012.Old White Guys from 1891-1895

The great thing about being Governor General is that if you really despise someone you can make sure they never become Prime Minister. This may also be an argument for why we shouldn’t have a Governor General.

I’ve been thinking of retitling this site “Old White Guys from 1850-1917″ because it seems like that’s all I talk about especially Mackenzie Bowell who makes his second (third?) appearance here. But I know you all love Mackenzie Bowell, that lovable yet incompetent PM. In some ways Aberdeen was right because probably the only person who was a worse PM than Bowell was Tupper. So it was a small step up anyway. Thankfully, neither of them spent a long time in office. This was part of the “4 PMs over 4 Years” period of 1891-1895. The only not-incompetent one was Thompson, but he had the unfortunate luck of dieing in office which paved the way for Mackenzie Bowell.

012.I Make Ruffles Look GOOD

Screw you America, we have our own Thanksgiving thanks to Martin Frobisher!

While today Thanksgiving in Canada means having a day off to tolerate your family members, when Frobisher held the first formal “thanksgiving” ceremony in 1578 it was more of a “Thank god we didn’t all die in that quest for the Northwest Passage” ceremony. And I think we should have more like that! We should be happier that we don’t all die of things because often we all do stupid things. Darwin would be doing this all day long if he were alive today maybe.

Of course, Aboriginal groups in Canada were having ceremonies to celebrate the crops long before Frobisher, but in terms of Canadian history we tend to see things start when the white dudes do it first in the country.

According to a Wikipedia article on Frobisher, he was a privateer/pirate. Sweet mama pajama! I don’t know what it means, but I imagine that it made his frilly collar doubly badass! No idea to what extent it is true though.

And yes Martin Frobisher, those pants do make your butt look gigantic.

Stop Making Sense

Okay I am probably going to be the only person who thinks so, but….

This is maybe a little bit funnier if you know much about the Talking Heads. There’s at least 4 Talking Heads jokes (kind of) in this post.

Anyway when I see them together I just can’t help but see it. This is not a commentary on either person, just, hey, it seems similar.

Granted it is 2am and I am tired so I am seeing many things at this point. Also this is an ongoing problem wherein I have no filter and I just post whatever it is I doodle. But I am particularly proud of both my swan and Byrne sketches thank you.

More David Byrne in his suity goodness: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE-mxVxFXLg

Some guy also named Andrew Swan who was the only one who turned up on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AI00YFkoUoA

011.George Simpson, Problem Solver

And now you see if they hadn’t moved and had instead insisted on being flooded every bloody year, we wouldn’t have Lower Fort Garry, which is where George Simpson moved them to avoid flooding. And I’m going there this weekend. If you hear excited giggling on the breeze, that would be me FYI.

I had a great punchline for a comic and on my way to write it down, forgot it. So there is another treasure lost to you all.

Also expect a Cora Hind comic this weekend, and maybe if you are lucky one on Lower Fort Garry because I am going there wheee!

Some things for you to know!

Where were you last night? I bet you were not at the St. Boniface Museum, at the performance by the great local artist Christine Fellows. She did a performance which was comprised of new works, all influenced by the pieces she has observed at the St. Boniface Museum during her time as the artist in residence at Le Musée de Saint-Boniface. Amazing, right? The whole song cycle was called Reliquary and was amazing. It was a multi-disciplinary approach with music, video and visuals. History is, as I’ve always said, the awesome. The show looked kind of like this, but was held inside the chapel of the Museum in the dark with selected lighting and also a stuffed fox and a stuff calf. It was an incredible, intimate experience and even though they were recording the performance, I suspect that it will be hard to top the live affair.

And did  you know the History Channel put out a video game? THIS IS CRAZY. It is about the Civil War. So, yay history video game, but boo no Canadian history video game. Perhaps I need to create one. This sounds like an easy task. Anyway, you cannot assassinate the generals in the game so I lost interest quickly.

Lastly, you may be thinking “Hey you jerk, why are you not updating more” and to that I say “I am working at my job that pays me money so I try to get things done on the weekend and please just wait patiently or I might start crying.”

010.Isabella Clark’s Homemade Concoction!

If John A. Macdonald is known for his raging alcoholism (and yes yes that first Prime Ministerial honour and all the work that came with it) then who else but Isabella Clark would make a perfect match. She did, of course, have her own special blend of opium and wine that brought addiction to soaring new heights. Their story (addiction aside) is actually a very sad one, with Isabella Clark dieing very young.

Also they were cousins.

Come Retire at Thomas Kelly Retirement Estates

009.You are a Bad Man, Thomas Kelly!

Happy Labour Day! It would be fitting to post a comic maybe about the Winnipeg General Strike, but you get this instead. One connection maybe is that one member of the Citizens Committee of One Thousand (Travers Sweatman) represented Thomas Kelly at his trial. Another is that FJ Dixon, who was arrested on charges of conspiracy after the General Strike, was the main person who led the charge for an investigation into what was happening at the building site.

And why was he on trial, you ask? Because while building the legislature there were allegations of kickbacks and theft of materials. It’s said that Kelly used some of the materials meant for the legislature to build a house for himself and his friends. He was convicted and sent to prison, but apparently because he was so well-connected he just hung out, slept and ate at the warden’s house throughout his sentence. And he only paid back $30 000 of the $1.2 million he was supposed to pay back. But don’t worry, this has a happy ending because once out of prison he had a successful career in America. And Canadians love a Canadian succes story, right?

Kelly built a whole lot of stuff in Winnipeg including the Winnipeg Free Press building, the Grain Exchange Building, the Imperial Bank and the Bank of Toronto among many others.

Others have written more about Thomas Kelly, his legacy and life in Winnipeg and the Legislative Building Scandal all of which you can read more about at Winnipedia, West End Dumplings, and the Manitoba Historical Society (I know, a historical society!!!).

LOGO

Unless you can think of something better.

Seriously, is that not the most badass thing ever? YEAHHH SOMEONE PUNCHING THROUGH A MAPLE LEAF!!!! As the internet has taught us, punching through things is awesome. The logo isn’t really relevant to anything and in fact kind of runs contrary to the “yay Canada yay Winnipeg yay Manitoba yay History” idea I’m going on here but PUNCHING. THROUGH. A LEAF. Take that, symbolism.