Ordinary Hardworking Canadian

Carved cedar, Styrofoam, paper, a Timmies cup, donut, the Action Plan logo and over 400 ten-percenters

I began making satire in 2009 because of the mail.  At that time, Members of Parliament could mail, at tax-payers’ expense, propaganda leaflets known as ten-percenters, into their opponents’ ridings. Conservative MPs from across Canada mailed designed-to-make-people-afraid-and-angry leaflets to Yukoners, sometimes two or three a week.

I asked Yukoners for  donations of ten-percenters with the intention of repurposing them in an art project. Much to my delight, weekly piles of Tory Trash filled a special garbage can in the foyer of Well Read Books .  

TAKING OUT THE TRASH, BETTER ANGEL GOES TO OTTAWA

PROUD: THE RE-BRANDING OF CANADA

In 2011, I met with our new Conservative MP, Ryan Leef, to discuss questionable tactics. I promised Ryan that if he sent Ten-percenters to Yukoners, that I would collect them with the intention of making art. He sent ten-percenters and I kept my promise.

THE OTTAWA LITTLE MINDS AMATEUR THEATRE

In 2006, young Jenni Byrne asked Stephen Harper this seminal question, “Who is on the right track to make art that our base can understand?” Stephen Harper responded with this famous speech, “Real Canadians, old stock, the people who really matter, understand that Shakespeare is not in line with conservative values. But a strong, stable conservative government will protect Canadians from irresponsable players”. And with that, the Ottawa Little Minds Amateur Theatre was born.