TIM BELFORD

What's the world coming to?

You have to wonder if George Orwell were around today what he would think.

I don't imagine he was the smirking type. But if he were, I guess you'd have to forgive him if he was Inclined to say "I I told you so."

You can't open a newspaper without coming across something that's right out of "1984" or maybe "Animal Farm."

A random look at the headlines over the last week or so produced the following gems.

Abitibi consolidated records near record profits.

This in no small part to closing down older mills and laying off hundreds of workers.

The logic here would dictate That the more you prune The workforce the more Profitable you'll be.

Followed to its logical Conclusion you get a company With maximum profits and Just one worker - the CEO.

Meanwhile the government denies it intends to "privatize" The national gun registry.

Instead the minister in Charge, Anne Mclellan, says They're going to "outsource" It.

Now, outsourcing means they'll hire people outside the government, which by most definitions means from the private sector.

The difference between this and privatizing boggles the mind.

And then there's the ad for one of our "national" newspapers.

It announces with a certain solemnity that "a newspaper Is owned by it's readers."

The ownership being conferred by the daily purchase of the journal in question.

This, of course, flies in the face of the fact that ninety percent of every paper of any size in the entire nation is actually owned by about four media barons.

And the daily purchase of said papers only insures that eventually that number will rise to one hundred percent.

And what about the latest scandal in academia.

It appears that a goodly portion of the university pf toronto's law students lied to prospective employers about their marks to obtain summer jobs.

Now, these are prospective lawyers so it didn't actually cause loud squeals of surprise.

But you have to wonder, of they were willing to do this to obtain summer employment, what would they do once they actually graduated?

And then there's Bernard Landry.

The provincial finance minister cum premier-in-waiting allocated eighteen million dollars to fund the province's circus school.

The reason? Apparently Quebec, and presumably the rest of the world, is suffering from a shortage of clowns!

Which would come as a surprise to anyone who keeps a weather eye on Canadian politics.

As I said, you have to wonder what Orwell would think of it all.