What are we in for?
Through the Eyes of a Lifetime
I was born in March of 1966, in a small Canadian city called Cornwall, Ontario. And Cornwall felt, at the time, a world away from the noise of politics and the storms of history. Yet history has a way of finding us, even when we aren’t looking for it. Over the course of my life, I have watched Canada, and the world, transform in ways my grandparents could never have imagined.
I have lived through the fear of nuclear war in the 1960s, the unrest of the 1970s, the flashy optimism and hidden anxieties of the 1980s, the fractured unity of the 1990s, and the painful shocks of the 2000s. I have seen social media reshape our lives in the 2010s, and I have felt the uncertainty of pandemics, wars, and climate disasters in the 2020s.
Canada has never been a simple country. It is a mosaic — sometimes beautiful, sometimes broken, often fragile. It has been shaped by the weight of our neighbours to the south, by the echoes of our colonial past, and by the voices of Indigenous peoples demanding to be heard. It has been pulled apart by debates over Quebec, strained by Western alienation, and tested by waves of immigration that both enrich and challenge us.
And through it all, I have asked myself: What kind of Canada will we leave behind?
This book is not a history textbook. It is not a politician’s memoir. It is a reflection — one Canadian’s journey through the decades, stitched together with the stories of a country that is always changing, never finished. It is about how global events, politics, culture, and technology shape ordinary lives. It is about how fear and hope coexist, and how every generation inherits the consequences of the one before it.
Most of all, it is about the future. About my children, my grandchildren, and what lies ahead for them. Will they inherit a country that is stronger, more compassionate, and more resilient than the one I grew up in? Or will they inherit the weight of our mistakes — debt, division, distrust, and disaster?
The title of this book is not a statement but a question: What Are We In For?
Because the truth is, none of us know. But by looking back at where we’ve been — the struggles, the triumphs, the fractures, and the resilience — maybe we can begin to understand where we might be going.
This is Canada’s story as I have lived it. It is also my story. And it is, I believe, the story of anyone who has watched the world change faster than they could keep up, who has wondered about the future, and who has asked, in quiet moments:
What are we in for?
