MARCH 18, 2000 ‘MONSIEUR TEFLON’
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.
During his political career, Jean Chrétien was known as a colourful character who liked to refer to his humble origins by styling himself “Le petit gars de Shawinigan.”
In his youth he had suffered an attack of Bell’s palsy, leaving the left side of his face partially paralyzed. He was also deaf in one ear.
Some cartoonists, particularly in Quebec, liked to take full advantage of these features. I tried not to focus just on those facial particularities — his pronouncements were interesting enough to stand on their own.
Chrétien was involved in federal politics for many years, acting as a faithful cabinet minister for Pierre Trudeau before finally becoming Canada’s prime minister in 1993. For a time, he enjoyed an unprecedented honeymoon with English-speaking Canada, probably because Brian Mulroney had been, to that point, the most unpopular prime minister in Canadian history.
Chrétien’s later years as prime minister were marked by a series of controversies. One of the most serious involved allegations of his having profited from real estate deals in his hometown of Shawinigan. It seemed that as soon as he was cleared of violating ethical rules, another problem cropped up. The federal government had wanted to blunt the impact of the Parti Québécois’s marketing of Quebec independence, so it mounted a “sponsorship program” in 1996 to inform the Quebecers about the many federal contributions to provincial industries. Sadly, the program’s stated goals were perverted along the way, and by the time it folded in 2004, widespread corruption — the misuse and misdirection of public funds intended for government advertising — had been uncovered.
Chrétien — sometimes referred to as “Monsieur Teflon” — was accused of inappropriate behaviour but has always denied any wrongdoing.
Chrétien also faced challenges from within his own party, becoming embroiled in protracted struggles with longtime rivals John Turner and Paul Martin.
Throughout his career, Chrétien provided me with such a wealth of caricaturing opportunities that choosing my favourite cartoon was a happy problem to tackle. As you can see above, I chose an international theme. Usually it was best to keep the prime minister at home. During a 12-day tour of the Middle East in 2000, one gaffe followed another. Visiting Israel, Chrétien said: “I don’t know if I am in West, South, North or East Jerusalem.”
I imagined the gregarious Chrétien leading a group of bewildered Arabs in a chorus of “Hava Nagila.”