Animal Farm or Canada Farm

Orwell's Animal Farm as a mirror of Canada's slide into dictatorship.

From Everyday For Life Canada

The failure of the political class in Canada to deal with the pandemic can be best understood in the context of George Orwell's Animal Farm. The story is about animals rebelling against their owner Mr. Jones. The animals believe they can live free and happy together if they could just run the farm on their own with no human owners to oppress and exploit them. Sounds great, but the revolution against human control turns out to be the worst nightmare imaginable.



Soon after the revolt, the leading animals are the pigs, Snowball, Squealer and Napoleon. Eventually, Napoleon takes over control using nine attack dogs to chase Snowball off the Farm. Meetings to decide how the Farm will be run are suddenly cancelled. Napoleon makes himself sole leader, and together with the rest of the pigs establish absolute power over the other animals. Whenever something goes wrong on the Farm, the pigs never assume any responsibility. Instead, the pigs make sure to blame the animals for anything that fails.

Sadly, one of the most loyal animals to the revolution is the cart-horse Boxer. His personal slogan is "I will work harder" to make the Farm a success. However, he's betrayed by the pigs. When he can no longer work because he's sick, he's sold to a glue factory. The rest of the animals are told that Boxer was sent to the hospital. It's a lie.

Politicians like Premier Francois Legault of Quebec have failed miserably to deal with the pandemic, but instead of admitting and owing their mistakes they have decided to scapegoat the unvaccinated. The story is the same in every province. Blackface PM Justin Trudeau calls the unjabbed "racists" and "misogynists". Should these "deplorables" still be part of society? But that's not enough. Now, Legault wants to tax the unwanted into submission. Those without the shot must be turned into scapegoats. The political leaders are so much like the ruling pigs in Orwell’s Animal Farm, always ready to blame the working animals for their own corruption and ruthless oppression. The book doesn't end well. What about Canada Farm?

The animal spirit and good will that inspired the revolution was founded on the The Seven Commandments:

1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
3. No animal shall wear clothes.
4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.
5. No animal shall drink alcohol.
6. No animal shall kill any other animal.
7. All animals are equal.

By the time we get to the end of the novel, every commandment has been broken by the ruling pigs. In fact, Orwell writes that because of the ruthless, manipulative and oppressive ways in which the pigs behave, it becomes no longer possible to distinguish the pigs from the human beings that once controlled Manor Farm. The pigs have become "human". The enemy is from within. There is also a lesson here for Canada Farm.