As my fellow columnist Les Leyne noted last week, the future is unpredictable.
Over the years of writing these columns, I have tried to use the first one of the new year to make predictions about the year to come. Looking back at almost a decade of writing, I'm not very good at prognostication.
It is hard enough making sense of the world around us let alone trying to predict where we are going. I mean, who would have predicted the rise of the Islamic State or that Iran and the United States would work with each other in one war while remaining combatants in another - in the same year?
Or that Donald Trump would take a run at the U.S. presidency and appear to be a matter of months from winning the Republican nomination? I thought he was going to be a fad - a flash of nonsense the Republican base would quickly grow tired of. Instead, he continues to gather support.
At the same time, the heir-presumptive on the Democratic side was Hillary Clinton but a strange, self-declared socialist is giving her a run for her money.
There are now pundits betting that Barney Sanders will defeat both Hillary and Trump to become president.
Closer to home, the notion of an NDP government in Alberta nudges out the rise from the ashes of the federal Liberals as the most surprising political story in Canada. But just barely.
At the beginning of the federal election campaign, the Liberals were in third place - both in the house and in the polls. A young, boyish Justin Trudeau was in charge of the party and while his name had cache, he was seen as a little too green for the role of prime minister. Remember the commercials?
The race appeared to be a federal showdown between the unlikeable Stephen Harper and the fuzzy-faced Tom Mulcair. The NDP even had a slight lead in the polls. "Could Canada finally elect its first left-wing government?" was the question being asked by and of pundits across our country.
But the little Liberal engine that could just kept chugging along. Canada reverted back to its nature governing party and the Liberals stormed to a strong position of power with the support of the Maritimes, Quebec, and Ontario. The prairies clung desperately to the Conservatives.
Electoral maps of Canada now and 20 years ago aren't really all that much different. Still, it was a surprise to see the country return to its roots.
However, the complete change in government in Alberta was beyond belief. Sure, the Conservatives were perceived to be either incompetent or corrupt but that hadn't stopped them before. Sure, there were rumblings about the ham-fisted way Jim Prentice took over and some of his more controversial statements but Alberta elected Ralph Klein premier on more than one occasion. Surely none of that would matter on election night, would it?
NDP Premier Rachel Notley may only have one term in power but she is definitely making the most of her shot at it.
A carbon tax in Alberta? An increase in the minimum wage?
She will leave a legacy.
On other fronts, 2015 defied prediction. Take the economy as an example.
The price of oil has remained so low for so long it appears to be the new normal. It is altering the economic power structure around the world.
But low energy costs are supposed to spur production and yet much of the world remains in the doldrums. Even China's red hot economy appears to be cooling down.
Or take a look at sports. Both the Raptors and the Blue Jays made the play-offs in 2015. As the only two Canadian teams in their respective leagues, a certain amount of national pride was showing. Fortunately, the Toronto Maple Leafs not winning the cup remains the one true constant in the sports.
All of this goes to show prognostication about the year to come is futile.
However, I do have one fear for 2016.
The hands of the Doomsday Clock have moved a little closer. At three minutes to midnight, and with the major world powers rattling their swords, the threat of someone doing something stupid with a nuclear bomb seems closer than ever.
I have lived my whole life under the shadow of a potential nuclear attack.
Like most of us, I thought the break-up of the Soviet Union would put an end to such threats. But nuclear bombs are not hard to build and access to such weapons seems to be within the reach of terrorists.
With all of the unease in the world, both the United States and Russia have embarked on ambitious plans to update their nuclear capacity. And the really scary thought is that Donald Trump might just win the presidency.
That could make 2016 the worst year ever.
