In Your Face . and Other Recent Cartoons by Aislin

Geoff Hayes is an associate professor of History and the Director of
International Studies Option at the University of Waterloo.

It is hard to believe that Aislin’s first book of sketches came out in
1971. Thirty years later, the edge remains. That’s because the
absurdities of politics, Montrealers, Torontonians, and the world in
general never wane. But there is a certain, unexpected softness here
too.

Aislin remains the best-known political cartoonist in Canada, and as
Dalton Camp points out in this volume’s introduction, Aislin’s work
(particularly of Jean Chrétien) rivals that Duncan Macpherson did of
Diefenbaker in the 1960s. It might even rival the work J.W. Bengough did
of Sir John A. in the 1880s. Indeed, historians have long studied
Bengough’s work; no doubt future (or even present) generations will
glean much about “life” in Canada (or even life in general) by
looking through Aislin’s collections.

What does Aislin’s work tell us about Canada in the years 2000 and
2001? Jean Chrétien’s government won a third mandate to govern in
2000 largely because of bitter leadership rivalries and much
incompetence among the opposition parties. Aislin had particular fun
with Stockwell Day’s decline this year; the artist thought Joe Clark
looked particularly hip by comparison. Aislin also includes in the
volume a sketchbook of New Brunswick that reveals something about the
artist as well as the province. The results at first seem patronizing,
for there is little of his normally bitter satire. Instead he simply
presents the absurdities he sees around him, like a stately old bank in
Saint John that now houses a strip club.

But Aislin is still the most comfortable in Montreal. In this volume,
he is almost sentimental, the city having lost Pierre Trudeau, Jean
Drapeau, Mordecai Richler, and Maurice Richard. The sketches remembering
Richler and the “Rocket” are quite touching. So is the sketch of
Trudeau paddling off into the sunset, but a short collection of
Aislin’s previous work of Trudeau portrays a nasty admiration for the
man. Perhaps Aislin is showing his age, but after more than three
decades his reputation is secure.