The journalist and author John DeMont discusses his new book A Good Day’s Work: In Search of a Disappearing Canada (Doubleday, 2013), with Joseph Planta.

A Good Day’s Work: In Search of a Disappearing Canada by John DeMont (Doubleday, 2013). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: A Good Day’s Work

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, at TheCommentary.ca.

One of the more elegant and charming books of the fall season is A Good Day’s Work: In Search of a Disappearing Canada. Its author John DeMont joins me now to talk about it, and I’ll ask him about the idea for this book, and what’s between its covers. He opens the book by talking about his childhood in 1967 Halifax. It’s a quintessential Canadian sort of upbringing, and a very different sort of Halifax from today. In the book he looks at the country through the people he meets and observing them and their jobs. So from the first chapter on, he encounters a traveling salesman, a blacksmith, folks at a vinyl record shop, a lighthouse keeper, crew members on a train, among others. It’s contemplative look at jobs that are vanishing from our culture; jobs that once defined the country for a lot of people. As Canadians in great numbers live in cities along the border, it’s the right time to look back, and this book stands as a chronicle of who we are, what is, and what’ll soon be history. John DeMont is the author of five books, including Citizens Irving, which was a bestseller. Other critically acclaimed books include The Last Best Place, and Cold Black Heart. He’s written for sundry publications across the country, and is a senior writer and columnist for the Chronicle Herald in Halifax. Visit www.johndemont.ca for more information. This book is published by Doubleday. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, in Toronto today, John DeMont; Mr. DeMont, good morning.

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