Indholdsfortegnelse for January/February 2025 i Maclean's

Two months into the 2024–25 academic year, the Maclean’s Ideas Summit convened Canada’s brightest brains to discuss how AI could reshape education, the workforce and Canadian society as a whole. During the event—hosted at the University of Toronto’s Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus, presented by Google and supported by Northeastern University—panellists from Canada Learning Code, the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Google Canada were clear on the tech’s potential, but didn’t shy away from addressing its applied challenges. THANK YOU TO OUR EVENT PARTNER For full event coverage, visit macleans.ca/events…

1 A Canadian Will Lead the Fight Against Antibiotic Resistance Jon Stokes made his name by besting the smallest enemies. In 2023, Stokes, an assistant professor of biochemistry and biomedical sciences at McMaster University, was part of the research team behind SyntheMol, a generative AI model that can create new antibiotics to fight A. baumannii—a mega-deadly bacterium that proliferates in hospitals. He didn’t stop there: this past June, he co-founded Stoked Bio, a Hamilton-based biotech startup aimed at concocting and quickly commercializing new medicines for cancer and, especially, bacterial infections. With AI’s help, the goal is for Stokes’s pharmaceuticals to out-multiply the problematic microbes that are outsmarting our existing antibiotics. 2 Pharmacare Will Finally Get Off the Ground The supply-and-confidence agreement between the Liberals and NDP is dead. Among its legacies is…

The past year has laid bare a harsh reality: Canada’s cultural institutions are facing serious economic challenges. Rents have soared, forcing local venues to relocate—including Calgary’s century-old Grand Theatre and Toronto’s Phoenix Concert Theatre, which has hosted artists like Bob Dylan and Billie Eilish. Festivals aren’t safe, either. Hot Docs, North America’s largest documentary festival, put its flagship Toronto cinema up for sale to fund future events, and Just For Laughs, one of the world’s biggest comedy festivals, cancelled all of its 2024 shows as its Montreal parent company tried to avoid bankruptcy. Canadian arts organizations do not have deep reserves. Most are non-profits that rely on a mix of government grants, private donations and earned revenue to stay afloat. When the pandemic struck, that revenue disappeared overnight; audiences still…

1 Women’s Pro Sports Leagues Will Explode Across Canada Riding the wave of last year’s wildly successful Professional Women’s Hockey League launch, women’s sports of all kinds will dominate this year. Two new teams—possibly out of Quebec City and Calgary—will join the league’s 2025–26 season while existing ones will finally get official names. (Toronto Sceptres, anyone?) And basketball fans rejoice: Canada’s first WNBA franchise is set to kick off in 2026. As they wait, Canadian sports junkies can tune into the Northern Super League, the country’s first women’s pro soccer league, as its six clubs duke it out starting in April. 2 The Raptors Will Rebuild The Raptors’ 2019 championship high feels as distant as the Jurassic era: last season, the team ended in 12th place in the NBA’s Eastern Conference and…

1 Toronto’s Condo Market Will Plummet After a few years of stagnant pricing, the Toronto condo market is poised for a plunge. In the first half of 2024, sales of newly built condos fell by 57 per cent year over year—the biggest slowdown since 1997—largely due to high interest rates. The number of condo listings is now much higher than recent averages, and sales remain low. TD says prices will keep declining, then recover modestly by year’s end. Then we may face the opposite problem: since the downward trend has spooked condo investors, who account for 70 per cent of pre-construction sales, condo starts have also dropped dramatically. In the long run, that could mean a condo shortage, driving prices up again. 2 B.C. Will Tax House Flippers Bad news for West…

For decades, Canada has been one of the few wealthy countries without a national school food program. Instead, we have a patchwork of offerings all over the country. Many of these programs, which might offer free breakfast, snacks or lunch, are forced to rely on piecemeal funding, volunteers and NGO staff. That’s set to change. This past April, the government of Canada dedicated $1 billion over five years to create the National School Food Program, which will offer meals to hundreds of thousands of kids annually starting this year. Poor diet is not just a problem for low-income families. Canadian kids across the socioeconomic spectrum are eating badly—not enough fruits and vegetables, and too many processed foods like granola bars and candy. Those items are easy to put in a…

In late October, the Canadian Business Evolution Summit returned for its second instalment, gathering Canada’s top business minds to discuss critical issues in innovation, resilience and entrepreneurship. During the multi-day event, hosted at Luma atop Toronto’s TIFF Lightbox, panellists from Wave, AWS, Virtual Gurus and Mastercard engaged in forward-thinking discussions on Canadian micro-businesses, Indigenous entrepreneurship and the importance of brand trust. THANK YOU TO OUR EVENT PARTNERS For full event coverage, visit canadianbusiness.com/insider…

1 Poilievre Will Kill the Capital Gains Tax The Liberals’ least-loved policy is the change to how capital gains are taxed: under the new rules, two-thirds of any individual’s gains over $250,000 annually will be taxed, compared to the previous rate of one-half. Bay Streeters were apoplectic at the news, along with startup founders, business owners and physicians, many of whom bill provincial governments through private corporations. Poilievre voted against the hike and, in all likelihood, will kill it if he enters the PMO. In a 15-minute video about the economy, he predicted that the tax will cause businesses, jobs and family doctors to leave the country. 2 Trump’s Presidency Will Wreak Economic Havoc When Donald Trump re-won the American presidency, Canadian economists all sounded the same alarm: tariffs, tariffs, tariffs. Trump…

1 Jeremy Hansen Will Fly to the Moon For the first time in history, a Canadian astronaut will venture to—or rather, near—the moon. Jeremy Hansen, a 48-year-old pilot from London, Ontario, will fly with three American astronauts on the Artemis II Mission: a NASA-led, 10-day lunar flyby. The main goal is to confirm that all the spacecraft’s systems operate as designed. The mission is considered a crucial step in establishing NASA’s long-term presence on the moon and, eventually, Mars. Hansen, a father of three, has been training intensively at NASA facilities in Houston and Cape Canaveral. He launches in September. 2 Rural Ontario Will Plug Into High-Speed Internet By the end of this year, the Ontario government aims to have every community connected to high-speed internet. It’s a lofty goal—a million Ontarians…

1 Quebec’s Secularism Debate Will Ensnare Schools Supporters of a secular Quebec scored a big win last February, when an appeals court upheld Bill 21—legislation that, in part, bars teachers from wearing religious symbols in the classroom. Months later, the secular-schools debate reignited after an investigation into conditions at Montreal’s Bedford elementary school. In addition to allegedly subjecting pupils to physical and psychological violence, teachers were said to have sidelined science and sex ed and prevented female students from playing soccer—policies members of the Parti Québécois chalked up to “Islamist infiltration.” The fallout was swift: 11 of Bedford’s teachers were suspended and, in late October, Premier François Legault called, rather vaguely, for a strengthening of Bill 21. A political red herring? Maybe, but several other Montreal-area schools are already being investigated.…

In December of 2024, the federal government softened its rules around mortgage lending. The idea behind the new policies is to make housing accessible to more home-buyers—and that’s what they’ll do, at least on paper. The biggest changes affect buyers who have made down payments of less than 20 per cent, which require mortgage-default insurance. The government has lifted the maximum price cap permitted for these mortgages from $1 million to $1.5 million. Another change is that first-time homebuyers with insured mortgages, and anyone buying a newly built home with one, will be able to take up to 30 years to pay off their loans, instead of the previous maximum of 25. That means smaller monthly payments, but it also means buyers will pay more interest over the life of…

TOMMY DOUGLAS WOULDN’T be too pleased if he could see the state of Canadian health care today: warlike wound-dressing in ER hallways, creeping privatization, scattershot definitions of “medically necessary” and more than six million of his fellow citizens without a family doctor. Like Douglas, Jane Philpott—a trained family doctor herself—is big on radical reforms. Canada’s former health minister outlined her own plan to bust through the system’s discombobulation in last year’s bestseller, Health for All. One proposal is the creation of primary-care “homes,” teeming with nurse practitioners, therapists, housing workers, dieticians, tax experts (!) and, of course, family physicians. Ones we can actually get in to see. For the moment, Philpott is forced to narrow her focus. She exited the toxic (her word) political milieu after the Liberals’ cabinet-shattering SNC-Lavalin debacle…

THE HIJAB’S MEANING is unique to each woman who chooses to wear it. My own relationship with the veil began when I started school in Tehran at age six. At first it was just part of the uniform, but soon I noticed how the women in my family wore it. They seemed so mature—so I started wearing it every day. It became a part of who I was. I spent my childhood in Dubai and Tehran, then moved to Ottawa when I was 10 years old. We returned to Iran after a few years to be near family. There, I earned an English literature degree and taught English to students of all ages; working with young children brought me the most joy. In 2017, when I was 23, I moved…

1 A Kamloops University Will Launch North America’s First Wildfire Training Program Wildfire seasons in B.C. now routinely displace residents, torch buildings and burn more than 4.9 million acres of land per year. In Kamloops, where almost 700,000 acres burn annually, Thompson Rivers University is stepping up with a solution: North America’s first wildfire management program, set to launch in September of 2025. The program will train 20 students on subjects like wildfire science, Indigenous fire practices, climate adaptation and emergency management, equipping them with the skills to fight wildfires as civilians. 2 Toronto Will Get New Parks and a Human-Made River This spring, Toronto’s hottest development isn’t a luxury condo tower—it’s a massive green makeover along the eastern waterfront. After eight years and a $169-million overrun, the billion-dollar superproject will be…

1 Canada Will Provide Apocalyptic Scenery for The Last of Us Prior to the 2023 premiere of The Last of Us, no one was sure whether a video game could translate into prestige TV. Twenty-four Emmy nominations, several smashed ratings records and one very thirsty internet obsession with Pedro Pascal later, the only remaining question is: what can viewers expect next? Plot specifics for season two—shot largely in and around Vancouver and due out this year—have been guarded like the most potent fungi-killing antidote. Two scoops, however, are already out there: Kaitlyn Dever and Catherine O’Hara have been cast, the latter (possibly) as Joel’s therapist. 2 Miriam Toews Will Return to Canadian Bookshelves Toews, the Winnipeg-based author of beloved bestsellers like A Complicated Kindness, has achieved CanLit-icon status for both her fiction…

1 Gen Z Will Dominate the Workforce Gen Z—those born between the mid ’90s and 2010—will comprise 27 per cent of the workforce across OECD countries next year. They’re a stressed-out bunch, coming of age during a global pandemic and a historic cost-of-living crisis. They’ll arrive in workplaces expecting mental-health support, flexible and remote work, and commitments to diversity. Employers are responding with perks such as benefits plans that include long-term psychological services, fewer in-office days and lengthy onboarding programs to let new hires find their comfort zone in the workplace. 2 The Government Will Enact Right-to-Disconnect Laws With Slack and email on our phones, and our phones by our beds, it’s getting harder and harder to log off from work. This year, the federal government will change that. For six years,…

In the AI age, literacy is more important than ever. Even a simple Google search requires users to structure their questions, interpret information and judge the reliability of sources. Students need these core literacy skills, yet for decades, our teaching methods have often closed doors rather than opened them. In 2019, I worked with the Ontario Human Rights Commission on a public inquiry into the province’s education system to find out whether students with reading disabilities were getting the instruction and interventions they needed. The answer was damning: Ontario wasn’t only failing those students, but many others as well. Since the ’80s, Canadian school systems have favoured “balanced literacy”—closely related to the “whole language” approach—which places emphasis on oral language and prediction. Students were encouraged to use cues from sentence…

1 The End of Sea Farms Could Save Canada’s Salmon The West Coast’s wild salmon stock has plummeted by as much as 85 per cent in the past 50 years. One major culprit? The proximity of commercial fish farms to salmon river runs, which can drastically shrink wild fish populations due to the spread of chemicals and parasites (hello, sea lice). This year, B.C. will begin a five-year process to phase out the $1.5-billion open-net salmon farming industry. The plan is to transition to land-based aquaculture, where fish swim happily in purified water tanks, far away from their wild brethren. 2 The Michelin Guide Will Come to Quebec In 2025, three years after sprinkling a handful of Toronto restaurants with its prestigious stars, the Michelin Guide is expanding its Canadian presence into…