Book Look: The Big Shift -- The changing Canadian political landscape

The Big Shift: The Seismic Change in Canadian Politics, Business, and Culture and What It Means for Our Future by Darrell Bricker and John Ibbitson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Here's a question for you. Would you rather understand changes in your country's political scene before or after the next populist backlash?

The Big Shift is a thought-provoking review of Canadian politics by pollsters who draw their conclusions from the numbers. And what the numbers tell us is in stark disagreement with the traditional narratives used by most commentators.

The "big shift" refers to large-scale change in prevailing political views caused by changing demographics and business climate. This has led to traditional liberal priorities steadily losing ground -- particularly focus on nation-building and national unity (protecting Canadian identity, Quebec identity, transfer payments to have-not provinces, etc.) -- giving way to hard-headed conservative economics.

Excellent non-partisan read for anyone interested in really understanding what's going on in Canadian politics including the rise of Stephen Harper and the Doug Ford populist backlash.