I usually have a good idea of what I will write about in my annual year-end article. Typically the year that was has two, maybe three major stories and my job is simply to summarize those stories for our readers and provide some perspective.
It is much more difficult to do that for a year like 2025, when there were so many monumental changes.
Looking back a year ago, the political landscape in Canada was heading in a very different direction.
Let’s take a look at the year that was and see how we got here.
A new era in federal politics
Looking at the landscape of federal politics in December of 2024, I think few would have been able to predict the lay of the land today.
A year ago, the federal Liberals were in freefall under prime minister Justin Trudeau and we looked like we were on the verge of seeing a Conservative super-majority in the House of Commons under far-right leader Pierre Poilievre.
Two major changes took place around this time last year that completely changed the status quo.
The first was Donald Trump becoming president of the United States again. Poilievre’s style of politics closely mirrors that of Trump. Having a leader of the Conservative Party sounding a lot like the fascist president south of the border, who was openly threatening Canadian sovereignty, quickly made Poilievre unpalatable to a lot of Canadians.
This alone was not enough to change the result of the next federal election however.
Trudeau had become deeply unpopular and his own style of politics was not seen as meeting the challenge presented by Trump.
2025 kicked off with a bombshell in January when Trudeau announced his intention to step down as Liberal leader and prime minister.
This opened up the field for another leader to step up and fill the role to challenge Donald Trump.
After a Liberal leadership race and a federal election, voters chose Mark Carney as that person.
Since then, Carney has proven that while wearing the Liberal banner, he will govern more like a Progressive Conservative of old, cutting funding for federal programs while investing in fossil fuels and the military.
This opens up the field for the progressive NDP, which are seeking to rebuild after falling to just seven seats in the House of Commons after the election.
Labour stands up to tariffs and government overreach
A part of Donald Trump’s threat to Canadian sovereignty included his attempts to undermine the Canadian economy through tariffs on Canadian goods.
These tariffs deeply affected workers in industries like steel.
Unions like the United Steelworkers, have stepped up to push the federal government to protect workers with things like counter-tariffs.
The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) continued to pressure the federal government to support the labour sector in the face of the tariff threat.
The CLC criticized the federal budget for its lack of supports for workers in sectors affected by tariffs.
Labour not only fought to protect workers from the effects of tariffs, but also from government interference in the rights of their workers to strike.
Like in 2024, 2025 saw the federal government use Section 107 of the Labour Code to end a work action.
Flight attendants working for Air Canada and represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees went on strike for better wages and to end unpaid work.
Mark Carney’s Liberal government stepped in in less than 24 hours to end the strike using Section 107, which is something the union bravely defied.
The Liberal government has time and again used Section 107 to end work action in favour of employers and the fight to repeal that legislation will continue in 2026.
Protests continue to end the horrors in Gaza
Here in Canada and around the world, activists continued to work tirelessly to end the suffering that is being inflicted on the Palestinians in Gaza by the state of Israel.
In Canada, some of those exercising their right to freedom of expression and protest faced consequences from their employers, as was the case for Katherine Grzejszczak, a York region paramedic who was fired from her job for voicing opposition to the killing in Gaza.
Other groups of activists sought to end Israel’s blockade of Gaza and help to ensure that much needed food and medical aid reached the war torn region.
One such Canadian activist Dr. Yipeng Ge, who took part both in the Global March to Gaza and the Freedom ship Handala. Both initiatives sought to end the Israeli blockade, and both were stopped and intercepted.
Despite a ceasefire being in place since October of 2025, Israel has still killed hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza.
Activists like Grzejszczak and Ge will continue the struggle for justice for Palestine and Palestinians in 2026.
Final thoughts
2025 was a transformative year in labour and Canadian politics. Given the year we just had, it is hard to predict where we will be a year from now.
