1551 - "Muni Tunes"

Earlier this year my friend Greg Moore, Mayor of Port Coquitlam, announced that he was retiring from politics.  Well, there goes one of my best clients.  For the past ten years or so, I produced Mayor Moore's political literature.  In that time, I also developed a cartoon version of Mayor Moore that we used in several social media campaigns.  

A couple of days ago, I presented my final Mayor Moore cartoon artwork.  Back in Spring of this year, I had been approached by Polly Krier, who runs a successful marketing company specializing in corporate events.  Polly suggested that I could come up with some artwork for a  roast for Mayor Moore, and Greg gave Polly his blessing.  

The concept for the artwork came to me in a momentous flash: I'd adapt the famous exit line from Porky Pig to my cartoon Mayor Moore.  I had to double-check that fair use would apply to this work, and made certain that my version had enough changes so that it resembled the Warner Brothers studio work without copying it.  That, and since my project is definitely satirical, "Muni Tunes" satisfies fair use copyright law.  

The roast was phenomenal!  For better than two hours, Mayor Moore endured playful barbs from his friends, family, and co-workers in a gala theatrical celebration of his civic career.  Many of the jests spoke genuinely to our hearts as Mayor Moore has contributed so much to the city of Port Coquitlam both as a municipal leader but also as a profound and generous benefactor to our community.  Even as he leaves us as Mayor, his legacy Greg Moore Family Community Fund will continue to provide money for campaigns to assist the underprivileged in our city: the roast alone raised over $130,000.   My own contribution of artwork is hardly significant compared to what Polly, Greg, his wife Erin, and Foundation Chairman John Diack have achieved.  Yet Greg took to time to make sure that I was recognized and made a part of the event, something which honours me more than I can say.  

The last ride of the Four Horsemen: the Mayors of Port Coquitlam, Coquitlam, Port Moody and Anmore.  Also: hey, look!  My artwork! 

 

1512 - "A Dirty Deed In Colour"

Click to embiggen, scroll down for a printable version!

If you're Canadian, you paid for it!  Your tax money is going directly to the Kinder-Morgan shareholders, who did nothing to earn it except prevaricate about building the Trans-Mountain pipeline and to own the land rights to said line.  I can only imagine the board of directors at Kinder-Morgan who one day had their necks in the noose trying to finance an unpopular oilsands project and then the next day they had all their capital reimbursed with bonuses by Justin Trudeau despite not having laid one inch of new pipe.  

Of course, $3.5 million is only the beginning.  As herculean as he is, Prime Minister Trudeau can't build the pipeline on his own.  He'll probably just go back and hire Kinder-Morgan since they already have the blueprints in hand.  How much will that cost?  Well, back in 2012, the number of $100 billion was not out of the question.

As part of the deal, the Alberta government pledges to carry any cost over-runs.  So: one hundred billion minus three and a half billion equals how much to Alberta?  Well, we'll see. 

Yesterday, I showed the black-and white version of your deed, which allows you ownership of approximately one forty-millionth of the pipeline (one TMP divided by approximately 39,000,000 Canadians).  You can go see JSVB Post #1511 by clicking here if you haven't had your fill of pipeline rants. 

Below is the full-size deed.  It renders to exactly the size of a Canadian dollar bill, so if you like you can save it and print it out to carry in your purse or wallet.  Amaze your friends!

1511 - A Dirty Deed In Black & White

I have to say I'm not pleased with how the Canadian Federal Liberals handled the Kinder-Morgan pipeline expansion.  Instead of allowing Kinder-Morgan to use their own means to twin their existing pipeline, and instead of blocking the expansion to protect the environment owing to Kinder-Morgan's sketchy stewardship of their Burnaby line (a break spewed oil like a geyser into a residential neighbourhood not far from where I live), the Liberals simply chose to use taxpayer money to completely buy out the land rights to the Trans-Mountain Pipeline.  The baseline cost for that is $3.5 billion.  

So now every Canadian, all 39 million of us, are all part owners of the TMP.  I figure the Libs will be too cheap to send us deeds to our individual stakes in this thing, so I created some on my own.  This is the black and white version, which looks pretty decent.  Tomorrow, I will supply a very  snazzy colourized one that will be suitable for printing or even framing. 

So what's with 00304659 and why is that number special?  Please click here to find out!  EDIT: Well, I got the number wrong by one digit.  I'll fix it in the colour version.

I also have a song lyric to commemorate the hallowed event: JSVB Post #1501 - click here! 

Also, if you're interested in going back in time, please check out JSVB Post #627 by clicking here.  That's the point when the Christy Clark government finally decided to have a say in the TMP after months of completely ignoring Kinder Morgan.  I love how the project was estimated at $100 billion in 2012 and only $3.5 billion today.  What a bargain Mr. Trudeau the Younger has managed to get for us!  

1510 - "Trudy"

It used to be easier in conversation to tell Prime Minister Trudeau apart from his father, also Prime Minister Trudeau.  After all, both at the time of their election were forward-thinking, youthful, and dynamic leaders with tons of personal charisma.  But then Trudeau Elder got wrapped up in the National Energy Program, where Ottawa dictated to Western Canada exactly how to collect and sell their energy resources to the rest of the nation.  The NEP divided Canada and brought down the ruling Liberal political party at the time.

So that's an easy way to tell Trudeau Elder apart from Trudeau Younger, since our current Prime Minister Trudeau has so far created national consensus regarding sharing energy resources fairl-

Oh.  Whoops!

Well, another way to tell the Prime Ministers Trudeau apart is to call ours "Trudy".  

At first I was trying for a far more South Park style of Trudy - I had wanted to call this JSVB entry "Cartoony Trudy" - but I settled for more of a caricature.  What could I possibly need with this artwork, do you think? 




 

1501 - "Movin' To Alberta"

I hear the pipeline comin'
It's rollin' 'round the bend
And I ain't seen the sunshine
Since, I don't know when
I'm stuck in the Lower Mainland
And news keeps draggin' on
But that pipeline keeps a-rollin' 

Down to Burnaby Mountain

When I was just a young man
My Mama told me, son 

You always vote for Trudeau
He'll always get it done
But Trudy sold the pipeline
Now he's a real sly guy
When I know black bitumen's comin'
I hang my head and cry

But then I thought of somethin'

I ain't got no kids so far
Don't know what I'm savin' 

This gol-danged planet fer 

Now I'm Kinder-Morgan truckin'

I sold my compact car
I'll keep this V-8 revvin'
And let my wheels take me far

I'm movin' to Alberta
To be among my kind
Gonna buy me some truck-nuts
And guns for my duck blind
Far from Granola City
That's where I want to stay
And I'll let that big ol' pipeline
Flow my blues away

----

Apologies to Johnny Cash and The Folsom Prison Blues.  Honestly, I'm not against the pipeline as such.  I just don't like Kinder-Morgan's track record in Burnaby, I live near where the new pipeline will terminate, and I know that a bitumen oil spill is nearly impossible to mitigate.  Instead of political bluster, it would have been better to have some rational problem-solving.  

1389 - Canada 150!

Happy 150th birthday, Canada!  Mayor Greg Moore wishes all Canadians the best on this occasion, since he's the one pictured on this web banner I made.  It's safe to say he speaks for me and JSVB on this great day! 

 

1371 - Mayor TV Podium People

After bowing out with fatigue yesterday, today I rallied to finish my Facebook banner for the upcoming Mayor TV Election Special.  I feel I did a decent job of representing visually the three candidates, and I look forward to the show hosted by my friend Mayor Greg Moore!

 

1363 - Mayor TV Easter

Easter is this weekend.  I made a cute banner for Mayor TV to celebrate the holiday.  I was torn between making something religious and something secular.

I ended up ripping off the Trix Rabbit, if only because super-genius ad man and designer Joe Harris passed away a couple of days ago.  You'll know Joe Harris' art style since among other things he created the original Trix Rabbit (and the immortal "Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids!" tagline) as well as the famous counter-culture superhero Underdog.




 

1357 - "Vote For Jeff"

April Fools come and April Fools go, but what endures is silly graphic design.  Apart from more pressing April Foolery, this year I decided to poke a little fun at my friend Mayor Greg Moore, who I have worked with on various projects for a few years now.  At least I know some of the things that bug him, so I put as many offenders I could into a pretend political flyer which I printed and delivered to his door just in time for election season.  It's a really gentle practical joke, but I had fun putting it together:

 

 

And below are the graphics files.  Note the egregious use of both Comic Sans and Papyrus typefaces.  Horrors!  

 

1339 - Pink Shirt Mayor TV Banner

Pink Shirt Day is coming soon. It's a day for raising awareness against bullying behaviour.  I have no doubt that addressing behaviour issues and violence requires more than just wearing pink on February 22nd, but an awareness campaign like this is still a good thing.

I took the original blue Mayor TV banner and dressed it up in hot pink.  I also made a few cosmetic changes to the Mayor himself.  Mayor Moore is a champion of the pink-shirt anti-bullying cause and tireless in his efforts to make our city a better and friendlier place to live.

1336 - "50 Shades Of Greg"

This is an alternate banner for Mayor TV, designed with Valentine's Day and intimacy in mind.  Well, as much intimacy as a live Facebook broadcast from City Hall can ever be, I suppose.  I'm not altogether convinced my cartoon Mayor Moore character is a good fit for this composition, but if you read the whole picture from left to right you go from deep romance to political whimsy. I think that's fun. 

1335 - "Mayor TV"

This is a banner ad I made for my friend Greg.  Mayor TV is sweet!  Mayor Moore spends a few minutes laying out local issues and then spends the balance of an hour answering questions through his live Facebook feed.  I know that people following my wife's account have already checked in on Mayor TV, since we both participate in it.  I hope it's something that grows to become a positive influence on politics in social media.  

1276 - "The Four Horsemen"

I believe that this is a final draft of the design for "The Four Horsemen".  Left to right, Mayors Mike Clay (Port Moody), Richard Stewart (Coquitlam), John McEwen (Anmore) and Greg Moore (Port Coquitlam) are forming an athletic team to support the charities of the I AM SOMEONE Ending Bullying Society and Canadian Sport For Life.  I am giving them this logo, above.  

I've donated to I AM SOMEONE for a few years now, they are a tremendous organization in my opinion.  Canadian Sport For Life I am less familiar with, although the Mayors seem to understand their worth.  They are among many of the new young public servants that put physical fitness as a priority, something that hasn't been seen at the top levels of Canadian politics since... ever?  Nonetheless, it wasn't hard to draw good physiques for these Mayors who are in good enough shape to race running, kayaking, and cycling across the Lower Mainland for charity.  It's more than I can do, although maybe I should follow their example, hmmm? 

1213 - The Old Grey Mayor

By coincidence, as I was looking through my political drawings, one of the people I've caricatured made the news.  His Honour Richard Stewart is the mayor of Coquitlam, near where I live.  For the past year and a half, he's been wearing the same slate-grey suit to work every day.  He wanted to make a statement on how we perceive male and female roles in society.  His idea was to wear the same clothes over and over again until someone noticed: he claims this took eighteen months.

This social experiment comes from Australia, where a news anchorwoman was chastised for wearing the same outfit on-air two days in a row.  Her partner then wore the same suit for a month, but nobody noticed. Obviously, a double-standard exists in the minds of television viewers.

I drew this caricature of Mayor Stewart a year and a half ago (but I updated it for today's JSVB post!).  He must have just gotten started on his project at that time.  In order to make the drawing look like him, I grabbed several reference pictures from the Internet.  He was wearing the grey suit and I sampled the colour digitally to make the drawing.

I only have two suits, one black and one white.  I hardly ever wear them, though.  I doubt anyone would notice one way or another.  I also recall a friend I had in school we all called "Grapes".  He didn't resemble Don Cherry, rather, he always wore a purple shirt.  One day I went over to his house and he showed me his closet, which contained twenty or thirty duplicates of the same purple clothes.  His father worked for a promotional company and one day he brought home a crate of purple shirts.  Grapes liked the colour, so he wore one every day.  Having been through various starving artist phases, I can relate to the economy and freedom from indecision that a closet full of identical shirts would bring.  Artists wear black, though, and I do have a fair amount of that in my bureau.  Nobody says anything if I wear black every day, unless I get dandruff.  

Mayor Stewart was pleased with his suit.  It was a good colour for him to wear.  I know for a fact he's not pleased with this caricature, but since he didn't pay for it, well, here we are.  

1032 - The Maple Leaf Forever

World War One defined Canada as a nation.  In the hundred years that have followed, how far have we come?  

Canada is one of the most civilized and livable countries in the word.  Our social policies are progressive and our economy is sound.  Our people live together, a multitude of diverse peoples united by our loathing of mosquitos and minus forty degree weather (fortunately not normally at the same time). 

Yet we are faced with war from within and without.  The Ukrainian situation threatens to escalate into a new world war.  We are flying CF-18 fighter-bombers against ISIS terrorists overseas.  Our soldiers are being attacked on home soil.

Today is Remembrance Day.  There was the largest crowd I have ever seen at the cenotaph this year, easily twice as many people as last year.   Citizens want to honour our veterans, and what they have sacrificed to make Canada great. 

While our government officials seem keen to be photographed attending these ceremonies, I find it hard to believe that they are moved by all of the fine words and honest sentiments.  Veterans' benefits have been consolidated and then cut.  Yes, this creates a greater efficiency at government offices, but the throttling of funds to our soldiers and protectors serves only to help the financial picture, but not the societal one.  The efforts Canada expends in post-millennial warfare has created a new, large group of veterans, many who need immediate social assistance: medical aid, psychiatric aid, and support in civilian life.  Certainly we owe the veterans this much.

The CBC has reported that now more deaths among Afghanistan vets occur through suicide at home than did occur on that faraway battlefield.  

The Minister for Veteran's Affairs, The Honourable Julian Fantino, was booed when he showed up for a veterans' salute at BC Place.  Let's be fair, though, Veteran's Affairs is a Ministry under siege, and although Mr. Fantino does not present himself well in public, he does maintain a responsible attitude in a service that is being bled of its funding.

We citizens can complain, as much good as that will do, or we can help.  The Royal Canadian Legion is Canada's largest non-profit organization serving veterans.  Money donated to the Legion goes directly to helping the vets who sacrificed their bodies, in effect helping those who have served us so well.  The Legion also accepts membership from the public, and is a fine way to support the veterans' community.  The government can send our men and women, brothers, sisters, friends and family into harm's way.  We can choose  to bring them back with dignity.

---

All elements in this graphic were made with public domain images from Wikipedia. 

960 - "Town Haul"

Click on image to embiggen.

Mayor Greg Moore, Mayor Richard Stewart, and Mayor Mike Clay, the Mayors of Port Coquitlam, Coquitlam, and Port Moody respectively, are invitees to the annual conference of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.  They decided to make a road trip of the event, and stop at twenty different Canadian towns and cities en route from our west coast all the way to Niagara Falls, Ontario.  Their operation is called "Town Haul", and you can follow it on the Internet.  During their trip, the three Mayors will spend a lot of time talking politics with everyone they meet. 

My involvement was to provide the cartoon graphic to illustrate their journey.  I based most of the the look on the old Cambria Productions cartoons, which were famous for their imaginative storylines, nostalgic characters, and their remarkably cheap animation. 

807 - Happy 146

Greg Moore, Mayor of Port Coquitlam, was on hand for Canada Day celebrations.  I drew a quick caricature of him lighting off the official Canada Day fireworks.  Port Coquitlam has one of the largest professional fireworks diplays for the Lower Mainland, sited in beautiful Citadel Park. 

Unfortunately, the Mayor doesn't get to light the fireworks himself, although one would think that would be a natural perk for the position.  All the explosives are handled in a safe manner by trained experts. 

Happy 146th Birthday, Canada! 






768 - The Silly Season

British Columbia voters should be forgiven for not understanding that our general election, the one to decide provincial politics, only began three days ago, and not months ago when the shadowy Concerned Citizens For British Columbia (CC4BC) saturated local television with attack ads.  

Just who are the so-called CC4BC?  They certainly didn't seem concerned when the HST brought British Columbia into the eye of a perfect storm of government lies.  Nor did they seem concerned when the HST was voted down by plebiscite, a national first.  CC4BC was at the very forefront of the rearguard when Japan needed our aid after their horrifying earthquake, meaning they did nothing that was apparent to anybody. 

CC4BC (the acronym) is suspiciously close to the early version of the B.C. Liberal campaign slogan "C.C. For B.C.", which was coined back in the days when the Libs sought to put as much distance between themselves and Gordon "03-02659" Campbell, the mitten-handed Premier who scored the all-time lowest public approval rating in the history of North American politics.  In the two years or so that C.C. has attempted to lead the Liberals, and by extension the province, her party quietly decided to drop Christy Clark's name from the official logo.  So while nobody is rallying behind obsolete C.C. For B.C. battlecry, we do have CC4BC showing up on our televisions every twelve minutes or so.  

CC4BC is a political communications organization.  Their primary goal is to spread the gospel of the B.C. Liberal Party.  Mostly, we have been subjected to months of pro-Lib television ads and an Internet media campaign which have tried to frame C.C. and her crew in the most positive light possible.  

Then there are the attack ads.  Astoundingly, CC4BC has spent a documented $16.6 million dollars on ads that directly attack the New Democrat Party (NDP) leader Adrian Dix.  What CC4BC won't reveal is if the $16.6 million was raised through private means or if the money was pulled out of public tax revenues.  I am trying to imagine the B.C. multi-millionaire so outraged with the NDP that they would willingly subject citizens to dozens of repetitive attack ads each day.  I know I've seen the ads enough times that I have the text memorized.

This is important: the substance of each attack ad is that when Adrian Dix was a part of the NDP when they ruled B.C. in advance of Campbell's Libs, he was involved in a scandal where he falsified government documents, was caught in the lie by the RCMP (police) who had physical proof of his transgression, and then resigned from his post in utter defeat while clutching the typical obscene severance bonus that politicians of Dix's ilk will gladly take as their entitlement no matter how horrified or disgusted the voters are.  In short, the attack ads are completely factual, and they describe in lean, accurate terms exactly how Adrian Dix came to be forced to resign from high office.  

So, I have to be clear: as repulsed as I am by months of Liberal attack ads, I am equally disgusted by the leadership qualities of both the Liberals and the NDP.  I cannot condone the $16.6 million spent to attack Adrian Dix on television, especially at a time when the Liberals are cutting funding for the BC film industry.  On the other side of the coin, how can anybody support Adrian Dix, who wilfully forged government budget documents in a craven attempt to keep his cushy job?   

Just how deep do the lies go?  Now that the silly season, the official election hustings, has begun in earnest, this is exactly the kind of question that will never have a satisfactory answer for the voting public.  

My thought:  all this election will serve to do is exchange one set of flaccid boobs in office for another.  While you could interpret that as a sexist jab at C.C., please consider the leaders as political boobs rather than as saggy mammaries.  Or not.  

For another take on breasts in politics, please take a gander at these by clicking here.

See Premier Mittenhands and find out the significance of 03-02659 by clicking here.

Finally, a couple more C.C. cartoons.  At least she's kind of fun to draw.  Cartoon #1: please click here.  Cartoon #2: please click here.

Regrettably, I don't have any pics of former media darling Pamela Martin.  I'm not certain anybody remembers what she looks like anymore.  All we know is that she's still  caucasian and that she draws a confirmed $130,000 yearly government salary for doing whatever it is she's doing for the Libs.  Dotting the all "i"'s on the Liberal letterhead by hand, maybe. 

  



763 - I Run This Town, See!

When nobody was looking, my wife and I sneaked into the City Council chambers and hijacked the Mayor's seat.  "I run this town, see!" I sneered in my best Jimmy Cagney.  Then, "Take my picture, honey, quick!".  Finally a quick, furtive exit, eyes on swivels to make sure we were not seen.

 

 

 

 



731 - The Coleman Version

It took me three days to draw out yesterday's JSVB entry.  One reason was that I had an alternate version in mind.  Here, I depict the piñata that represents the bounty of goodies that would spill forth if BC Hydro was taken apart into pieces and privatized like BC Rail was.  Instead of Premier Christy "C.C." Clark taking her swings, I have her ever-energetic Energy Minister Rich Coleman attempting to eliminate the  piñata by ripping it off the ribbon and eating it whole.  Say what you will about Minister Coleman, I am sure he enjoys a sweet, sweet plum as much as any other BC Liberal politician. 

 

The trick to Christy Clark's form of leadership, and what sets her apart from her predecessor Gordon Campbell, is her willingness to allow the Ministers in her Cabinet to run the province as they please.  Fire the BC Auditor General John Doyle!  You're fired!  No, wait, we call mulligans!  You're hired for another term, won't that be fun?  (John Doyle, a decent, conscientious politician, left us for a job in Australia.  Australia: about as far away from here as you can get and not be on the Moon.)  Let's get a mega-casino in Surrey!  Wait, a referendum has it that 92% of residents do not want a casino!  Let's do it anyways!  (The Liberals flip-flopped again and have put the casino plans on the back shelf for now.)  Let's force everybody to get a smart meter!  No, gosh, it turns out we don't need them as much as we thought!  But maybe we do!  We'll just wait for now until someone tells us what our opinion should be!  At least we have our pensions! 

 

Although Rich Coleman has the look about him that he could keep political cartoonists working for decades, and although I find it personally very humorous to see a depiction of him trying to eat a piñata, it just does not seem right to get this sketch into finished form.  The best pose for Minister Coleman wrecks the best pose for Premier Clark, and the whole composition is a bit problematic.  Note how I try out different arm positions for C.C. at once. As long as you keep yesterday's cartoon in your head, this one seems to keep its cohesion.  Even so, I didn't have a strong caption in mind, and unless the cartoon can stand solid on its own, a good caption helps to tie all of the elements together, or so I believe.  I'll leave this one unfinished, and wait to see what comes out of the election hustings for the next few weeks. 

 

See yesterday's partner image to this one on JSVB by clicking here.