Collection comprises original editorial cartoons, created by Susan Dewar, and published until 1988 in the Calgary Sun and subsequently the Ottawa Sun and Toronto Sun.
Predominantly national in scope, Dewar also lampoons the provincial and international players and arenas. The political tenures of Pierre Trudeau, Brian Mulroney, John Turner, Preston Manning, Jean Chrétien, Paul Martin and Stephen Harper are examined, together with many of their key Cabinet Ministers. Cabinet Ministers include Michael Wilson, Don Mazankowski, Joe Clark, Barbara McDougall, John Crosbie, Kim Campbell, Jean Charest, Paul Martin, Allan Rock, Sheila Copps, David Collenette, and Lloyd Axworthy. Opposition leaders include Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe.
Provincial Premiers include Bob Rae, Don Getty, Ralph Klein, Mike Harris, Jacques Parizeau, Lucien Bouchard, Brian Tobin, Clyde Wells, Gary Filmon, and Dalton McGuinty.
Issues of note include federal-provincial wrangling and Constitutional debates; transfer payments; Quebec separatism and national and provincial referendums; government cut-backs in both the Alberta and Ontario and their effects on social programs, education and health services; gun control; fishing disputes; environmental issues; the economy, unemployment and taxes; the Somalian and tainted blood scandals; the amendments to the Young Offender's Act and rising urban crime rates; women's equality; the C.B.C., and election campaigns and results. International issues include the dissolution of the Soviet empire, Middle East conflicts, the Gulf War, Canada-U.S. relations, terrorism; foreign leaders portrayed include George Bush Sr. and George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela, Saddam Hussein, Margaret Thatcher, Mikhail Gorbachev and Manual Noriega.
A 2004 accrual includes work from Susan Dewar's first job as editorial cartoonist for the Calgary Sun, in the early 1980s, up until her transfer from the Ottawa office to Toronto in 1999.
Dewar, Susan, 1949- : Cartoonist. Susan Dewar worked as a teacher prior to several years of freelance work in the area of commercial art in Toronto. She began publishing her cartoons in the Calgary Sun in 1984, shortly thereafter attaining a position as their full-time cartoonist. In 1987, she won the National Business Writing Award for her political drawings. In October 1988, she left Calgary to join the staff of the Ottawa Sun. For several years, Dewar worked with American cartoonist Wylie Miller, producing a syndicated cartoon strip entitled "Him and Her" in which they alternated the production. In 2000, the cartoonist moved to Toronto in order to take up the position of editorial cartoonist at the Toronto Sun.
Her work often features the bewildered citizen, coping with an ever-increasing tax load and confused by never-ending constitutional debates. A reappearing character is the pragmatic Edith, habitually dressed in curlers and flamboyant cat's eye glasses. See various issues of "Portfoolio", the Association of Canadian Editorial Cartoonists' annual compendium of a selection of the best cartoons of the year.
