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Next: Where to Live, What to Buy, and Who Will Lead Canada's Future
Follow a link to an ad in a sponsored email and, no matter your age or stage of life, you will likely be directed to a product that marketers believe is right for you. More often than not, the ad will target those with a younger, trendier, hipper lifestyle, offering you products you never knew you needed or wanted. Companies market to a younger audience because they believe that’s where the money and the excitement are. But are they wrong? Perhaps very wrong?
This is only one of the counterintuitive arguments that Darrell Bricker, CEO of Ipsos Public Affairs, a world leader in opinion polling, tackles in his groundbreaking new book, Next. Not since Boom, Bust & Echo has a Canadian expert in what Canadians will want and need distilled the growing trends based on real and extensive demographic data and dared to forecast what will come next in a major publication. Why is Harley-Davidson making smaller motorcycles and changing the way they sell their bikes? Should restaurateurs be focusing on vibrant, frenetic restaurants offering the latest food fashion or on open, quieter restaurants that focus on tasty standard fare? What’s the fastest-growing sector in the housing market? Where should companies plan on setting up shop? Why do we face a population crisis? Which provinces will become the haves and which the have-nots? Where will Canadians be emigrating from, and where will they live? Should we be building more hockey arenas or basketball courts, or even cricket pitches?
Next is the first book in decades that offers an honest, often provocative prescription for where we will live, what we’ll be buying and who our leaders will be in the decades to come. Filled with stories of Canadians making critical decisions for their businesses and their personal lives, Next will appeal to a wide audience: anyone who is wondering where they should look for their next job or where they might plan on living in retirement—even how they will live in Canada’s ever-changing future.
This is only one of the counterintuitive arguments that Darrell Bricker, CEO of Ipsos Public Affairs, a world leader in opinion polling, tackles in his groundbreaking new book, Next. Not since Boom, Bust & Echo has a Canadian expert in what Canadians will want and need distilled the growing trends based on real and extensive demographic data and dared to forecast what will come next in a major publication. Why is Harley-Davidson making smaller motorcycles and changing the way they sell their bikes? Should restaurateurs be focusing on vibrant, frenetic restaurants offering the latest food fashion or on open, quieter restaurants that focus on tasty standard fare? What’s the fastest-growing sector in the housing market? Where should companies plan on setting up shop? Why do we face a population crisis? Which provinces will become the haves and which the have-nots? Where will Canadians be emigrating from, and where will they live? Should we be building more hockey arenas or basketball courts, or even cricket pitches?
Next is the first book in decades that offers an honest, often provocative prescription for where we will live, what we’ll be buying and who our leaders will be in the decades to come. Filled with stories of Canadians making critical decisions for their businesses and their personal lives, Next will appeal to a wide audience: anyone who is wondering where they should look for their next job or where they might plan on living in retirement—even how they will live in Canada’s ever-changing future.
- GenresNonfictionCanada
304 pages, Hardcover
First published March 31, 2020
16 people are currently reading
88 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
August 15, 2020
Very dense book with lots of information on Canadian demographics. A must read if you are in Canada or interested in coming to Canada to learn how to adapt to Canadian culture.
Very informative book on what it means to be Canadian through all the provinces, cities, age groups, demographics. Super interesting demographic information and analysis and thoughts on how it will affect the Canadian future.
I need to re-read and take notes.
Very informative book on what it means to be Canadian through all the provinces, cities, age groups, demographics. Super interesting demographic information and analysis and thoughts on how it will affect the Canadian future.
I need to re-read and take notes.
September 30, 2020
Some nuggets here and there (forget French as that demographic is shrinking, focus on relationship building and marketing to newcomer tastes in food etc and find out what senior solo women want as many of them have big bucks) but overall lightweight.
Some of the trends projected may already be dated in the wake of Covid 19 as more people learn they can buy a house outside the major cities for less than they pay in rent.
Some of the trends projected may already be dated in the wake of Covid 19 as more people learn they can buy a house outside the major cities for less than they pay in rent.
November 7, 2020
Only for children of all ages-filled with absolutely ridiculous statements backed up by nothing but Political Correctness e.g. "some experts feel children born now will have an average lifespan of 100"-he opens that whopper by stating that living to 100 is quite common now in Canada (it is about a 5900 to 1 shot-basically mega jackpot slot machine odds) etc etc etc. It reads like a book written by a nightmare combo of CNN and CBC writers. Pathetic book.
December 29, 2022
Kind of repetitive but this book gave me lots to think about in how Canada's demographics are changing. We're aging on average, but not equally in all places and the implications for people who live in cities that are greying are huge. Where immigrant Canadians come from is also changing and that's affecting all of us in small ways and large. Among other things, this book made me pretty pessimistic about owning real estate in Thunder Bay, Ontario and a lot more excited about helping my parents buy some in cities within a few hours drive of Toronto. It also gave me an impression of what to expect in health care, consumer trends, politics, and other areas. In broad strokes, it painted a fair picture about what Canada's going to look like in the next decade and I found that an interesting and brisk read.
January 19, 2022
Thought-provoking and generally good, but seems dated by the massive changes wrought by the Covid pandemic and by a large increase in numbers who accept that drastic action is needed to mitigate climate change, as a result of increasingly disastrous weather & the publicity surrounding the conference in Glasgow. Many times as many of us will work from home after the pandemic as before, and many have moved to suburbs, small towns, and the maritimes as a result.
Also there are too many errors. EG:
p.111: The total of the projected shares of Canada's population in 2063 is 80%. The projected shares for Ontario and the West should be 40 and 34% respectively
p.112-3: Annapolis Valley is on the northwest, not southwest shore of Nova Scotia, and Fundy tides affect this shore, not the west side/end of the province, which extends from St Mary's Bay to Cape Sable.
p.182,para#2,last sentence: The population share of the western provinces (31.5% in 2016) greatly exceeded that of Quebec (23.2%) long ago.
185: Punjabi, Urdu and Tamil are not "languages originating in the Pacific region."
203: Soviet repression drove many Hungarians here in 1956, not 1967, and Czechs here in 1968, not 1973
209: "Montreal Arabs have come primarily from French-speaking countries in North Africa, predominantly Muslim countries such as Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya..." Of these in only Algeria and Tunisia can a majority speak French, and Libya has never had a significant number of French speakers. More Arab Canadians come from Lebanon than from Morocco and Algeria combined, and constituted the largest group of Arabs in Montreal. It is important to remember that although a majority of Arabs are Muslim, religious and ethnic minorities in Arab countries are disproportionately represented in those who have come to Canada.
211:"we will have to find immigrants in new places with surplus populations." In fact Canada can easily reach its immigration targets from places that have supplied immigrants to date, even if fertility in those places drops below the replacement level as long as Canada looks attractive enough to be worth moving to. Also, our immigration policy does not and should not focus on particular countries.
How many errors did I miss?
Also there are too many errors. EG:
p.111: The total of the projected shares of Canada's population in 2063 is 80%. The projected shares for Ontario and the West should be 40 and 34% respectively
p.112-3: Annapolis Valley is on the northwest, not southwest shore of Nova Scotia, and Fundy tides affect this shore, not the west side/end of the province, which extends from St Mary's Bay to Cape Sable.
p.182,para#2,last sentence: The population share of the western provinces (31.5% in 2016) greatly exceeded that of Quebec (23.2%) long ago.
185: Punjabi, Urdu and Tamil are not "languages originating in the Pacific region."
203: Soviet repression drove many Hungarians here in 1956, not 1967, and Czechs here in 1968, not 1973
209: "Montreal Arabs have come primarily from French-speaking countries in North Africa, predominantly Muslim countries such as Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya..." Of these in only Algeria and Tunisia can a majority speak French, and Libya has never had a significant number of French speakers. More Arab Canadians come from Lebanon than from Morocco and Algeria combined, and constituted the largest group of Arabs in Montreal. It is important to remember that although a majority of Arabs are Muslim, religious and ethnic minorities in Arab countries are disproportionately represented in those who have come to Canada.
211:"we will have to find immigrants in new places with surplus populations." In fact Canada can easily reach its immigration targets from places that have supplied immigrants to date, even if fertility in those places drops below the replacement level as long as Canada looks attractive enough to be worth moving to. Also, our immigration policy does not and should not focus on particular countries.
How many errors did I miss?
October 14, 2020
Excellent book, & written in a style that is easy to read. Lots of data turned into useful information & well worth reading more than once. I've read the chapters in varying order, depending on what interests me most at the time. Popular book at the library, couldn't renew it.
June 22, 2022
Interesting read-most things seemed kind of obvious
August 17, 2022
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As a Canadian who has lived most of my adult life in the United States, I am well aware that Americans eyes immediately glaze over when they see the word "Canada" anywhere in print. Putting aside this gross prejudice, the last acceptable racism, really, there actually are a few things that Americans should pay attention to north of the border for their own good. Canada is going through a transformation that is truly staggering in its implications. The country is rapidly urbanizing, aging, and browning. Rural areas and entire provinces of Eastern Canada are going through demographic collapse that is likely to lead to a future political crisis, as young people stop having children, flock to major cities, and no immigrants arrive in those quiet regions to replace them.
Canada in 2050 is going to be something unlike the world has yet seen: A two-ocean power with a truly globalized population. Unlike other Western countries, there is little nativist backlash to high-rates of annual immigration since all political parties across the spectrum have long ago accepted it as an economic necessity. Its even become a part of Canada's self-image. The historic Anglo-French divide created a complex enough national identity that most people don't feel mortally threatened by shifts in national culture, and every year Canada brings in hundreds of thousands of new high-skilled immigrants from anywhere in the world that is willing to send them. Canada is already rapidly on the way to becoming a country in which Asians and Africans compromise strong pluralities with equal claim on national identity as the original settlers. In the future, people who look like me will be considered Canadian natives as waves of new immigrants arrive there from exotic new locales. In fact, I can already see it happening in the immigrant-heavy suburbs where I grew up.
This book is intended to give businesspeople a bit of a window into what Canada is going to look like and how they should position themselves accordingly. It's not just about Canada though: the same trends of urbanization, cultural diversification, female empowerment manifesting in low-birthrates, and aging are relevant to every Western country. China and Japan may not survive due to demographic collapse since they've already decided that they'd rather decline than become ethnically diverse. The West, meanwhile, is likely to be headed into a new Golden Era as waves of new immigrants inject dynamism and energy into the culture and economy. Over time these newcomers will themselves be shaped by existing traditions and patterns of life here, as previous immigrants already have.
Canada is turning into a country that consists of a few global cities, surrounded by vast empty lands suitable for farming and resource extraction. It's growing fast and there is a lot to be excited about since most Canadians and their leaders have decided to take the plunge into the unknown future rather than hold onto nostalgia for a diminishing past. Believe it or not, after a long history of irrelevance, there's good reason to think that this century Canada might become one of the most important countries in the world.
As a Canadian who has lived most of my adult life in the United States, I am well aware that Americans eyes immediately glaze over when they see the word "Canada" anywhere in print. Putting aside this gross prejudice, the last acceptable racism, really, there actually are a few things that Americans should pay attention to north of the border for their own good. Canada is going through a transformation that is truly staggering in its implications. The country is rapidly urbanizing, aging, and browning. Rural areas and entire provinces of Eastern Canada are going through demographic collapse that is likely to lead to a future political crisis, as young people stop having children, flock to major cities, and no immigrants arrive in those quiet regions to replace them.
Canada in 2050 is going to be something unlike the world has yet seen: A two-ocean power with a truly globalized population. Unlike other Western countries, there is little nativist backlash to high-rates of annual immigration since all political parties across the spectrum have long ago accepted it as an economic necessity. Its even become a part of Canada's self-image. The historic Anglo-French divide created a complex enough national identity that most people don't feel mortally threatened by shifts in national culture, and every year Canada brings in hundreds of thousands of new high-skilled immigrants from anywhere in the world that is willing to send them. Canada is already rapidly on the way to becoming a country in which Asians and Africans compromise strong pluralities with equal claim on national identity as the original settlers. In the future, people who look like me will be considered Canadian natives as waves of new immigrants arrive there from exotic new locales. In fact, I can already see it happening in the immigrant-heavy suburbs where I grew up.
This book is intended to give businesspeople a bit of a window into what Canada is going to look like and how they should position themselves accordingly. It's not just about Canada though: the same trends of urbanization, cultural diversification, female empowerment manifesting in low-birthrates, and aging are relevant to every Western country. China and Japan may not survive due to demographic collapse since they've already decided that they'd rather decline than become ethnically diverse. The West, meanwhile, is likely to be headed into a new Golden Era as waves of new immigrants inject dynamism and energy into the culture and economy. Over time these newcomers will themselves be shaped by existing traditions and patterns of life here, as previous immigrants already have.
Canada is turning into a country that consists of a few global cities, surrounded by vast empty lands suitable for farming and resource extraction. It's growing fast and there is a lot to be excited about since most Canadians and their leaders have decided to take the plunge into the unknown future rather than hold onto nostalgia for a diminishing past. Believe it or not, after a long history of irrelevance, there's good reason to think that this century Canada might become one of the most important countries in the world.
December 18, 2022
Because of the pandemic the forecasts in this book will be inaccurate. Regardless there was a lot of good information presented but the numbers will proof to be inaccurate in the future caused by the realities of the covid pandemic. I have little doubt it would that would be that accurate if the covid pandemic didn’t come to be. There’s a lot of information in the book that will be relevant in the future but like I said the projections will be off in my opinion even though I’m not nowhere near as informed as the author. Good job btw. If there was no covid pandemic , I would rate it five stars though.
July 17, 2021
I was genuinely surprised at how relevant and interesting this book is. It changed my view on many topics as it went in depth about our future population shift and it sparked interesting discussions with everyone I spoke to about it.
On a side note, although the book was published in 2020 it didn’t take into account the impact of Covid-19 into our new reality.
On a side note, although the book was published in 2020 it didn’t take into account the impact of Covid-19 into our new reality.
August 20, 2020
Great Book. This is very good information coming from an expert. This is not like a futurist who takes guesses at the future based on their interpretation of facts - it is all based on demographics which in most cases are already in place.
September 28, 2021
Check out our Books in 5 review of Next!
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-kOY...
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews