From #1 bestselling authors Peter Mansbridge and Mark Bulgutch comes a new book of first-person stories about the unique people and professions that make Canada work.

In this latest collection of personal stories, Peter Mansbridge and former CBC producer Mark Bulgutch shine a light on the everyday jobs that keep our nation running and the inspiring people who perform them with empathy and kindness.

Meet the high school principal in British Columbia who is mentoring the next generation. Hear from the chief of the Neskantaga First Nation in northern Ontario, who sacrifices his personal time to fight for better resources for his community, which has had a boil water advisory since the mid-1990s. From the air traffic controller who ensures people get to where they need to go, to the midwife in Saskatchewan who guides families through pregnancy and the birthing process, these are the jobs that connect Canadians on both a logistical and personal level.

Though Canada is still very much a work in progress, this enlightening book celebrates how we are greater than the sum of our parts by championing the people that make our country great.

Peter Mansbridge is one of Canada’s most respected journalists. He is the former chief correspondent for CBC News and anchor of The National, CBC’s flagship nightly newscast where he worked for thirty years reporting on national and international news stories such as federal elections, foreign conflicts, natural disasters, the fall of the Berlin Wall, 9/11, the 2014 Parliament Hill shootings, and numerous Olympic Games. From 1999 to 2017, he hosted Mansbridge One on One, a weekly program featuring conversations with world leaders, music legends, and sports heroes. Mansbridge has received over a dozen national awards for broadcast excellence, including a lifetime achievement award from the Academy of Canadian Screen and Television. He is a distinguished fellow of the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. He is the former two-term Chancellor of Mount Allison University. In 2008, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada—the country’s highest civilian honour—and in 2012, he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. He is the author of the instant #1 national bestseller, Extraordinary Canadians, and Peter Mansbridge One on One: Favourite Conversations and the Stories Behind Them. He lives in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter @PeterMansbridge, visit him at ThePeterMansbridge.com, or listen to his weekly podcast, The Bridge, wherever you find your podcasts.

Peter Mansbridge's profile page

Mark Bulgutch is a journalist, educator, speaker, and the author of the instant #1 national bestseller Extraordinary Canadians and also That’s Why I’m a Journalist and That’s Why I’m a Doctor. He worked for CBC for forty years, eleven as the senior editor of The National and another ten as senior executive producer of all live news specials. He has taught at the Ryerson University School of Journalism for almost thirty-five years. A regular contributor of opinion columns to the Toronto Star, he has won fourteen Gemini awards, four RTNDA Awards, the Canadian Journalist Foundation Award of Excellence, and the Canadian Association of Broadcasters Gold Ribbon Award. He lives in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter @MarkBulgutch.

Mark Bulgutch's profile page

“As they did in Extraordinary Canadians, Mansbridge and Bulgutch understand that the best way to tell a good story is to leave it to those who know it best. . . . We are, as the saying goes, sometimes a great nation. If so, it’s because people like those featured in this book make it that way.”
— Policy Magazine