While 2025 will forever be remembered as the year Canada/U.S. relations reached an all-time low, it will also be remembered as the year the Liberal Party and the rest of Canada traded Justin Trudeau for Mark Carney, an on-again/off-again postal strike, and an unforgettable World Series run by the Toronto Blue Jays.

Here in Ottawa, 2025 will be remembered as the year the Stage 2 of the LRT inched closer to completion, and the city legalized drinking in public parks – well at least some public
parks.

The year started with Justin Trudeau announcing his decision to step down as Prime Minister amid sagging polls which pointed to a potential Liberal defeat in the next
federal election. His departure paves the way for the ascendancy of former Bank of Canada head Mark Carney to the top job in the land.

Before leaving office, Trudeau announces plans to build a high speed rail line linking Montréal, Ottawa and Toronto. And by the end of the year, the former Prime Minister would be romantically linked to American pop star Katy Perry.

On Jan. 20, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States touching off a maelstrom on controversial comments and policies that would dramatically impact Canada-U.S. relations for the most of the year.

One of his first statements as president was to muse about the possibility of annexing Canada and making it the 51st state, which spurred the whole “Elbows Up” movement and resulted in an unofficial boycott of travel to the United States.

Air travel to the U.S. from Canada declined by 24 per cent between January and October and land travel dropped by 30 per cent during the same period, resulting in an estimated loss of $5.7 billion.

Trump also imposed a 25 per cent across the board tariff on Canadian products in January, prompting Prime Minister Trudeau to declare a 25% on American imports in response. Both were later rescinded after a bilateral agreement was reached, but not before weeks and months of tit-for-tat increases by both sides.

When the U.S. tariffs were initial imposed, Ontario Premier Doug Ford responded by banning all liquor imports from the United States in LCBO stores.

Ford also used the threat of U.S. tariffs to call a snap election in February, which saw the Conservative Party win a third straight majorityn March, Carney was chosen as the new leader of the Liberal Party and within weeks he would call a federal election which was held on April 28.

The Liberals won 169 seats, falling just two seats short of a majority. In doing so they had to overcome one of the largest deficits in popularity in recent history. Prior to Trudeau’s departure the Liberals were trailing the Conservatives by almost 30 points. They would win the election by capturing 44 per cent of the vote. The Conservative Party received just over 41 per cent.

Just as big of a story as the Liberals win, was the complete demolition of the NDP which lost 17 seats, dropping fro 24 seats to just seven.

Locally, 2015 was another year in which Stage 2 of the LRT extension missed yet another hoped for opening date. While both the City and the consortium building the extension have long stopped setting any dates for its potential opening, most residents were hoping to jump on board this fall, which obviously never happened. The hope now is that it will open sometime this spring, but you would be hard pressed to find anyone who is holding their breath to see that actual take place.

Fortunately, there were several good news stories in Orléans in 2024 to distract everyone from the LRT.

In May, the Orléans Legion launched a campaign asking people to knit or crochet poppies for the purpose of putting them on a cargo net to be displayed during the their

Remembrance Day ceremony in November. Their goal was to collect 5,000 poppies. They ended up receiving more than 11,000 in a show of support for Canada’s veterans.

In June, the federal government announ-ced that it would be contributing $15.7 million for the construction of MIFO’s new home on Carrière Street, completing the final piece of the project’s funding puzzle.

On July 1, Orléans’ biggest Canada Day celebration returned to Petrie Island after a brief one year absence. The move turned out to be a popular one as thousands of people gathered on the island for the festivities.

In October, the City of Ottawa gave the green light to a new expanded Orléans urgent care clinic which will be built on Innes Road near Tenth Line.

October was also the month when Cana-dians from coast to coast were enthralled by the Toronto Blue Jays unforgettable run at what would have been their first World Series title in 23 years. Unfortunately, their quest fell a game short, but not before capturing the imagination of the entire country.