Fonds comprises editorial cartoons, published in the Winnipeg Free Press, covering over two decades of political events. Works are arranged chronologically within each accrual. The drawings are primarily of national and provincial significance, with a smaller number examining politicians and events of note on the international stage. Each Prime Minister and Ministers responsible for significant portfolios, during the period 1982-2000, are portrayed. These include Prime Ministers Pierre Elliott Trudeau, John Turner, Brian Mulroney, Kim Campbell and Jean Chrétien. Party leaders and key Ministers include Eric Neilsen, Don Mazankowski, Michael Wilson, Joe Clark, Paul Martin, John Crosbie, Marc Lalonde, Sheila Copps, Alan Rock, and Preston Manning. Major scandals occuring in both the Liberal and Progressive Conservative camps are examined. Among provincial politicians, there are portraits of Gary Filmon, Sharon Carstairs, Gary Doer, Sterling Lyon, Grant Devine, Don Getty, Bob Rae, Mike Harris, David Peterson, Stockwell Day, Bill Vander Zalm, Jacques Parizeau, Lucien Bouchard, Jean Charest, Howard Pawley, Alan Blakeney, Ralph Klein, Brian Tobin and Frank McKenna. International leaders include Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, George Bush and George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, John Major, Ayatollah Khomeini, Saddam Hussein, Ehud Barak, Helmut Kohl, P.W. Botha, Nelson Mandela, Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin, Vladimir Putin, Slobodan Milosevic, Ferdinand Marcos and many Central American rulers.
Of note, among the recurring subjects, is the plight of the Western farmer, the economy, the G.S.T, unemployment, the fishing industry on both coasts, armed conflicts worldwide, the Charlottetown and Meech Lake Accords, aboriginal issues, federal-provincial relations, western alienation, the Gulf War, Canada-U.S. relations, the dissolution of the Russian Union, repressive régimes, tensions in the Middle East and the Balkans, the environment, gun control, election results, the newspaper industry, and free trade agreements.
An accrual received in 2009 included such Canadian political subjects as the offices of Jean Chrétien, Paul Martin, Stephen Harper and Michael Ignatieff. Subjects of Canadian interest inclue Canada's environmental record, the conduct of the RCMP in such cases as that of Maher Arar, the softwood lumber dispute, health care and health issues such as the Bird Flu and BSE, the Gomery Inquiry and the sponsorship scandal, the Young Offenders' Act, gun control, Canada-U.S. relations, and foreign policy. International subjects of note are the Iraq war, terrorism and reperssive régimes, natural disasters such as Hurricaine Katrina and the Thailand tsunami, the perpetual conflict in the Middle East and the rise of the Hezbollah, and nuclear weapons development in North Korea.
Accruals are arranged chronologically within each accession.
