Cartoon

This caricature by artist Alphonse van Woerkom was published in a periodical in the 1970s. It depicts Montreal mayor Jean Drapeau wearing a Superman costume and holding two Olympic and Expo 67 flags in his left hand. In his right hand, he receives money from four men.

Alphonse van Woerkom, born in Holland in 1943, moved to the United States in the 1970s. There, he worked as a political cartoonist for newspapers in the Netherlands and North America, including the New York Times and the Toronto Star. While working for the latter, he received the prestigious International Political Cartoon Award from the Salon de la caricature de Montréal.

Jean Drapeau, born in Rosemont in 1916, is a Quebec politician and lawyer. After studying law at the Université de Montréal, he became interested in politics. Despite a mixed start in the political arena, he ran for mayor of Montreal in 1954. Elected mayor that same year, he held the position from 1954 to 1957 and from 1960 to 1986.

His longevity as a politician enabled him to develop major projects for Montreal. He equipped the city with a metro system, and organized two major events: the 1967 World’s Fair, under the theme of Man and His World, and the 1976 Summer Olympics. He left political life in 1986 and was appointed Canadian ambassador to Paris from 1987 to 1991. He died in 1999.