Mr. Marcel C. Ernst

Born in Switzerland, Marcel Ernst immigrated to Canada in 1981. He has been a bookworm since childhood. Moving to Ottawa a year later, he obtained a BA in Political Science from Carleton University in 1987. Immediately after, he began working under contract with the federal government, promoting sustainable development, alternative fuels and energy efficiency. Marcel also contributed to the field of public consultation for more than a decade. In 1992 he obtained a Master's Degree in Environmental Science from the University of Calgary. Returning to Ottawa, he started environmental management consulting under the tutelage of Dr. Edward Manning. For the World Tourism Association they wrote and published "What Tourism Managers Need to Know."

From 1996-2000 Marcel produced professional work for public and private sector clients in Kelowna, BC. Between 2001 and 2003 he served with the National Capital Commission. He assisted with the research, public consultations, and writing of Canada's Capital in the Twenty-First Century, published in 2006, among other projects.

In 2015 Marcel self-published his first book, "Bringing Political Participation into the 21st Century." Students and professionals took an interest at a number of book signings in the Ottawa area that fall. Trump's accession to the US presidency, however, caused him to withdraw the publication as well as a second one, Values for the 21st Century.

Marcel’s third book, "A Short History of Switzerland," became available in May 2018. Its paperback and Kindle versions have sold in the United States, India, Japan, Brazil, the UK and the rest of Europe. In May 2019 he released a second, expanded edition. Further improvements followed, and the fifth edition appeared in June 2022. In 2021 he also published "Autumn 2001" and "2009 - the Last Good Year?"

In 2020 Marcel began researching and writing the Decades Series, books on the decades of the 20th century. By March 2022 he finished five works, covering the 1900s, 1920s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. In August, he followed up with "On Germany", a subjective history with his one-quarter German ancestry in mind. "Selected Writings, 2015-2022" followed in the fall, a collection of pertinent passages from all previously published books. Marcel also released an updated version of the values book, "Reclaiming Values."

In February 2023 he published a prequel to the Decades series: The 1800s - Seeds of Modernity. In the spring he released an update of a book published earlier, The Rise of Fringe Movements (and How to Defeat Them). He also produced a work on his home town Basel, completed in December. Finally, on the 50th anniversary of his first visit to Canada, Marcel published a book about that pivotal year: 1974 - A Year of Reckoning.