BE NICE, HE’S THE PRESIDENT

The warmth of the relationship between Canada and the U.S. usually hinges on the inclination and interests of the American president. While Canada has some levers to pull as we pursue our trade and security objectives with the U.S., our prime ministers have to contend with the fact that America wields much greater power and influence. During Richard Nixon’s presidency, then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau said that living next to the U.S. was a little like sleeping with an elephant. (In president Jimmy Carter, Trudeau had a better friend than Nixon: in 2000, Carter was an honorary pallbearer at Trudeau’s funeral, along with Leonard Cohen and Fidel Castro.)

Official relations between Canada and the U.S. were tepid during the early part of Barack Obama’s tenure: personalities aside, a liberal president and a conservative prime minister don’t always mix. Obama’s budding friendship with our current prime minister barely had time to blossom before American voters went to the polls and elected Donald Trump. Canada’s approach to the new and somewhat unpredictable administration has naturally been cautious.

Barack Obama’s trip to Montreal last week reminded me of a 2002 visit by another former president. In February that year, I was sitting in my studio thinking about the grim weather outside, when Michael Goldbloom, former Gazette publisher and good friend, called. He said that Bill Clinton was coming to Montreal to give a speech. Would I be willing to draw a thank-you cartoon — and would I be nice for a change? As the former president would be raising $1 million for a Montreal children’s hospital, I agreed to draw an innocuous cartoon of him. My drawing (above left) recommends July over mid-winter for a visit; Clinton could have played his sax at the Montreal Jazz Festival.

I presented the cartoon to Clinton at Place des Arts and he loved it. The Gazette loved the cartoon, too and put it on the front page. Event organizers loved the cartoon. Everybody loved the cartoon — except the cartoonist.

On the right is the cartoon I really wanted to give Clinton. Who knows? He might have liked this one, too.