ACEC
The early bird dinner & beer got off to a good start. Andy Donato was well into his second beer and dinner by the time Michael & Gail de Adder and Graeme Mackay showed up.  Christian Daigle & his wife arrived soon after followed by Bruce MacKinnon, Bob Krieger, Vance Rodewalt and Serge Chapleau. Chapleau had a great time by himself at the Triangle Pub until he realized the location for the Early Bird dinner had been subject to change.

     The Rogue's Roost was a Pub Scrawl location on Halifax's Spring Garden Road. It contained 12 of the 125 cartoons in the Pub Scrawl. Rogue's is a brew pub that has some of the best beer's in Halifax including Bruce MacKinnon's favourite I.P.A. I.P.A. stands for India Pale Ale and unlike other I.P.A.'s, it is brewed the way a true I.P.A. should be brewed. And a few of these, in turn, brewed a few cartoonists the way a true cartoonist should be brewed.

     The night was very successful as cartoonists talked well into the evening about cartooning, music and Halifax. One of the highlights occurred when Bruce MacKinnon discovered there was no such thing as a "mild" jalapeno pepper.

CONVENTION 2005 - HALIFAX NOVA SCOTIA
July 7 to 10th, 2005
    Registration was hampered by the fact that Guy & Sylvie Badeaux got fogged in like many cartoonists convention weekend. Repairs to the Halifax International Airport caused delays and flight cancellations throughout the month of July. While some were delayed by hours, Dale & Jeanette Saint-Godard's flight was delayed a day, and didn't arrive until Friday.

    Thursday afternoon was spent getting acquainted with the hotel bar. Arrivals on this afternoon included Sue Dewar, Pascal Elie, Terry & Mary Mosher, Josh & Leona (Savoie) Beutel, Gareth Lind, Wiley Miller, Malcolm & Fran Mayes and Jim Todd. This was a good warm-up to the evenings events.

    The Economy Shoe Shop is located on Halifax's Grafton Street. It contained 55 cartoons making it the biggest venue in the Pub Scrawl cartoon show. The Economy Shoe Shop is also THE location for wrap-up parties when Hollywood shoots a movie in Halifax. What's good enough for Harrison Ford or Kevin Spacey proved to be more than good enough for our motley crew of cretins.
   And 6:15pm, Mayor Peter Kelly opened the Association of Canadian Editorial Cartoonists Convention by declaring July 7th, 2005 editorial cartoonist day in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He also handed out declarations to each cartoonist. He put in quite an effort that went over very well with those in attendance.

    Arriving on this evening: John Larter, Guy & Sylvie(looking exhausted) , and Roy Peterson. Guy & Sylvie didn't have many nice things to say about the Halifax Airport, whcih set the tone for the weekend and beyond as we'll get to later.

    The Shoe Shop event turned out to be a great venue for conversing and renewing friendships. The Shoe Shop owners David Henry and Victor Syperek put on a good spread of seafood and various finger foods, while the free drinks lasted well into the evening.  The highlight of this evening, for anybody lucky enough to be in earshot, was Roy Peterson's tales of trying to recover the downed bomber his brother was in during WWII. An incredible story that we will share as information becomes available. Good luck, Roy.
   By about 11:00 pm most cartoonists had made it back to the hospitality suite where Bruce MacKinnon, Bob Krieger and Dwayne Powell played guitars and Propeller Brewery had almost a dozen flats of free beer waiting. This first official evening ended at an early 3:00 am, as it officially began at an early 1:00 pm for most cartoonists.

    Seminars on Friday had to be reshuffled after Nick Kowsar's flight was delayed. Nick wouldn't make it until mid-day, so his seminar had to be put off until Saturday.

    In the place of Wiley Miller, who was pencilled in at the last minute for 10:00pm instead of 9:00pm, "Nothing Sacred" was showed first. This proved to be the perfect way to start the seminars. "Nothing Sacred" is an inspirational movie on Terry Mosher and Serge Chapleau. The quality of the documentary was one thing, but the understanding of our medium was another as the film makers really got inside their subjects in this intimate portrait of two of Canada's best cartoonists. It was a great tee-up for the day.
   Wiley Miller opened a very important dialogue on the future of our industry. He articulated what many in our profession are thinking about the cheapening of editorial cartoons by bigger syndicates. He explained how the American editorial cartoon industry has been steadily going downhill in recent years, and used this as a warning to where our Canadian industry could be headed.
    Free trials for up to six months, cut throat pricing and bulk purchasing are undermining a once thriving U.S. market. In Canada, he said, we still have time but we must act.
    This segment continued with concerns brought up in an Ingrid Rice email about competitive pricing in the Canadian market. A big discussion involving most cartoonists in the room took place. This took up the rest of the alloted time. It was decided that much has to be done to get our association mobilized (more on this will be presented on this website soon.)
  At 11:00pm Josh Beutel put on a power point presentation that outlined his long battle against Malcolm Ross. Ross sued Beutel in 1993 for drawing a cartoon depicting Ross as a Nazi. In 1998 Justice Paul Creaghan of the New Brunswick Court of Queen's Bench ruled that even though Ross may be a racist, there was no evidence that he was a Nazi. Justice Creaghan also ruled there is no evidence that Ross's beliefs are founded on Nazism and handed down a ruling in favour of Ross. In 2001 Beutel won an appeal against a former teacher who questioned the Holocaust.

   Before the break for lunch, Andy Donato outlined for everybody his problems with Revenue Canada. For years Donato donated cartoons to places like the National Archive. For this he received a sizable tax break by claiming it as a donation. Revenue Canada now wants the money back.
After the lunch break, Robert Short gave the association a two hour seminar on photoshop. In a rundown, Short showed us how to use Actions, Layers, Masking, Purging, Vector Masking et al. It was very educational.
      In the final seminar, Serge Chapleau showed us his award winning show Et Dieu Crea... Laflaque, and did his best to translate it for the association. This program is well worth trying to find on your local french station. An incredible amount of man-hours, state of the art technology and a team of writers make this one of the best political shows in Canadian history.       

At 6:30pm the cartoonists set sail on the Mar II for a tour of the Halifax Harbour. Jeannette and Dale Cummings, fogged in for a day, arrived in the nick of time to board the sleek vessel. The sun actually peeked it's head for part of the tour around the harbour. John Larter looked like a whale obsessed Captain Ahab standing on the deck of the the Pequod while Theo Moudakis looked like a Walmart greeter dressed up like a pirate at Halloween. For many this was the highlight of the convention.
Malcolm Mayes passionately engages in discussion as fellow cartoonists chomp down on cereal and pastries. 
Back row, left to right -- John Larter, Don Monet, Nik Kowsar, Graeme MacKay, Jim Todd, Tim Dolighan, Dale Cummings, Vance Rodewalt, Bob Krieger, Gareth Lind, Malcolm Mayes, Theo Moudakis, Dwayne Powell. Middle Row, Left to right -- Jeanette Saint-Godard, Bruce MacKinnon, Peggy MacKinnon, Gail de Adder, Mary Dolighan, Mike de Adder, Fran Seary, Guy Badeaux, Daughter Powell, Mrs. Dwayne Powell. Crouching -- Christian Daigle, Roy Peterson.
Andy Donato shares his frustration
with the tax man.
Nik Kowsar demonstrates
how he'll intimidate the
mullahs if they ever get
close to him again.
Terry Mosher leaves his John Hancock on
one of his 'toons on display during the Pub Scrawl.
RIGHT>>>
Wiley Miller ponders why he ever left California only to end up freezing on a boat in the middle of Halifax harbour surrounded by Canadian cartoonists.

<<<LEFT
Theo Moudakis shows there's still some seafaring maritimer blood in this big city slicker.
      Disembarking at 8:00pm, the cartoonists walked as a group to signing events at the Bitter End, the Blower Street Paper Chase and the Rogue's Roost before ending up at Gatsby's for a night of Cartoons and Jazz. This was Bruce MacKinnon's night as he put on a great jazz show with a few of his friends and any cartoonist who could carry a tune, a guitar or a harp. Best in show for the Pub Scrawl was awarded to bob Krieger while Terry Mosher and Andy Donato came in second. Judges were David Swick(The Daily News/King's College), Stephen Kimber(King's College) and Kyle Shaw(The Coast.)
      Jazz played well into the morning as cartoonist's created their own Halifax explosion.

      The business meeting started at 9:00pm sharp. Details will be shared at a later date. The main thing to come out of this was the re-election of Michael de Adder for another term as ACEC President. It was alos decided that the next Canadian Convention would be a joint convention with the AAEC in Washington 2007 and the next Canadian Convention would be in Canmore/Banff 2008.

Serge Chapleau plays a mean harmonica, as Bruce MacKinnon strums along with the band at Gatsby's bar.  
Bob Krieger strums as Serge
Chapleau picks his nose.
      Following this meeting, Nick Kowsar showed us a moving piece on his problems in Iran and his life in Canada. It also showed how Iranian Canadians are using the internet to affect change in Iran. He also spoke very candidly about his family in Iran and how Canada has helped and how Canada has hindered his role as a cartoonist. It was a very good hour.

      Cartoonists broke for the afternoon. Some went to Propeller Brewery for a tour of their facilities. They were our number one sponsor for the convention and supplied the association with more beer than could be drank. This is unheard of as a CANADIAN convention. Other cartoonists and cartoonists' partners took in the sights.
Round the Clock Heads: At 12:00, Josh Beutel; 1:30, Gareth Lind; 3:00, Michael de Adder, 5:00, Graeme MacKay; 6:45, Nik Kowsar; 8:30, Don Monet; 10:00, Tim Dolighan  
Keynote speaker Peter MacKay
and cartoonist Graeme MacKay
demonstrate virtually no
family similarities between
themselves.
At 7:30pm, the cartoonists attended the final event in Halifax, the final banquet. This was sponsored by the Halifax Herald and featured MP Peter MacKay as speaker. Hosted by Michael de Adder and Bruce MacKinnon this was the perfect cap to an eventful three days. MP Peter MacKay surprised many by being a very entertaining and engaging speaker. And Michael de Adder put together a video presentation that outlined the history of the ACEC and members from the past and present. It ended with the small tribute to Margaret (Roy Peterson's wife) who had passed away in 2004. Many others gave tribute to Margaret as remembrance became the theme of the evening. It was a very moving event. Not to mention that the convention itself was a very emotional convention. One that nobody in attendance will soon forget.

Nearly everyone who came to the convention by plane had to spend an extra day or so in Halifax due to fog and an overhaul of the airport's traffic control system. Bruce MacKinnon's cartoon (right) shows stranded MontrealersTerry Mosher and Serge Chapleau hoping for a lift on Rosey O'Donnell's cruise ship which was in town during the same weekend for a mass gay wedding ceremony.