In George Orwell’s classic dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, whenever political alliances changed, the history books and even newspapers were rewritten to imply that this new alliance was how things had always been. All of the books and papers reflecting the correct version were burned so no one really knew what the truth was.
Recently, government authorities who shut down the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic, and all but forced people to get vaccinated, are taking a leaf from Orwell’s masterpiece. On April 24, at an Ottawa event, Prime Minster Justin Trudeau, in a discussion with the visiting German president, claimed that “while not forcing anyone to get vaccinated, I chose to make sure that all of the incentives and protections were there to encourage Canadians to get vaccinated and that’s exactly what they did.”
This is more than just a bit disingenuous from Trudeau. The federal vaccine mandates that his government put into place made it impossible for an unvaccinated person to travel or to work in the federal government. Taking their lead from this sledgehammer approach of the feds, provincial governments across the country imposed harsh lockdowns and eventually required vaccine passports to enter a shop, restaurant, sporting facility or theatre, or to visit a loved one in hospital.
For anyone except a hermit living in a cave, life became impossibly difficult for those who chose not to be vaccinated. That’s exactly why the pent-up frustration of so many Canadians culminated in the Freedom Convoy that made its way to Ottawa in January 2022. While neither Trudeau nor the provincial premiers will admit it, the loosening of pandemic restrictions soon afterwards had a lot to do with the convoy protests.
So that begs the question, why is Trudeau now trying to rewrite history?
Why is Trudeau now trying to rewrite history?
If the prime minister sincerely believes that the harsh measures his government took made sense, you would think he would take credit rather than trying to duck. He’s not the only one. Last fall, U.S. President Joe Biden’s press secretary quite remarkably blamed Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, and Republicans in Congress for school closures and the harmful effects they had on students, while giving the Democrats credit for school reopenings. The truth is that most of these key decisions were made by state and local governments, with Republican-governed states more likely to keep schools open or reopen faster than Democratic-governed states.
Much like Trudeau, the Biden White House was gung-ho about tough pandemic measures, and a lot of the loosening happened despite it, thanks in part to Republican-governed states and to an activist court system that declared many of Biden’s federal vaccine mandates unconstitutional.
Not to be outdone, America’s COVID czar, Anthony Fauci, in a New York Times interview claimed: “But when people say, ‘Fauci shut down the economy’ — it wasn’t Fauci. The CDC was the organization that made those recommendations. I happened to be perceived as the personification of the recommendations. But show me a school that I shut down and show me a factory that I shut down. Never. I never did.”
Here’s an analogy. If a gang leader orders a hit on a rival gang, and one of his hoodlums pulls the trigger, the leader is going to say, if challenged, “I never pulled the trigger,” which is factually true but deeply misleading. Fauci was the public face of the White House’s pandemic response and his recommendations and even utterances carried enormous weight.
Today, he’s trying to play down that role. No doubt, a now beleaguered Fauci is trying to salvage his reputation and is looking to his legacy. In the same New York Times interview, he says he always emphasized that the elderly were at far greater risk than the general population. This would have militated against school closures, yet that’s exactly what he supported. When Gov. Ron DeSantis wanted to reopen public schools in Florida in April 2020, Fauci said it would lead to kids getting infected with COVID-19 and advised against it.
Biden and Trudeau have more pragmatic reasons for wanting to retell the story of the past couple of years than legacy. Biden has just thrown his hat in the ring for a second term, and Trudeau and the Liberals are past masters at gauging the public mood and getting ready for the next election, even if it’s some way off.
Biden and Trudeau have reasons for wanting to retell the story
Let’s not forget that Trudeau not only imposed and encouraged tough pandemic restrictions but demonized those who chose not to be vaccinated — famously, in January 2022, as “a small fringe minority” who hold “unacceptable views.” The month previous he had claimed, “They don’t believe in science/progress and are very often misogynistic and racist.” On Feb. 17, the day that the Public Order Emergency Commission’s report on the government’s use of emergency powers became public, Trudeau was queried about the “fringe minority” remark by a reporter, and admitted “I wish I had phrased it differently,” which is probably as close to an apology as he is likely to come.
Clearly, the prime minister is recalibrating. By saying that he never forced anyone to get vaccinated, he’s doing little short of gaslighting the many Canadians who made a principled decision that they were not comfortable getting a vaccine that had been developed at “warp speed,” and who then paid a heavy price for that choice.
While a few courageous people dissented, whether you agree with their choice or not, there was widespread, almost unthinking, compliance with the official narrative and the harsh measures flowing from it, from large sections of the public, the media and institutions of governance. Perhaps, Trudeau’s fanciful retelling of the COVID story, all with a straight face, will prove convincing, given a public that is largely willing to be led by the hand. As the old saying goes, “there’s one born every minute.”
National Post
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