George Orwell’s chilling vision in 1984 wasn’t meant to be a blueprint, but a stark warning. A warning against the erosion of truth and the dangers of unchecked power. Yet, a disturbing echo of Orwell’s Oceania is resonating in the halls of Canadian politics today.
The concept of “doublethink” – the ability to simultaneously embrace two contradictory beliefs – isn’t a literary device being discussed in academic circles. It’s a practical tool, openly displayed. Consider this: how can a nation declare China its greatest security threat one moment, and a vital strategic partner the next?
This isn’t simply a shift in policy; it demands a deliberate forgetting. A systematic erasure of recent history. Barely a year ago, a Canadian inquiry unequivocally stated that China “is the most active perpetrator of foreign interference” targeting the nation’s democratic foundations. This wasn’t speculation, but a formal conclusion.
To suddenly believe that threat has vanished requires a remarkable leap of faith. A belief that allowing 49,000 Chinese-made electric vehicles into the country will somehow dissuade China from its documented tactics of intimidation, coercion, and espionage. It asks us to ignore evidence of targeting diaspora communities and leveraging family ties for control.
The justification, delivered with striking nonchalance at Davos, was that Canada must “actively take on the world as it is, not wait around for a world we wish to be.” But the reality is far more unsettling. Canada isn’t confronting the world as it is; it’s actively choosing to ignore the reality of China, clinging instead to a fabricated ideal.
As one observer noted, the response to documented Chinese interference has been…nothing. No decisive action, no promised registries, no curtailing of diplomatic engagement. It’s as if the prospect of being subverted simply doesn’t register.
Doublethink isn’t limited to foreign policy. It’s also at play in the recent reversal on the carbon tax. For years, opposing the tax was equated with a callous disregard for the planet’s future. Now, it’s dismissed as a non-essential component of a climate plan that demonstrably failed to achieve its stated goals.
The shift is breathtaking. A former health minister once characterized opposing the tax as condemning children to a summer of endless car rides without bathroom breaks, all to “give up the future of the planet.” Now, the tax is quietly abandoned, with little acknowledgment of the previous, dire warnings.
This requires a wholesale rewriting of history. Every statement, every report, every political argument made in support of the carbon tax must be consigned to the “memory hole” – erased from collective consciousness.
Even the recent defection of Conservative MPs to the governing party embodies this unsettling trend. Their justification, beyond simple political calculation, relies on the same logic of doublethink. They represent a new normal in politics: a performance of contradictory beliefs, where critical thinking is a casualty.
These MPs aren’t anomalies; they’re a symptom. They will fit seamlessly into a system where holding opposing views simultaneously is not a flaw, but the standard operating procedure. A system where the death of critical thought is not a tragedy, but the accepted reality.
