Farewell, 2025

Good morning. Well folks, we made it. Another year in the books and we’re all still here in one piece. That deserves a hearty congratulations and an extra-special final edition for 2025. Here’s what’s in store:

We hope you enjoy, and want to sincerely thank you for reading all year — 2026 is going to be the best one yet.

—Quinn Henderson, Lucas Arender, Taylor Scollon

Xanadu looks to snap tech IPO drought. Xanadu Quantum Technologies, the darling of the Canadian quantum industry, announced plans to go public on the Nasdaq via SPAC in 2026. At launch, the IPO is expected to raise about US$500 million. There’s hope the launch will trigger a flood of offerings that will revive Canada’s barren tech IPO landscape. That said, few sectors are generating as much interest as quantum computing. (Nov. 4 Edition)

Liberals table a potentially transformative budget. Carney’s first budget was a doozy, calling for $141 billion in new spending and $51 billion in cuts and savings. At its heart is a $51 billion plan to fast-track nation-building projects. There was a brief moment when it looked like it might not pass (which could’ve triggered an election), but the Liberals wrangled a Conservative defector and the support of Elizabeth May. (Nov. 5 Edition)

Ottawa and Alberta play nice on new pipeline. The feds inked a memorandum of understanding with Alberta to construct a new oil pipeline connecting the province’s oil sands to the coast of B.C. In exchange, Alberta agreed to cut its methane emissions by 75% over the next decade and jack up its industrial carbon price. This compromise was not enough to quiet critics like B.C. Premier David Eby and cabinet minister Steven Guilbeault, who resigned. (Nov. 20 Edition)

Big deals take prediction markets to the next level. In a one-week span, Kalshi bagged a US$1 billion raise, giving it an eye-watering $11 billion valuation, and inked a deal with CNN to integrate its data into its broadcasts. It was the capper for a year that saw it, and rival prediction market Polymarket, ascend to the mainstream. The dream of Kalshi’s founder to “financialize everything” might soon come true — for better or for worse. (Dec. 5 Edition)

Netflix’s Warner Bros. bid upends Hollywood. When Warner Bros. Discovery accepted a US$82.7 billion takeover from Netflix, questions exploded. Would a Netflix-HBO Max link-up end the streaming wars? Would Netflix’s disdain for theatrical releases kill off cinemagoing? Would Bugs Bunny visit the Upside Down? But the first question that needs an answer is: can the merger survive regulators and a competing offer from Paramount? (Dec. 6 Edition)

Your humble Weekender recommended many things to read, watch, and listen to this year. We know you probably didn’t take every suggestion. But this time around, we implore you to heed our word, as these 2025 releases were the cream of the pop cultural crop. Drumroll, please. 

BOOK OF THE YEAR: Breakneck by Dan Wang. Canadian writer and analyst Dan Wang breathed new life into the study of the rise of modern-day China and what lessons its “society of engineers” may hold for Western countries (which he argues are dominated by lawyers). Aside from being a vitally insightful look at a rising global hegemon, the unique mix of history, economics, and philosophy makes it an essential contribution to perhaps the most important topic of the decade.

MOVIE OF THE YEAR: Eephus. Not much happens in Eephus — a film about two amateur baseball teams playing one last game at a diamond that’s being closed down — aside from swings, misses, idle chatter, and the turning of day into night. But over the course of 99 slow-burn minutes, you’ll be intensely moved by this wistful treatise on the passage of time. 

TV SHOW OF THE YEAR: The Rehearsal. The season two finale of Canadian madman Nathan Fielder’s HBO reality(?) show features, by our estimation, the most shocking reveal in television history. This alone would have made it our pick for show of the year; the hilarity of cloned dogs, Einstein pick-up lines, and Chesley Sullenberger cosplay was just gravy.

ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Fancy That by PinkPantheress. The U.K. superstar was able to cram more indelible hooks and strokes of eccentric dancefloor brilliance in 21 rollicking, sample-heavy minutes than most pop musicians muster up in their whole careers. It was so easy to just hit play and let it keep going on repeat — a tonic to all of 2025’s dourness.

Use a day planner. After years of keeping dates for important events either floating around in my head or in various group chats and digital calendars, I started using a day planner in 2025 — a beautiful forest green Moleskine. It was an excellent decision, as the simple act of putting pen to paper reined in my scatterbrained tendencies. For 2026, I’m going with a luxe cherry red one. — Quinn Henderson, Senior Writer

Embrace the cold shower. I might be late to this party, but as someone who struggles mightily to wake up in the morning, the cold shower has been a winner for me. I would say it takes around two weeks to get used to the shock, but after that initial hump, you won’t be able to go back. It’s even helped me cut down on my dangerously high coffee intake. If you have more money or time, I’m sure cold plunges can also do the trick.  — Lucas Arender, Writer

Read the classics. Unfortunately, there’s no way to say this without sounding unbearably pretentious, but working your way through a nice, weighty classic novel is a perfect antidote to our madness-inducing media/technology environment. This year I got through Middlemarch (not my cup of tea) and War and Peace (very much my cup of tea). This list from 2002 of the 100 best novels is based on a survey of authors done by an outfit called Norwegian Book Clubs and is as good a place as any to start. In 2026 I have my eye on Anna Karenina, Moby-Dick, and The Magic Mountain.  — Taylor Scollon, Co-Founder

Buckle up, folks. It’s time for that tried and true annual tradition: the End-of-Year News Quiz. 

Fifty questions, covering politics, business, technology, culture, sports, and everything in between. It’s no easy feat, and we’ll be mighty surprised if you can ace it. But hey, we’re happy to be proven wrong. Play it now!

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Here’s a mini-crossword to close out 2025.

And for the road, a little sudoku, too.