, Dion Prize, Soft Dion, Flick Off

For more Canadian editorial cartoons go to www.mackaycartoons.net/canada.

2007 was an election year in Ontario so there was certainly no shortage of cartoon fodder with regard to provincial affairs.

Dalton McGuinty went into the election with a rather hefty piece of baggage for being a promise breaker, most noteably for imposing a health premium despite a pledge in the previous election not to raise taxes. At the beginning of the campaign it seemed as if only hypnosis would convince voters to reelect a Liberal government.

Then along came John Tory's early promise in the race that a Progressive Conservative government would publically fund all faith based schools. Despite bowing to pressure and dumping the plank it would become the main theme of the 2007 election, as depicted by the hijacked jet plane.

 

Other controversies such as the Liberal slushfund and the huge payraises MPP's gave themselves last Christmas would get scant airing during the campaign.

Perhaps the only political success accomplished by John Tory was his ability to get his name out and futher blur the associations of current PC party with the common sense revolutionary Harrisites.

While there was mild excitement in the air with the first provincial referendum question put to voters since the 1920's, the issue of electoral reform hardly inspired Ontarians who flatly rejected the idea.

Like the cartoon drawn in January to mark Dalton McGuintys tour of India, 2007 will have ended with the Premier dancing with a renewed mandate and 4 more years in charge of the Province.

For more Canadian editorial cartoons go to www.mackaycartoons.net/ontario.

Coming up, The Canadian Cartoon Gallery

This is the time of the year the media reflects on the events of the past 12 months. The Spec has always been generous about giving me the opportunity to post my favourite cartoons from the past year in full page exhibits... (this also lets editors off the hook for having to fill such pages with the usual columns and opinion pieces between Christmas and New Year's.) The thinking goes that people really aren't interested in heavy newspaper reading in and around this time and cartoons are a nice light alternative. So with out further ado, here's my best Hamilton stuff:

 

Hamilton's city council chamber is hardly reknowned for its sophisticated debate and enlightened discourse, but 2007 may have seen some of its lowest points as far as civility is concerned. A few antics at City Hall summed up a pretty bad start to a newly elected council, the first being some tough words delivered by Sam Merulla, and a burst of anger marked by Bob Bratina chucking his pen across the floor of council, narrowly missing the head of Brian McHattie. The Merulla incident involved a heated argument over a transit fare increase which resulted in the councillor threatening that he'd be "coming after" another councillor for his disagreement. Ironically, Brian McHattie happened to be the target of that particular tantrum as well.

 

A couple Hamiltonian perennial subjects re-emerged... and went back into dormancy including prospects for an NHL team, and public clamour for replacement of the aging Ivor Wynne Stadium. A lot of support and hope went out to Blackberry guru Jim Balsillie who tried unsuccessfully to bring the Nashville Predators to Hamilton. His determination to acquire a NHL team has assured Hamilton that we're still in the game for future expansion talks. The stadium issue in the year 2007 seems to be as uncertain as ever as illustrated by the old log cross section cartoon.

 

Yes, misery makes great fodder for ridicule but there were a few local success stories of note. Hamilton's own Brian Melo sang his way to become the latest Canadian Idol, and Ted McMeekin's elevation to cabinet assured us a voice at the Provincial table. Here's some other personal favourites:

     

City Hall Reno, Greenpeace Protest, Basillie eyes Opry, German Dofasco

For more Canadian editorial cartoons go to www.mackaycartoons.net/hamilton. 

Coming up, Ontario cartoons of 2007       

 

Uggh. To be a cartoonist and to open up your morning newspaper and to look again at your work from the previous day only to discover a spelling mistake is a very dreadful thing. It's an immediate grouch maker. You feel stupid, and angry, and worthless, and thoroughly embarassed. I put an apostrophe in a word where it didn't belong. "It's" should've read "its". I caught the mistake this morning and I've been kicking myself ever since.

In other news... Yesterday's news of the government moving to restart the nuclear power plant at Chalk River in order to solve the shortage of medical isotopes inspired this cartoon.

I thought I'd pass this by a cousin I have who works at MIT in the area of Chemistry. Here's what he had to say:

That's great! I'm going to post this cartoon in my lab at MIT. My co-worker is from Edmonton so she'll at least get part of the joke.

Science gets such little exposure in popular culture that any attention whatsoever is nice to have.

McMaster has a small nuclear reactor - as do many university-affiliated hospitals - for making radio-isotopes for use in medicine. Some have extremely short half-lives - on the order of hours - so they must be made in-house and used immediately. The more long-lived isotopes, like those made at Chalk River - can be transported.

I work with isotopes on occasion - they have their uses- , but not the radioactive ones which require special training and equipment, not to mention disposal hazards. But there are some people in the labs downstairs who use them. That also might help explain why they are such weirdos. That, and the fact they work in the basement.

Ironically the molecules you've drawn our eminent PM as holding look like cyclobutane derivatives. They are quite unstable due to something we call ring strain - carbon doesn't like to make such small rings - and seeing those little pieces fly off reminds me of the times I've tried to build them with model kits and watched the pieces blow up in my hands as I bent them past the breaking point. I'd imagine that radioactive cyclobutanes would be even more unstable, so Isotope Man really has his work cut out for him.

And here it is, on exhibit at the world reknowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology:

Know of any other place where my cartoons are on display? Send me your photos and I'll post 'em here.

Look who's strutting around and putting down successors and criticizing governments now debating and putting together new agreements on Climate Change and Global Warming... Jean Chretien. The former Prime Minister conveys how proud he is to call his signing on to the Kyoto Protocol as a defining chapter of his Legacy despite the lack of action which followed. It's all in this article:

TORONTO - What was intended as a feel-good gathering of prominent Liberals celebrating the legacy of one of their most illustrious leaders took a divisive turn Tuesday as Jean Chretien again took aim at his successor Paul Martin's track record as prime minister, this time for failing to meet Canada's obligations to stop climate change.

The duelling former prime ministers, whose bitter leadership rift seems to have spilled over into their retirement years, were among the Liberal heavyweights headlining the conference lauding Lester B. Pearson's contributions to global peace, which earned him a Nobel Peace Prize 50 years ago.

Chretien's speech to the conference, hosted by Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae, included harsh words for the Conservatives' stance on the Kyoto Protocol to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

"I am not very pleased today to read what people are saying about Canada in Bali at this moment about the environment," he told the conference.

"I think it is an urgent problem and we should have been at the forefront. When we signed Kyoto, we knew very well when I was there what we were doing, and it should have been implemented. But now we will not meet the target because we lost four years."

But outside the hall, Chretien was quick to point the finger at Martin's government for dropping the ball on Kyoto after he left office.

"I don't know what happened, I was not there," he said. "I know that I was negotiating with the oil industry, and the oil industry pulled back from the table."

When asked why it took so long for Canada to get somewhere on Kyoto, Chretien replied, "Sometimes, when you lose four years, you lose four years. There's nothing I can do about it." But Chretien said he doesn't blame current Liberal Leader Stephane Dion, who was environment minister under Martin, for the failure to meet Canada's obligations under Kyoto, an international treaty that Chretien's government signed 10 years ago.

Dion had to cancel his scheduled appearance at the conference to attend an international climate change summit in Bali, Indonesia.

Martin, who delivered his speech two hours after Chretien left the building, defended his record on climate change, saying his government's policy was regarded as "the most comprehensive attack on climate change that we've ever seen in Canada."

Ten years ago papers were hammering Jean Chretien for having contributed nothing to help solve environmental issues. Here's an example:

Global warming: action or inertia?
Hamilton Spectator Editorial
October, 02 1997

Bill Clinton is demonstrating environmental leadership as he tries to rally American public opinion behind a global treaty cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The American president's willingness to put his prestige on the line stands in contrast to the political inertia shown by the Chretien government on the problem so far. If the Liberals are to achieve their stated goals in reducing the pollutants that are believed to produce artificial global warming, they must give the problem a much higher profile.

Clinton can't be accused of sleepwalking on the difficult, but urgent, greenhouse gas issue. He raised the stakes yesterday by gathering 100 weather forecasters on the White House lawn in support of stronger action to reduce the buildup of fumes and smoke in the Earth's fragile natural environment. Cynics dismissed the event as a public relations gimmick. But Clinton deserves marks for taking a stand that will almost certainly involve some lifestyle changes for American consumers and economic adjustment.

The president faces stiff opposition from powerful politicians, industrialists and union leaders, who are reluctant to act even though the U.S. is a major polluter. America lags behind other countries in pledging itself to targets for carbon dioxide and other pollutants. The U.S. Senate has said it will reject specific greenhouse gas cuts unless they're matched by targets for developing countries. The U.S. can do much better than that. So can Canada, which has the second-highest per capita greenhouse emission rate among industrialized countries.

The Chretien government should be front and centre with a strategy in advance of international negotiations on a treaty in Japan in December. Instead, it's making no visible attempt to focus attention on the problem, and how to implement realistic, achievable and cost-effective solutions. The government has relied on a voluntary emissions reduction program that hasn't done the job.

The outlook isn't likely to improve if the debate, such as it is, is dominated by the likes of Alberta Premier Ralph Klein. He maintains that binding emission reduction targets will penalize his province unfairly. Klein appears to oppose even modest reductions. He should be more open to compromise. A failure by all industrial nations to take effective action now runs the major risk of precipitating an future environmental crisis that would require drastic economic and lifestyle changes. Critics of controls cite potential job losses in moving to a more sustainable economy, but they often overlook the potential employment from improving energy efficiency in offices and homes; developing super-efficient, environmentally-friendly cars and trucks; and investing in renewable energy projects.

It's time for the Chretien government to follow Clinton's lead and come out of the closet with a plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Few problems are as pressing as the need to better protect the planet from choking in man-made gases.

Chretien was in his fifth year of office as Prime Minister by time the above editorial was written. It was my first year as a cartoonist when I drew the (rather crude)cartoon below for the October 2, 1997 edition of the paper, for which I chose to draw on the environment, an issue that Chretien was completely unconcerned with at the time: