One of my favorite columnists, Jeffrey Simpson of the Globe and Mail, would, like many opinion writers, offer his thoughts and predictions in his columns. What I admired the most, was that Simpson's end of year column would keep score of what he got right and wrong in the past year. So in that spirit, I offer my own reflections.
I did take a long shot on Nikki Haley becoming the next President and while that obviously did not happen, it may have come within an earshot however. No, I didn’t predict Trump being assassinated, but I did state often that I believed the 2024 U.S. election was going to be full of surprises. I was one of the few who not only predicted the day after Biden's terrible debate performance that he would be replaced by the Democrats, but stated my belief it was their intention to do so before June 27th. Finally, I did correctly predict the outcome of the U.S. election, so as Meatloaf sang - two out of three ain’t bad.
In terms of Canadian politics I have been calling for the demise of Justin Trudeau and his Liberal party ever since the Carbon Tax was introduced and their irresponsible immigration growth plan took hold. While not going out on a limb with that prediction, I sensed the shift to the Right and outlined its cause over a year ago. Since that is what has pretty much materialized, I will take an easy victory lap on that one.
Turning to sports, I was correct in stating the Blue Jays would not make the playoffs in 2024. But I have to admit, I didn’t think they would be as bad as they were. Same for another of my teams, the 49ers. I did see them having a bad year, but again, not necessarily this bad.
In education, I did call for the cell phone ban in Ontario schools just months before it was announced. The prediction that it would be more symbolic than anything has also proven correct.
So if I can be so arrogant to say that all in all, not a bad year in prognosticating. I would have tooted my own horn some more on this, but I can hear one of my friends asking, "so when is Haley’s inauguration?"
Hey, there’s still time right. As the arrogant, but best Blue Jays pitcher ever, Dave Stieb said, “tomorrow I’ll be perfect”.
By Gregory Cawsey
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