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Curiously, we have no pictures of deputy ministers ordering their third bottle of Ch. Mouton-Rothschild, or sampling the caviar before heading off to the next seminar on how climate change will affect the world’s hungry. But I suppose that’s not the message the Liberals wanted to send. Indeed, all this was done in the service of the Trudeauean mantra that “Canada is back” (where Canada had been has, curiously, never been disclosed). And, of course, if Canada was back, McKenna, and her selfie-obsessed prime minister had to be sure the world knew it. Hence her decision to hire a photographer for the express purpose of recording the virtuous at prayer and to ensure that all the world could see that this government is committed to saving the planet.

In the old days, a pope or a prince would merely have hired a prestigious painter and told him to set up the scaffolds and reproduce the whole scene on a ceiling or some giant wall. But alas, the days of the artist as in-house publicist for monarchs and religious leaders are gone. In the age that began with Kodak and climaxed with the iPhone, it’s no longer about the skill it takes to create the picture. It’s about getting the picture and sending it out as fast as possible.

McKenna added another $10,000 or so to the already swollen budget of her climate hegira, so that the folks back home would have the benefit of seeing their saviours at work. And why not? After all, what is climate virtue if it’s not seen? What are good works without a dedicated photographer on hand to advertise them? Canada was back – and they have the pictures to prove it.

National Post