Wow!  2025 was certainly an exciting year in Canada…although all the biggest news in Canada was somehow all about what was going on south of the border.

 

The election of Donald Trump and his administration has turned everything upside down.  As the tariffs appeared and the trade wars began, we saw a definite impact on our utilities in the pricing of the projects and the goods we need.  We tried a national survey to gauge the impact, but it was too early and the impacts all so unique.

 

The biggest impact may have been the election of Mark Carney, when I think we all predicted a huge Conservative win. The idea of bringing in a global economist at a time of global economic crisis seemed appropriate to the majority.  This brought an (almost) entirely new cabinet for us to get to know.

 

To make matters worse, “51st State” comments got everyone’s backs up, but this stirred some tremendous Canadian pride.  As former Prime Minister Chretien joked, Donald Trump has done more to unite Canada than anyone.   As more and more flags went up, we also saw a push for “Buy Canadian” supported by anti-US procurement policies. This also played out in US Travel bans keeping many of us from attending our favourite US water events.  CWWA was happy to reap some benefit from that boycott as conference dollars were redirected to our Canadian Conference – and we delivered our biggest conference ever.  I am confident we will keep most of those new attendees.

 

Meanwhile, here at home, the federal government has pushed forward its effort to address the housing crisis, committing billions of dollars for infrastructure.  Best of all, they have recognized that water and wastewater are the most critical elements required for that housing.  Big programs ahead for 2026!

 

Thank you all for your support all year!  Wishing you the happiest holidays!