Okay i wasn’t gonna hand-letter this one. And no, this does not set a new precedent in terms of gigantic blocks of text. Expect significantly less text next week, for instance. And no, it does not set a new precedent in terms of being topical either. There is no precedent. The only thing to expect is something unexpected. Not even I know what the comic’s gonna be until like ten minutes beforehand. The garage full of illegal immigrant workers who write and draw the comic is shrouded in secrecy. Nobody knows what to expect on sunday night and then BAM! a fifty-thousand word catastrophe about Canadian politics. What could be more appealing?! Some will accuse me of pandering, since the internet is clogged with text-heavy comics about Canadian elections, the creators of which are raking in the dollars via merchandising. Have you read “Lester Pearson and The Guy From The Legend of Zelda Make Scatalogical Puns?” It’s a sprite comic that I so dearly love made by seventeen teenagers from west virginia who donate all their proceeds to charity. I’m totally copying them I know, but I’m just such a huge fan.
Stay off those land mines,
Rowntree
Virus Comix News 
October 20, 2008 at 1:24 am
Hold still, I’m wishing for a whale to land on you. And a potted African Violet.
October 20, 2008 at 1:24 am
Hmmm….Mr. Harper looks a lot like Harvey Dent, but good for you guys, he sounds like an awesome leader, hopefully soon we’ll pick a nice guy named Obama to compliment him 🙂
June 10, 2015 at 11:35 pm
*complement
October 20, 2008 at 1:40 am
It’s nice to finally hear something about politics in other countries than the U.S. It’s really suprising to me that we don’t hear more about Canada, considering your our direct neighbor to the north. But good for you guys. Hopefully we can follow in your footsteps and pick a liberal president for ourselves.
October 20, 2008 at 2:41 am
>_< This is brilliant and amusing. <_< Must… not… let foreigners in on joke!
October 20, 2008 at 2:42 am
I wish the things you said were true.
October 20, 2008 at 2:48 am
About the above comments, and no offense to my American neighbours… another myth about other people’s knowledge of my country has just been confirmed. It’s the mouse and the elephant analogy. The elephant couldn’t care less where the mouse is, but the mouse knows where the elephant is at all times. Anyways, great satirical comic! J. Swift would approve.
October 20, 2008 at 2:53 am
Sorry Winston. As you’ve seen I’m always one of the first to compliment your comic each week, but this one didn’t work for me. Not because I’m one of those people who thinks “comics shouldn’t be political,” and not because I voted Conservative. I most certainly did not. Ew.
No, this comic doesn’t work for me because all it does is say exactly the opposite of what you (and the 60% of us voters who _didn’t_ support him) think about Harper. To quote Unencyclopedia’s useful “How to Be Funny and Not Just Stupid” help page, “Many uninventive [humour pieces] follow overused formulas. These include…Saying the exact opposite of reality…Example: George W. Bush is a highly liberal communist dedicated to gay rights.” Uncyclopedia is right: there’s nothing actually _funny_ about such an approach. And even if tonight’s comic was one of those ones where you didn’t intend it to be funny (like “Not Worth It” or the recent one about the guy who never manned up and asked out the woman he liked)…well, it doesn’t really make any point other than a general “Harper’s policies are bad.”
Again, sorry to be negative this time around, but it had to be said. I look forward to next week’s strip.
October 20, 2008 at 4:10 am
@Michael Ezra: Irony isn’t funny? Shit, I hope no one tells Colbert about this.
Anyway, hi Winston, I’ve been reading your comic for a while now and I’ve finally gotten around to leaving a comment here. I love your work, I love your political content, and, even though I’m Australian, I know just enough about Harper to get today’s joke. My secret? Remembering last week’s blog entry.
October 20, 2008 at 4:20 am
Damn! I’m moving to Canada! Look out, peeps!
October 20, 2008 at 4:28 am
@Tiim: Funny irony involves more than just stating word-for-word the exact opposite of what you mean to convey.
Example 1: “Creationism is the most widely accepted biological theory of life’s origins, in that it has the widest body of empirical evidence in its favour.” –Not funny. Merely the mirror image of “Evolution is the most etc. etc.” No point other than to say “Creationism sucks” in the second-most blatant way possible.
Example 2: “Creationism shows how great is God’s wisdom, in that He could think of no better use for His power than to create a world that looks billions of years older than it actually is. For only in this way could He sort the true believers, who see through his little prank, from the foolish, godless evolutionary biologists who fell for it.” –Funny. It conveys _why_ creationism is stupid and why, ironically (there’s that word again) it paints God in a _worse_, not a _better_ light, in implying He’s a jerkass who plays mean-spirited games with His creatures.
See?
October 20, 2008 at 4:33 am
I think that it’s funny just because it’s so damn bitter. Sometimes simplicity is the key. He’s not just saying the opposite of what’s actually happening, he’s loosening a floodgate of blatant wishful thinking.
Anyhow, different strokes for different folks, as the old proverb goes. I thought it was hilarious. But then again, I didn’t refer to the humour manual.
I’m surprised nobody took the cue and looked up Stephen Harper. I guess certain folks just think of Canada as being generally more progressive, so the idea of a great, trailblazing leader doesn’t trigger any suspicions.
October 20, 2008 at 4:41 am
Don’t blame me. I voted for Kodos.
January 19, 2015 at 9:19 pm
As long as you’re not living on Tarsus IV, that should work.
October 20, 2008 at 4:53 am
As an admittedly ignorant American, I would at least like to say that I knew something was up. Even before I hit Google to start doing some reading, I knew that this page (of all pages) would not be one to blindly praise anyone. Wikipedia, Google results and this comment page only help to confirm my suspicions.
I don’t really think it’s funny, but it does seem witty. It also takes some understanding of the author to appreciate. I like the comic, because I get it and it makes me feel smart(er), but it’s not something I laughed at. But who says it has to be?
-Nos
October 20, 2008 at 5:23 am
You sound a little sarcastic, one might almost assume you didn’t like this Stephen Harper.
October 20, 2008 at 5:59 am
You spelt ‘favour’ incorrectly. Great comic though.
February 1, 2013 at 2:06 pm
Colour, Honour, and the Cheque is in the mail. We spell the Queens English up here.
October 20, 2008 at 6:36 am
interesting. you should read about some hungarian politicians, and have a good laugh with me. :sigh:
October 20, 2008 at 10:55 am
Great comic as usual, keep up the good work! Here on the other side of the pond we hear even less about Canada than americans probably do (though we do get to hear all about the recent *Austrian* election…)
I have a gripe about electoral mandates though: I don’t like when people quote figures phrased as “Only x percent voted for Y” and so on. It’s not fair to count people who could vote but didn’t bother. To say only 20% support Harper automatically assumes the 42% who didn’t vote oppose Harper, which may or may not be true, but they either oppose everyone else equally, or they just can’t be arsed to vote. Either way, saying only 20% voted for a candidate when turnout is 58% is disingenuous.
Having said that, a) An intentionally spoiled ballot should be counted, as it proves disdain for all candidates, and so should lower each candidate’s percentage. It’s a disgrace that in France they don’t count such ballots.
b) Despite everything, 37% is not a particularly good mandate for nearly half the seats either! So I agree about First Past The Post being slightly screwy. Better than Proportional though, where party wrangling means nothing ever gets done 🙂
October 20, 2008 at 11:39 am
Re: Mojo
Actually, proportional systems seem to work fine in countries that have gotten used to them. I’m norwegian, and we haven’t had a pure majority government for a long time now.
What basically seems to happen is that the coalition in power agrees on some things, and these can then be done with as much speed as they would be in a first-past-the-post system. They then disagree in details on some things, and have to hammer out an agreement before they can go through with it – which seldom harms and sometimes refines the end product.
When they disagree on something to the point that they can’t act together on it, it doesn’t get done – and that’s fair enough, since it has a decent chance of representing what the majority of the voters meant. Of course, not all issues are dealt with like this – on controversial issues, it happens that coalitions agree to vote along party lines instead (or even that parties free members to vote from individual preferences) – now and then, this allows something with majority support to pass even if parts of a coalition doesn’t support it.
In summary, and despite rumors to the contrary, it’s a perfectly workable solution.
October 20, 2008 at 11:50 am
Ah… Another good reason to move to Canada… and a big one, too!
October 20, 2008 at 11:55 am
Turns out I was right to be suspiscious of your comic, wasn’t I? Such a shame, here I was thinking Canada was such a great country, and it turns out you have a PM no better than John Howard (he still got majority vote though, as voting is compulsory).
October 20, 2008 at 12:09 pm
@Michael Ezra: I agree with that, but I felt this comic was closer to your second example than the first.
October 20, 2008 at 1:07 pm
If only…
October 20, 2008 at 1:31 pm
@Djn
I didn’t mean to say PR is not workable; I agree that when it distorts the popular vote too much (like in the UK, Labour has 35% of vote but 55% of seats!), it is a bad idea, and also that coalitions force parties to work together rather than against each other.
But not everywhere works as well as Norway – Israel for example has particular problems because there are so many divisive issues. This means that special interest parties for pensioners and the ultra-orthodox can get 10-20% of seats in the coalition! Of course that is not to say that these groups should not participate in politics, just that them having such a large portion of power in a coalition devoted *just* to them is a bit silly…
Anyway, I tend to favour a mixed system, built on a base of First Past The Post but with a top-up to make it more proportional, like in Scotland for example. This gets the best of both worlds, with individual representation, prevention of excessive powers for extreme or single-issue groups, but also prevents excessive power for the largest party 🙂
October 20, 2008 at 1:40 pm
heh…i see what you did there…
clever…
October 20, 2008 at 2:13 pm
British here. I can’t quite figure whether this comic is for or against harper.
October 20, 2008 at 2:37 pm
I love the comments more than i love the comic! I’m laughing about the fact that most american commenters do not question the comic and just say thing like ” i will move to canada now”. Why don’t they research the facts a bit? they just take it like its given to them, and they leave it at that.
For the sake of all of our international friends like Mack above me:
Harper is a screw up and he only got elected because of our messed up electoral system, that is not a very fair representation of the true vote. Harper is conservative, and thanks to him our troop are still in the middle east. So yes this comic is very against harper.
Matt
October 20, 2008 at 3:10 pm
That’s perfect! OMG
October 20, 2008 at 3:10 pm
I was in Canada recently (AB), and nobody could explain what, exactly, the NDP is all about.
After last Tuesday’s little fiasco, Canada has proven it can’t really complain all that much about stupid Americans re-electing Bush. It’s a sliding scale of comparative intelligence and progressiveness, but still. I would have expected better from the Canadians.
Best o’ luck to you people up there. Although, c’mon. Stéphane Dion?! Is that really the best the Liberals could do?
October 20, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Harper’s percentage of the vote : 37,64%
Harper’s percentage of seats : 46,42%
Dion’s percentage of the vote : 26,23%
Dion’s percentage of seats : 24,67%
Layton’s percentage of the vote : 18,19%
Layton’s percentage of seats : 12,01%
Duceppe’s percentage of the vote : 9,98%
Duceppe’s percentage of seats : 16,23%
I don’t see any real big difference in representativity here, at least by Canadian standards. Look at the results of the 2000 federal election :
Chretien’s vote : 40,85%
Chretien’s seats : 57,14%
Day’s vote : 25,49%
Day’s seats : 21,92%
Duceppe’s vote : 10,72%
Duceppe’s seats : 12,62%
McDonough’s vote : 8,51%
McDonough’s seats : 4,31%
Clark’s vote : 12,19%
Clark’s seats : 3,98%
During the liberal reign of the 90’s, this happened all the time. As you can see with the results of the 2000 federal election, the Liberals benefitted immensely from the Westminster system, gaining much more seats than their popular vote would have given them. If anything, the election of 2008 is probably the most representative of the popular vote that I’m aware of in Canada in recent years, except maybe the 2007 Quebec election, in which an election that basically went 1/3-1/3-1/3 in the popular vote gave a Nation Assembly that also basically went 1/3, 1/3, 1/3.
October 20, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Alright, I guess I should get more interested in Canadian politics. But hey, I already don’t understand how the elections of my own country works.
October 20, 2008 at 4:00 pm
HAHAH oh gods in heaven this comic damn near killed me with laughter. You have managed to capture everything that is wrong with our current governmental system in one page.
October 20, 2008 at 4:20 pm
I don’t know who this man is, sir… or where he came from.
but ut did me a power of good, that!
a power of good.
yay political satire. :-p
October 20, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Yes… He is a strange bedfellow to Bush. Another Wacko in the World of nonsense. A two faces politician like all the Western Heads of States.
Canada is now officially the brown nose nation to the USA and the power elites.
Shame on us for voting in such a crook and liar. War will go on for as long as he is in command now.
Shame on us for turning our back to democracy.
Michel_Tr
October 20, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Lol, come next election, the conservatives should use this in their propeganda
October 20, 2008 at 5:40 pm
Re: Daniel of California: Alberta is such a conservative stronghold I wonder exactly how many people there even know they have other options.
Thanks for the comic; I’m gonna go drink myself to death on maple syrup now. I almost cried when Mr. Roboto here was re-elected.
October 20, 2008 at 5:52 pm
And Stephen Harper would never break his own law to call an election that cost $300 million when the country is on the brink of financial crisis for minimal gains. Never.
October 20, 2008 at 9:40 pm
btw. Denmark has the highest carbon footprint of the Nordic countries.
October 20, 2008 at 9:42 pm
We have Olmert and Livni, you have no right to complain.
October 20, 2008 at 9:51 pm
heheh, awesome… This comic kicks a lot of ass. keep up the good work
October 20, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Awesome.
October 20, 2008 at 10:38 pm
Nice piece on Harper. In your estimate, how does he compare with the last “cool” PM, Pierre Trudeau?
October 20, 2008 at 11:10 pm
If only this wasn’t horribly sarcastic.
October 20, 2008 at 11:35 pm
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA..
*breathe… breathe*
..HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
*wipes tear*..
Oh if only it were true….
At least we’ve got another election next fall..
October 21, 2008 at 12:16 am
Oh god I wish this was true…
how I wish…
October 21, 2008 at 12:19 am
Well, a bit of your “opposite points” are a bit exaggerated, as satire usually is, but, still funny nonetheless.
But now I feel the need to make a chart so people can know the facts.
Nah, to lazy.
October 21, 2008 at 12:22 am
Hey. Haven’t really commented on any of your comics before, but just wanted to say that I love that you mentioned us Danes ;). Even though we really aren’t THAT great with the environment. Our government kind of sucks too, actually.
For the people who doesn’t find the comic amusing: Who says that it has to be funny?
October 21, 2008 at 1:15 am
Michael Ezra: I actually find both examples you give to be funny, so let’s just agree that humor is subjective and if the comic didn’t work for you then that’s a-ok. You can be as negative as you like, since you explain your negative opinion so well. Much appreciated.
Daniel of California: I agree. And the NDP is about moustaches and the color orange and robotically staying on-message. I still like them though, for some reason. I liked Dion too, though, it’s too bad that people refused to vote for him because he’s nerdish.
Dave: Exactly. And now the vote splitting is on the left instead of the right, hence the opposite electoral effect. But it’s like the saying goes: democracy is the worst system we have, except for all the other ones.
Ina: The Danes are ranked the happiest people on earth, so surely you deserve a mention. Plus Copenhagen is the most beautiful city on earth. Plus the Museum of Danish Resistance is the greatest museum on earth. And yeah, I think that everyone’s government kind of sucks, unfortunately.
Thrilled with the discussion that’s emerged, by the way. Learning a lot. Handshakes all around.
October 21, 2008 at 3:20 am
Wow. This goes beyond mere sarcasm into a heretofore unimaginable realm of whimsically over-the-top anti-truth. I think Michael Ezra’s Unencyclopedia-referenced critique and subsequent elaboration are generally on target, but that in this instance you broke the paradigm by pushing the whole Bizarro-Harper thing so damned far that it came out the other side funny again. My favorite line is the one about how Harper “does not in any way resemble an animatronic vampire that’s just swallowed an elephant seal.” Priceless!
October 21, 2008 at 3:54 am
And while we’re on the topic of representativity, the worst part really is here in Quebec, where Duceppe got 38% of the popular vote in the province, yet got 2/3 of the seats ! (50 out of 75).
Talk about aberration…
October 21, 2008 at 4:16 am
I don’t know Stephen Harper, and I’m not familiar with the Canadian political situation, but i thought this was F#@king hilarious.
October 21, 2008 at 4:35 am
If the person who writes and draws these comics is not married, I would like to purpose to them right now. I don’t care about the gender, I’ll take whoever they are just for the comics.
October 21, 2008 at 5:33 am
I’de trade my Harper for yours any time ;p
October 21, 2008 at 5:34 am
@Lily “I think that it’s funny just because it’s so damn bitter.”
Me, too. I didn’t know who this person was, but took the Wikipedia hint and was amused by the wall of bitterness. Also by the notion, “Gee, would it be so hard to actually have leaders like the one described? Can’t we just have that instead of what’s offered?”
No.
October 21, 2008 at 5:45 am
I shall sit here patiently until the liberals/ndp or ndp/green become one party like the canadian alliance and the progressive conservatives did. Perhaps then we can kick the conservatives out again. At the very least, I’d like the fact that the greens got 7% of the popular vote compared to the bloc’s 10% to be reflected in seat distribution. I’d also like the win the lottery.
Remember kids, if you don’t vote you forfeit your right to bitch and whine.
October 21, 2008 at 6:53 am
Hmm, I guess this is my first comment here, though I’ve been reading Subnormality for a while, I guess politics can do that. Anyway…
Sarcasm Overload. I think my head might explode.
This must have been the most useless election in a while, the Conservatives still have a minority they will use like majority and the left wing and the Liberals are still in shambles.
Also, the news keeps telling me people didn’t understand Dion’s Greenshift plan, really? Is it that hard to understand? Can people really not understand anything more to do with taxes than “I will cut your taxes”?
Oh well, maybe the liberals will pull themselves together by the next election. Or maybe there will be a beautiful left wing coalition ballot. I can hope right?
October 21, 2008 at 9:30 am
Steven Harper sounds awesome but he pales in comparison to the leathery tanned awesomeness that is George W. Bush, now that guy is a real progressive.
Seriously though, I feel so sorry for Canadians, but I know how you feel. I guess you’ll get a taste of what it feels like to live under the rule of a bunch of idiots like George Bush. I guess you could start threatening to move to the U.S. like I did about Canada for the last 8 years. Actually, my brother married a Canadian and drew her down to California about 2 years ago. (But she’s from Alberta, so I’m sure many of you might be saying, “you can have her”.) I guess representative democracy requires people to get out and vote, lest they be left unrepresented. Once again, sorry and better luck next time, and get your coalitions organized and united, there’s strength in numbers.
October 21, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Can you post the link for, “Lester Pearson and The Guy From The Legend of Zelda Make Scatological Puns?”
October 21, 2008 at 3:52 pm
I strongly agree with those who’d like to see the left-of-centre parties (minus the separatist Bloc) unite, since it worked for the Canadian Alliance (Reform) and what little remained of the Progressive Conservatives. It’s likely that many in the Liberals would be open to it, as not only have they just suffered their worst seat-loss since Confederation, but they’re nearly bankrupt. I could also see the Greens in favour since, barring the extremely improbable introduction of some form of proportional representation, they otherwise haven’t a snowball’s chance in hell of gaining a seat.
The major obstacle to this I see is NDP leader Jack Layton, as “stubborn” and “wishful thinker” don’t begin to describe him. Unlike Green leader Elizabeth May, who knows that even with proportional representation the Greens would never be “the” governing party, Layton continues to dream of being Prime Minister and has resisted any cooperation with the Liberals. So much so that he allied with Harper’s Conservatives to _bring down_ the Liberal minority, which is how we got stuck with Harper in the first place. So unless Layton smells the coffee or the party boots him out in favour of a “unite the left”-oriented leader, we can rule out such a union. Unfortunately.
October 21, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Oh dear.
Oh dear oh dear oh dear.
Y’know, sometimes it makes me sad, the first two posts from my countrymen I see on this site, and they’re not getting it. Either that, or they are getting it, and are simply afflcited with a tragic case of OverIrony (now with Sarcasmitol! Making whites whiter and jokes crisper for the whole family!)
Oh dear oh dear oh dear.
October 21, 2008 at 4:49 pm
WTF- i just lost a tremendous amount of respect for ‘ol virus comix………
October 21, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Michael Ezra :
“I strongly agree with those who’d like to see the left-of-centre parties (minus the separatist Bloc) unite, since it worked for the Canadian Alliance (Reform)”
I disagree. It worked for the Conservatives because originally they were the same party, with basically the same opinions, convictions and base. The NDP, on the other hand, has a significant number of far-left extremists, and I’d say the Libs are more Center than Left-of-Center, and the distance to cover between them (or their most right-wing members) and the NDP’s left would be too great. By comparison, the Conservatives have basically most of their members being Right-of-Center, and a small amount of them sprinkled between the Right and Extreme-Right, which makes a coalition much more natural for them. Plus, they mostly agree on economic issues, which only leaves the social issues to debate, while a Leftist coalition would basically have to argue over everything.
And when you look at the results of 2000, 2004 and 2008, you’ll see that as the Liberals drift towards the Left, they lose votes to the Conservatives, who try to stay as close to the Center as they can. A leftist coalition would only accentuate and accelerate this process. I can even see a moderate, center third-party appearing from this situation, stealing votes from the disenfranchised Libs.
October 21, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Oh wow, this is the best thing ever. I am so going to introduce the New Harper to my friends & family. I regret not voting for him last week.
October 21, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Gold, pure gold.
October 22, 2008 at 3:47 am
James: You can’t marry me, I’m married to the comix. We fight constantly though, so cross those fingers.
Jesus Christ: Care to elaborate? Otherwise I’ll have to assume that you’re Peter McKay, drunk on rum & Pepsi, typing under an alias.
October 22, 2008 at 5:51 pm
/facepalm
It really made me all the more depresed when I read this comic through. Can’t the world have just ONE leader like this phantom of sarcasm? I’m kinda depressed that my fellow American readers didn’t pick up on the jibe but what do you expect from the country with a publicly elected madman at its helm. Great work and keep the comic great, it’s one of my personal favorites along with TBK.
October 22, 2008 at 6:35 pm
I’m American but I got the joke almost right away. Damn shame. I hope we don’t make the same mistake.
October 22, 2008 at 7:52 pm
I should do an anti-Berlusconi sarcasmo-phantom.
It would be pretty similar to Mr. Anti-Harper…
(update)
October 22, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Okay, so Obama is not this version of Stephen Harper- but as far as the US is concerned…he’s pretty close.
I am sorry that this comic wasn’t portraying a reality situation…
sad sad sad
“My Future’s so Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades…”
So…not cool.
October 23, 2008 at 5:09 am
Awesome comic, got me hooked!
About the new comic strip: I hope the U.S. doesn’t make a similar mistake.
Keep the good work coming.
October 25, 2008 at 11:55 am
OK. What ironic subtext am I missing *now*?
🙂
October 26, 2008 at 9:58 am
It’s rather sad that other Americans really don’t know enough about Canada to realize that this was grade A sarcasm right away. 😦
Oh god, the comment about pepsi is what drove me over the edge into snickering non-stop.
October 27, 2008 at 7:53 am
well, now it can be said as well that the comic is mightier than the sword… thanks for the clever input 🙂 we rarely get this kind of info in Europe, being just spammed with US elections. Quality of media is really going down the drain..
October 27, 2008 at 3:37 pm
It’s so optimistic it almost seems like sarcasm. Or maybe I’m just a cynical, embittered American….sigh. Well as I don’t have time between my sitcoms and hamburgers to double check the facts, I’m going to go clean my gun while a breathe through a gas mask so I can be ready to fend off the gang of roaming Palin clones while i push my Geo Metro to the nearest bio-diesel station several hundred miles away. AND WHY THE HELL DON’T I KNOW THE METRIC SYSTEM?! Tell me Canadian! HOW MANY KILOMETERS?!
October 27, 2008 at 8:06 pm
Whats really funny are all the comments from Americans who think that this is an accurate portrayal of Stephen Harper.
October 28, 2008 at 2:01 am
As the current head of state (and also King) of Sweden, I approve of this comic and all of it’s content.
(The Swedish King is head of state. He doesn’t have any power though, and is mostly known for always driving too fast.)
October 29, 2008 at 12:28 am
As an American who knows nothing about Canadian politics, it was pretty obvious that this was sarcasm. And I immediately went and wiki’ed Steven Harper.
I’m kind of surprised people took this so literally. Silly Americans…
As a side note, I really enjoy this comic. The fact that you don’t know what to expect from week to week is half the fun!
October 29, 2008 at 4:34 am
*sobs hopelessly* oh man this HURT TO READ.
can we clone your fictional Stephen Harper?
October 29, 2008 at 6:37 pm
I’m scared.
I’ve been trying to find out about the political situation in Canada, and this wonderful comic confirmed my suspicions. There’s no escape from the Bush administration now! 😥
October 30, 2008 at 7:45 am
Just a note, but calling it the Kyoto Accord doesn’t really help convince me that you’re as forward thinking and eco-friendly as you want to seem.
It’s a protocol, not an accord.
I know that Chretien inundated Canada with the notion that it was only an accord, but that was an attempt to get it into the public conscious and seem like he was doing right by the planet, while completely backhanding the notion with semantics that the mainstream press will never address (or realize, perhaps).
Not a very savvy error to make in a 100% political strip.
November 1, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Interesting situation we have here today. It looks like we’re going to be electing Obama down here in the US. Does that mean that the US is finally going to be more progressive than Canada?
June 15, 2011 at 3:14 pm
Comment from the future: No.
November 2, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Ah, America…we’re so naive.
Loved the exuberance in this strip, it was so honest and definitely not sarcastic!
November 4, 2008 at 10:45 am
Looks like the Neo-Conservatives are in charge in Canada too.
Tony Blair, Bush and Harper.
November 5, 2008 at 4:30 am
LMAO! Brilliant!
November 26, 2008 at 7:54 am
Awwww poor little liberals sad at the big mean conservative winning?
November 30, 2008 at 6:56 am
shephar fairy approves.
December 6, 2008 at 6:53 pm
*mantra pose* I am not suited for politics, I am not suited for politics, I am not…
but things like this make me want to dive in and figure out how to make the satire reality. Really.
December 14, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Wow, Harper dodges one french-socialist-separatist bullet and gets nailed with an intelligent, competent bullet. Thant-you Harper, you’ve just killed your career and saved Canada.
This really IS the best time of the year.
December 21, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Hmm. I think this just made me more depressed about the whole situation.
My only hope is that he’s shot himself in a far more vital part than the foot and is quickly going to be shown the door. Although, then, who knows who will be the leader then.
Does anyone know hypnosis? Maybe we could kidnap the real Harper, and hypnotise him to make him into this version…
April 20, 2009 at 6:52 am
Well, GFY. 🙂
I like Harper, I’m not naive enough to think bigger government and failed socialist policies will make our lives better. Thank god most people don’t think like you.
April 27, 2009 at 1:03 am
It’s unfortunate that the ignorant (whom I am also part of) didn’t immediately catch on to the “complete opposites” approach you were taking. I may be ignorant to Canadian politics but atleast I’m not dense enough to think you were playing this piece straight-forward :/.
May 4, 2009 at 4:24 pm
Wow, Canada sounds like it’s got a great president.
I wish our PM’s more like that.
July 21, 2009 at 10:17 pm
hey, didnt know u were canadian. i agree, harpers a souless pussy idiot who needs to get the hell outta parliment ASAP. i pitty his kids.
July 22, 2009 at 6:39 am
if only, if only.
sigh.
November 18, 2009 at 3:09 am
I want to live in your fantasy land.
December 15, 2009 at 8:00 am
I never quite left a comment on this one, but I feel you should know the truth.
Firstly, I would like to comment on all the people taking this seriously. Frankly I think I would notice the blatant satire, even if I weren’t a resident of Canada.
Now, onto the good stuff.
I voted for Harper. I support Harper. I still think Harper is the best Prime Ministerial candidate. I’m not exactly saying he’s a good choice, but I would definitely, and confidently, say he’s the best choice.
Hopefully you can set this aside and not hate me for this, as I have with you.
Regardless of my political opinions, I found this comic hilarious and sent it to a bunch of friends. Even though I like Harper, this is very true. Let’s admit it, Harper’s a fucking robot. And you nail that in a beautiful satirical fashion.
So kudos.
(As a side note, I am Albertan (Calgarian to be exact) thus justifying my vote, and I was actually nearing voting fort the “Libertarian” party, just for shits)
January 10, 2010 at 9:06 am
I like.
February 4, 2010 at 10:31 pm
I too voted for Harper’s government, and feel he was/is the best choice. He’s far from perfect(is a perfect leader possible?)and he certainly can’t please everybody. That’s why democracy doesn’t work. No matter who’s in power, half the population is pissed about it.
Love your comics by the way.
February 22, 2010 at 4:03 am
Well done!
Of course, nothing to be embarrassed about, certainly not the way Canada acted in Copenhagen.
I’m in the process of reading pretty much all your comics and I love them.
Merci beaucoup!
March 12, 2010 at 7:38 pm
Harper sucks , he’s was just a puppet of bush
and now is just a conservative dumb ass.
Conservatives are the scum of the earth , along with there friends in the church.
May 1, 2010 at 11:39 am
I was confused when I saw the name and picture, but got a pretty good laugh as I read, enjoyable ^_^ Just hope Americans get the joke and maybe look up a pic of helmet head.
June 27, 2010 at 12:19 am
The Canadian government is failz0rgs.
July 23, 2010 at 1:42 am
so i definately had to go to wiki as you suggested, i feel bad every now and again about not following up on or caring about my northern neighbor, but fuck it, AMERICA!!
August 14, 2010 at 3:53 pm
This made me so sad. We need a leader like this. Maybe I’ll try for the job.
August 24, 2010 at 8:13 pm
@Me
You would have to really not know enough about sarcasm to miss it.
January 11, 2011 at 8:16 am
eeeek
January 27, 2011 at 1:47 am
It’s not fair to play jokes like this on Americans. We can barely follow our own political processes, let alone Canada’s. Some people will probably believe this.
May 1, 2011 at 1:15 pm
Lol. That’s awesome, I totally like the sarcasm!
May 5, 2011 at 2:09 am
And lucky us he now has a majority. Don’t we all just feel so snug and warm in that thought….
May 6, 2011 at 4:03 am
Hee hee! This was awesomely cute. I kept reading because I knew there was no way. *sigh* If only it were true…
(From an Albertan who DOES vote NDP! Fingers crossed for proportional representation.)
October 13, 2011 at 7:46 pm
I love your satire! Best comic ever.
January 6, 2012 at 12:26 am
reading this, three years later is makin’ me cry a little on the inside.
September 8, 2012 at 9:47 am
you should make a comic going after the idiotic and racist Bibi Netanyahu.
March 28, 2013 at 6:38 pm
I want to see one about John George Diefenbaker