Breaking Point
The New Big Shifts Putting Canada at Risk
Published on 28. October 2025
272 pages
978-0-7710-3035-2 (ISBN)
Description
Shortlisted for the Donner Prize for Best Public Policy Book of the YearFrom the authors of The Big Shift and Empty Planet, a timely and provocative exploration of the seismic forces reshaping Canada's political, cultural, and economic landscape.
Darrell Bricker and John Ibbitson's explosive new polemic, arrives in the midst of the greatest political crisis Canada has ever faced. The country stands at risk. Even before Donald Trump returned to the U.S. presidency, brandishing tariffs and threats of annexation, Canada had started to crack. Year after year of decisions deferred, problems ignored, and cans kicked carelessly down the road have created dangerous fissures.
Stifling regulations drag down the economy. Younger people feel angry and alienated by dizzying housing prices and gig jobs. Regional tensions threaten unity in both Quebec and the Prairies. The immigration system is broken. And Canada stands alone, having failed to pay the cost of defending itself.
Canadians elected a former bank governor to fix all this. But can the Liberals get us out of the mess they helped get us into? What future awaits the progressive and conservative coalitions? Will the Laurentian elites continue to misgovern, or are there alternatives? The country is at a breaking point. Canadians must act to save it before they lose it.
Provocative, urgent, and unapologetically candid, Breaking Point will ignite debate, dominate political discourse, and become the definitive guide to understanding what is shaping up to be one of the most turbulent eras in Canadian history.
Darrell Bricker and John Ibbitson's explosive new polemic, arrives in the midst of the greatest political crisis Canada has ever faced. The country stands at risk. Even before Donald Trump returned to the U.S. presidency, brandishing tariffs and threats of annexation, Canada had started to crack. Year after year of decisions deferred, problems ignored, and cans kicked carelessly down the road have created dangerous fissures.
Stifling regulations drag down the economy. Younger people feel angry and alienated by dizzying housing prices and gig jobs. Regional tensions threaten unity in both Quebec and the Prairies. The immigration system is broken. And Canada stands alone, having failed to pay the cost of defending itself.
Canadians elected a former bank governor to fix all this. But can the Liberals get us out of the mess they helped get us into? What future awaits the progressive and conservative coalitions? Will the Laurentian elites continue to misgovern, or are there alternatives? The country is at a breaking point. Canadians must act to save it before they lose it.
Provocative, urgent, and unapologetically candid, Breaking Point will ignite debate, dominate political discourse, and become the definitive guide to understanding what is shaping up to be one of the most turbulent eras in Canadian history.
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DARRELL BRICKER is chief executive officer of Ipsos Public Affairs, the world's leading social and opinion research firm. Prior to joining Ipsos, Bricker was director of public opinion research in the office of the prime minister of Canada. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from Carleton University. He is the co-author, with John Ibbitson, of Empty Planet: The Shock of Global Population Decline and The Big Shift: The Seismic Change In Canadian Politics, Business, and Culture and What It Means for Our Future.
JOHN IBBITSON is one of Canada's best known and most respected journalists and authors. He worked at the Globe and Mail--as Washington bureau chief, Ottawa bureau chief, chief political writer and, since 2015, writer-at-large--since 1999, and retired at the end of 2024.
He co-authored Empty Planet: The Shock of Global Population Decline and The Big Shift, both with Darrell Bricker. He is also the author of Stephen Harper, the bestselling and award-winning biography of Canada's 22nd prime minister and, most recently, The Duel, about John Diefenbaker and Lester B. Pearson.
His writing for fiction includes The Landing, which won the 2008 Governor General's Award for Children's Literature.
JOHN IBBITSON is one of Canada's best known and most respected journalists and authors. He worked at the Globe and Mail--as Washington bureau chief, Ottawa bureau chief, chief political writer and, since 2015, writer-at-large--since 1999, and retired at the end of 2024.
He co-authored Empty Planet: The Shock of Global Population Decline and The Big Shift, both with Darrell Bricker. He is also the author of Stephen Harper, the bestselling and award-winning biography of Canada's 22nd prime minister and, most recently, The Duel, about John Diefenbaker and Lester B. Pearson.
His writing for fiction includes The Landing, which won the 2008 Governor General's Award for Children's Literature.
