Portraits of Canada

And one hell of a political loser.

I wrote my Ottawa Citizen column this week about the Kingston Prize, a national portrait competition celebrating its 20th anniversary. I got to speak with co-chair Jason Donville about it and of course not everything that’s interesting can be crammed into one column so here’s a video that gives you a little more info, context, and maybe a bit of news, too.

I am not an art critic or a visual artist although every now and then I’ll grab my pencils with all the courage I can muster and doodle something that my kids insist is kind of half-way to almost quasi-decent (they say it nicer than that because they are kind people and they love me and also I pay for groceries). I so wish I had the patience to practice painting the way I’ve practiced piano or writing. But I do enjoy looking at portraits. You can see the whole collection on the Kingston Prize website for free if the $50 price tag for the book is a barrier. The book is absolutely gorgeous though, and I can’t recommend it enough. Middle Child asked to steal my copy and that tells you all you need to know about how good it is. Below are a few of my favourite entries from the years.

Going from the sublime to the ridiculous, I had a little fun this week calling Pierre Poilievre capital-L loser after his appearance at a local debate in Battle River-Crowfoot. One paragraph from that piece caught a lot of attention on socials:

This by-election is 100% unnecessary except for one person who has convinced himself the universe owes him a well-paid job with a subsidized house and a car and driver.

Honestly, I don’t think he can come back. He’s too much of a drag on his party. And as I keep repeating, he needs to go for the good of the party and that of the country. We can’t have just one competitive party. We need the Conservatives to be strong enough to put up solid and effective opposition to the Liberals. The opposition needs to be credible to the point where most people would consider having it replace the government. That’s how you ensure good governance. Poilievre is preventing this from happening, that’s why he needs to go. Also I don’t like his toxic style.

Le livre Fanjoy en français!

Comme promis, mon livre sur Bruce Fanjoy et sa victoire sur Pierre Poilievre dans le comté de Carleton est traduit en français et il sera disponible bientôt. Seriez-vous assez gentil pour me faire signe si vous pensez en acheter un exemplaire? Ça m’aiderait à determiner le nombre à imprimer… Merci!