MelissaS+Page



First Cartoon By //M//elissa //B//enson

The man on the blind horse/donkey symbolizes Michael Ignatieff from the Liberal party of Canada and the blind horse/donkey is a symbol of him leading the liberal party in an effort to call an election and become Prime minister of Canada, basically it’s the blind leading the blind.

He is shouting “Charge” which is representing Michael Ignatieff attempting to overrule the Stephen Harper’s Conservative Government with the non-confidence vote.

The sign “Beware quicksand” demonstrates his political goals plummeting. His blind horse/donkey is standing in quicksand marked as “Quebec” is an indication that he is not going anywhere with his idea.  Could you perhaps look into why the quicksand is named Quebec?CF

The reason the quicksand is marked as “Quebec” is because the liberal party leader, Michael Ignatieff, made a speech to a crowd of Quebec liberal followers about how the Stephen Harper government isn’t doing what it set out to do. Protesting Mr. Harper needs an alternative person to get him out of the parliament seat and the only other person truly qualified is Michael Ignatieff. Then, they looked at the latest poll for the party’s and the new percentage points towards the Harper Government, which is why Quebec is “sinking” for the liberal party.  Thank you very much Cathie for the advise :D, I will gladly look into it and let you know back what it means. Miss Bengtsson

The red tie and the red saddle blanket is a representation of the Liberal party of Canada.

As we all know Michael Ignatieff's endeavor failed to receive enough votes from the House of Commons and is now letting Stephen Harper's (voted by the Canadian people) minority Government to live on.

I do not think that the Cartoon artist could make this any funnier; I believe he did a very good job on representing the current political events, his political point of view and possibly the country's political view.

__Additional comments or questions:__

Melissa, I love how you set up links so that your readers could follow through on the events that you are basing your cartoon on. This what helps us to understand where you are coming from. Well done!! CF

I thought you would like it, makes everyone's like easier to just be able to click and link and go. Miss Bengtsson

I like your analysis of this cartoon, especially with the part about the blind leading the blind. During his rise to power he himself said he considered himself U.S. American and not Canadian. Mike

That is very interesting, I definitely did not know this, Thank you. :D Miss Bengtsson

Information in the paragraph above is found from these websites. http://www.google.ca/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_of_no_confidence http://www.theprovince.com/news/Conservative+federal+government+survives+confidence+vote/2056240/story.html http://www.liberal.ca/en/newsroom/media-releases/16502_liberals-move-non-confidence-against-harper-government http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2009/10/05/11302376-sun.html http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2009/10/08/11343616.html



Second Cartoon By: // M // elissa //B//enson The symbolization of this cartoon is all about the Harper Conservative Government providing the economy with the stimulus package cheque.

The “Cheque” with the Government of Canada and infrastructure writing’s, signifies Stephen Harper giving out the stimulus fund money out to the people to help kindle the economies meltdown with this helpful stimulus package.

Stephen Harper did sign a couple of the cheques, which would be why his signature is presented on the bottom right side of the featured cheque. It also stands for the man in the picture, which looks like Stephen Harper but as a cartoon.

The Opposition parties are enraged that the Conservatives put their insignia/logo on the cheque and made it look like the conservatives are the ones that are giving out the support, instead of the Government putting together the tax dollars for this package. It also represents how Parliament is not backing the Conservative Government on the stimulus package.

The word “Partisan” (as being used as a catch phrase) points toward the Conservative party trying to make it there own agenda from the opposition’s parties’ point of view.

He’s dressed up as a “magician” and is called “The amazing Harper-Oni” because he’s using the cheques’, which is our own paid tax dollars, to stimulate the economy. Money comes in and then “Poof” its back into the masses.

The fact that the opposition parties believe that this is more of a show to show off his Conservative Party, instead of him just trying to help out the nation, could also be a prime element in this specific cartoon.


 * Definition of Partisan:**


 * 1.** A fervent, sometimes militant supporter or proponent of a party, cause, faction, person, or idea.

//adj.//
 * 2.** A member of an organized body of fighters who attack or harass an enemy, especially within occupied territory; a guerrilla.


 * Did the artist make his point?**

This artist made some very good points with the cartoon above. He was able to show us the different viewpoints in our own population in his cartoon, which helps us, understand the news articles and media buzz around this political event. He described it very well and added his own humour to the cartoon. Making people laugh is his job and drawing/writing about real life things would be something this artist is extremely good at.


 * What would you do to make this cartoon better?**

The only thing I would do to change the cartoon for the better, is adding a background. Like having this whole layout of the cartoon on a stage or theatre, so “The amazing Harper-Oni” would be performing his wonderful stimulus trick, as the opposition parties imagine.


 * Do you agree with the cartoon?**

I do not agree with the cartoon because I do not feel Mr. Harper really meant to portray himself and his team to be the all mighty savers of the stimulus package. I feel his strategy was to show Canada that the Conservative Government is trying to do something helpful for the Canadian people to help “kick start” the economy and the Liberals are trying at every opportunity to discredit the Prime Minister and the Conservative Party. I do feel that Stephen Harper should have been more aware of the actions/or how he portrays his government, so that him and his team wouldn’t be in this specific media spotlight.

__Additional comments or questions:__

I don't really have anything to say to that except that you did a superb job in your explanation. Well done and keep it up! Mike.

Thank you very much Mike! :D I was worried people would not be able to understand my cartoon :P Miss Bengtsson

Information in the paragraph above is found from these websites: http://www.google.ca/ http://www.thefreedictionary.com/partisanship http://www.thehilltimes.ca/page/view/copps_corner-10-19-2009 http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/canada/Liberals+foul+over+Tory+publicity+strategies/2105828/story.html http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/politicalbytes/2009/10/big-cheque-big-logo.html



Third cartoon By: // M // elissa //B//enson This cartoon is all about the Olympics of 2010 and how with the H1N1 influenza sweeping our nation one torch at a time.

The torch represents H1N1 and how it can easily be passed on from someone who has it onto friends or family members that do not. In relays races, it is very easy to pass off the baton or in this case torch, to the other member of your team, just as easily to spread the H1N1 flu to another person.

The two runners wearing the Canadian red Olympic colors are symbols of the winter Olympics of 2010, which are being held in Whistler, BC. Because of the Olympics being in 2010 the hype for this huge event is growing like wild fire. People around the world are talking about it and even the government and parliament figures are very into this event to bring attention to Canada, bringing more tourism and financial gain to this great nation.

Now knowing that the country is up for this huge event, the government doesn’t want to have bad publicity on the nation due to a influenza/virus outbreak and not have as many people show up because of the swine influenza outbreak. So they’ve rushed out the vaccine, skipping all the normal testing and safety measures for normal vaccines. Just so our tourism and health can go up for Canadians and entice tourism for the Winter Olympics.


 * Which is worse? The cure or the cause?**

Putting out a high-risk untested vaccine to the public on quick notice is a pretty crazy idea; it is a higher risk to your health than the swine influenza this country is trying to deal with. You can risk getting sick and not knowing if you got swine flu and possibly die or you can get the vaccine and risk the possibility of getting just as sick from that.


 * When you get swine flu you go under quarantine in your house for at least 7 days, clean and clear fluids and lots of bed rest, medication as provided by your doctor.**

The bearer in waiting is drenching his hands in “hand sanitizer”, as Canada is stressing the use of hand sanitizer for prevention of passing on the H1N1 influenza/virus. The torchbearers face is terrified and he just wants to let go of the torch and seek medical attention. (I’m assuming the dots floating around the runner is the influenza/virus) The bearer in waiting is saying “Hurry” because he wants as much hand sanitizer on him as possible before he goes into his run, the only down fall to having that much on is good luck holding onto the torch.

The phrase “ Coming to a town near you” is a strongly representing the H1N1 influenza and how it will be coming to a town/city near you because people are transferring it to other people across the world from just going to other cities or even vacation hot spots and picking up the influenza and bringing it home.

Swine flu comes from the 1918 flu pandemic (mostly known as the Spanish flu) that was transferred from humans to swine’s and back again; it was able to travel to nearly every single region around the world.

They had an estimation of about 50 to 100 million people that were killed world wide from this horrific flu epidemic.

This was the very start of the H1N1 influenza epidemic that we’re living in today. What’s scary now is how this virus is hopping from pigs/animals to humans, this is why people nowadays are saying its’ a huge importance to stay healthy and to wash your hands, for fear of spreading these viruses even further.

The backdrop to this cartoon is standing for the amount of people cheering on the Olympics; there isn’t a lot of support because of the swine flu out break cause everyone who gets this virus/influenza to go into quarantine in their homes or they are scared to leave their homes in fear of catching this flu.


 * Did the artist make his/her Point?**

The artist made a very good point with this cartoon; he looked at all the possibilities and made it so the reader of this cartoon could understand it very easily. He understood the political part of the cartoon and the hilarious part making them separate but in the same cartoon.

I also think he did this cartoon to raise awareness to the people who may be more prone to getting H1N1, telling us it is easily passed from one person to another and you should look into the vaccine before you get vaccinated, weigh the pros and cons with the vaccine.


 * Do you agree with you cartoon artists point?**

I agree with the cartoon because this virus/influenza nowadays is easier to spread around to friends and family, swine flue is become a bigger and bigger problem for Canadians to face everyday


 * What would you do to make this cartoon better?**

I think I would change the background of this cartoon, add some snow on the ground and keep it overcast; I mean it is “Winter Olympics” then I would add in that the hand sanitizer would freeze to the torchbearer’s hand.

Information in the paragraph above is found from these websites: http://www.google.ca/ http://www.dogpile.com/ http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/sports/2010-torch-relay/story.html?id=767ca360-0c47-44a4-a67c-db427a1f46aa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_flu_pandemic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swine_influenza#2009_outbreak_in_humans http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relay_race http://www.vancouver2010.com/ http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2009/10/19/qc-flu-order-in-council.html http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/08/06/swine-flu-vaccine.html http://preventdisease.com/news/09/080709_swine_flu_hype.shtml http://www.mahalo.com/how-to-get-swine-flu-treatment http://www.mackaycartoons.net/

__Additional comments and questions?__ Melissa you have done an absolutely astounding job with this, your analysis and background research for this cartoon is by far the best I have seen so far. Oh and thanks for the extra background research on the swine flu, it was very interesting to read, well done. Mike.

Oh my goodness. Well my opinion is that you could have... wait, you did that. Well you could have backed up your info... wait, you did that! Melissa, you did a fantastic job with this cartoon, you explained everything very... sweetly! Air high five!!! Wait... But no really, great job. I enjoyed reading all of your cartoons, awesome! -Dan?... no it's me. (well at least one of me that is:)

Very impressive, you went into great detail with the cartoon as well as what I've been preaching about the flu vaccine ever since I heard they were opening the flu shot up to the public. You are pretty much my hero now so well done.

The Boss

 ​ Glad I can be your hero Boss man.. Yes, I am not going to lie, to write this whole paragraph took me 7 hours... It was a long night... or morning. which ever way you look at it. Thank you all for your comment, I'm glad all of you understand it.

Miss.Bengtsson