A Yankee-Canuck Looks Back

As a dual national with an American father and a Canadian mother, I've lived on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border. As a child, we'd drive over Detroit-Windsor's Ambassador Bridge to see my grandparents in Canada. As an adult, my wife Jean and I went in the opposite direction to visit our parents in the United States. Looking back, my life has been one damn thing after another, on both sides of the border. Born in a New York City, I grew up as a country boy fishing and hunting in a small downstate Illinois town called Danville in a dysfunctional family. Like many, the unhappiness in my family is still vivid. But my childhood was also filled with love and the happiness of small-town life. I went off to the nearby University of Illinois to study political science as a supporter of the Vietnam War and came out a staunch opponent. Drafted into the Army during the war like many of my smalltown friends and just married to my high school sweetheart Jean, I became a draft dodger. Instead of going in the Army, we fled to Canada where I attended graduate school at the University of Toronto and emerged an economist. While there, I learned more about Canadian life and how it differs from American. I wanted to be a professor but Canadian universities were already stuffed to the gills with too many Americans. Instead, I got my first job at Canada's central bank, the Bank of Canada. Attracted by the idea of public service and the prospect of being able to help implement some of my then liberal policy views, I joined the Canadian Finance Department, Canada's equivalent to the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Gradually, however, I discovered that big organizations like the Government weren't for me. So I quit and put my shingle out as an economic consultant. This gave me the chance to work for many large organizations and learn all about how they function from the inside, while remaining outside and independent. It also granted me the freedom to spout off on the political and economic issues of the day. As a private citizen and not a public servant, I was able to participate in Canadian federal elections as an economic advisor to the Liberal Party gaining an insider's view of the political process. However, as my experiences made me more conservative, I became disillusioned with the Liberal Party and eventually drifted away from involvement in politics. My memoirs document my experience in Canadian Federal politics and my involvement as a citizen in the issues of Quebec separation and immigration. The world beckoned, and I embarked on a career as a global economic consultant, working for international organizations like the World Bank, IMF, and the UN. I learned a lot about global issues and had many exciting adventures in the developing world. For the record, I was not the boogeyman the left calls an "economic hitman." Shocked by the attack on the World Trade Center and the Defense Department on 9/11, I sought to renew my ties to the United States. After reclaiming my U.S. citizenship, I secured a 5-year personal service contract with the Office of Technical Assistance of the U.S. Treasury Department. This enabled me to learn about how the U.S. Government functions, as well as a lot about Central America where I mostly served. As my career wound down, I developed a strong attachment to Florida where my wife Jean's mother lived. We spent so much time in the Sunshine State that it became my home for the last 12 years. After an absence from the classroom of 40 years, I taught economics at Florida Southwestern State College. My book Florida Dreams is my homage to my new home state. You may be thinking, "Who wants to read something as dull as the life story of an economist?" That may not sound exciting but I guarantee you that my memoirs are filled with unexpected and entertaining happenings that will make you laugh and maybe even cry.