Canada-U.S. relations a 50-year rollercoaster

Terry Mosher’s editorial cartoons, penned under the name Aislin, have been a fixture of the Montreal Gazette for 50 years. We take a weekly look back at some memorable cartoons in this impressive and vast body of work. From Tehran to Shamrock Summit, 1980

When best buds Brian Mulroney and Ronald Reagan together crooned “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” at the 1985 Shamrock Summit in Quebec City, it marked the signing of a free trade deal and sent a signal that relations between our two countries were at a high-water mark. It hasn’t always been that way.

The degree of warmth between our two countries has usually been determined by the interests and temperament of the American president and his administration — rarely the other way around. As all Canadians are aware, the U.S. is about 10 times our size in population and is just undeniably bigger in most spheres of national life.

In my early days at The Montreal Star, I was given a half page in the Saturday edition for a cartoon feature called Aislin’s Cross Hatch. I had a free hand to deal with current political and social issues in my own way, and as Richard Nixon and the escalation of the Vietnam War were then constantly in the news, my cartoons often featured American topics.

Canadian-American relations occasionally got a little testy when Pierre Trudeau was prime minister. In 1969, he told a Washington press conference: “Living next to you is, in some ways, like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt.” When president Nixon reportedly called the prime minister an “asshole” in 1971, Trudeau responded: “I’ve been called worse things by better people.”

As a result of the 1979 Iranian revolution, dozens of American diplomats in Tehran were captured and held hostage, while six others escaped and were hidden away by Canadian diplomats before being spirited out of the country. Like most Canadians, I was very proud

I talked to my editor about it: perhaps if the cartoon were cheeky? So I drew the Ayatollah encountering a decidedly impertinent Canadian beaver.

of our Tehran embassy staff for their initiative and bravery. However, as most Canadians also would be, I was squeamish about presenting an image that might make our country seem smug and self-congratulatory. I talked to my editor about it: perhaps if the cartoon were cheeky and just a little off the wall? So I drew the Ayatollah Khomeini encountering a decidedly impertinent Canadian beaver.