Canadians are feeling generally hopeful heading into 2026, but are pessimistic about the specifics of whether pressing issues at home and abroad will be resolved, a new poll suggests.
The new Ipsos poll conducted exclusively for Global News also found Canadians feel generally positive about their personal health and happiness after the past year, but less so about their financial situation and their social and romantic lives compared to 2022.
My name is Harley Finkelstein. I am a proud Jewish-Canadian, an entrepreneur and the grandson of Holocaust survivors.
I am also the son of immigrants who came to Canada more than half a century ago after fleeing Hungary following the 1956 revolution. They came here to escape persecution. They came because Canada promised safety, opportunity and the freedom to live openly.
With most Canadians enjoying the holiday season and the imminent year’s end representing a time for reflection, I happened to notice an all-too-familiar spectacle unfold this past Boxing Day.
Yet again, pro-Palestinian protesters caused a ruckus, marching through Toronto’s famous Eaton Centre, chanting slogans, leaving shoppers bemused (or just plain annoyed), and demanding action against Israel.
(Incognito)
WTF?
‘Canada may get a call’: Expert says Gaza peace plan hinges on international force
As international attention turns to the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire, a Middle East security expert says the deal faces political and security obstacles – with Hamas’ refusal to disarm emerging as the main issue.
Speaking ahead of the planned meeting between Trump and Netanyahu, Thomas Warwick, a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative told CTV’s News Channel on Monday the talks are likely to narrow, but will not resolve major differences.
Netanyahu is expected to press Washington for broader freedom of action on several fronts including support against Iran’s rebuilding missile program, Hezbollah’s presence in Lebanon and Gaza itself, Warwick said.
Greta Thunberg was arrested by U.K. police last week, completing her journey from child climate activist to proud supporter of a proscribed terrorist group.
In both instances, she arrived on the scene seemingly with no assembly required — climate and antizionist software already pre-installed — ready to plug a book authored by her mother three days after she was “discovered,” or a long list of antizionist organizations she recommended shortly after the horrific attacks of October 7 while claiming she wasn’t antisemitic. Her seven-year story appears to be one of exploitation and opportunism leading to her current role — terrorist mascot.
OTTAWA — With Canada’s explosion of antisemitic hatred prompting many Canadian Jews to consider an exit strategy, one expat is trying to smoothen the transition for those looking to escape south of the border.
Michael Sachs, who moved his family from Canada to the United States earlier this year, helped launch a program designed to assist eligible Canadian Jews consider moving to his new home of Tulsa, Okla.
Binyamin Netanyahu knows how to speak to President Trump. To assuage him away from pursuing peace talks in his previous term, the Israeli prime minister used golf metaphors and maps of Trump’s beloved New York to show him why it would not work.
On his fifth trip to meet the president since Trump was inaugurated in January, a record for any foreign leader, Netanyahu may have to do more than beguile him with the 300-acre golf course near Tel Aviv he is building and naming in his honour.
Back in July, a Toronto man filed a complaint about antisemitic posts on X. Almost six months later, he’s still waiting for the results of the investigation from Toronto’s Hate Crime Unit. Meanwhile, the antisemitic posts continue. Six months is too long. Six days is too long. Heck, six hours could be too long when it comes to radical extremists.
More than two months after the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip went into effect, the Iran-backed Hamas terror group seems more determined than ever to stay in power and continue its armed struggle to destroy Israel.
On December 14, Hamas marked the 38th anniversary of its founding by praising its October 7, 2023 invasion of Israel’s southern communities as a “gigantic milestone and landmark in the struggle for freedom and independence and the defeat and elimination of the occupation [Israel].” On that day, more than 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals were murdered, and thousands wounded. Another 251 Israelis and foreign nationals were kidnapped to the Gaza Strip, where Hamas is still holding the remains of one hostage.
On Boxing Day, a pro-Palestinian mob took over the Eaton Centre, one of Canada’s busiest and most iconic public spaces, chanting for “intifada” in the heart of Toronto. Not on the fringes. Not quietly. In the middle of a mall filled with families, workers, tourists, and holiday shoppers.
This did not happen in a vacuum. And it cannot be dismissed as just another protest.
Hamas supporters take over the Eaton Center in Toronto on Boxing Day.
This happened last year too by the way.
How were the police so unprepared yet again? https://t.co/qzrUPAbBSx pic.twitter.com/o8ZBvYFXUG
— Bruce (@bruce_barrett) December 27, 2025
After the October 7 attacks in Israel, Aviva Klompas noticed that rather than sympathy and support, what surfaced was a “disturbing undercurrent of Jew hatred that was apparently lying dormant in Canada.”
“The nature of what has exploded from under the surface is shocking, particularly for a country like Canada that prides itself on multiculturalism and the ability to live together,” said Klompas, a writer and the CEO and co-founder of Boundless, a think tank dedicated to educating groups about Israel and combatting antisemitism.
Ms. Klompas advised on the settlement of Syrian refugees.
“Bondi was a warning shot,” cautions Cary Kogan, professor of psychology at the University of Ottawa. “If Western governments aren’t going to deal with the issue (of antisemitism), this is what we’re going to end up with. And I worry; the intelligence community has told us very clearly that there are bad actors here in Canada, and you know, the government needs to listen.”
This week, mezuzahs were ripped off the doors of multiple units in a Toronto condo tower. The victims included Jewish seniors, among them Holocaust survivors. Police attended, interviews were conducted, and the incidents were correctly treated as hate crimes.
Two weeks earlier, similar acts occurred elsewhere in the city.
Apparently, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand has summoned Israel’s Ambassador for an explanation as to why Canadian MPs were turned away at the border from Jordan into the West Bank.
The Minister appears to not get it. Here’s what happened. The purpose of the visit, comprised of around 30 Canadians and six MPs, was ostensibly to meet with Palestinians in the territory. But it was more of a publicity stunt, of the sort you might see from Greta Thunberg, sponsored by malign parties and designed by people with an agenda, and meant to embarrass the Israeli government and deflect from the important and difficult work being done by others to try to reduce tensions in the region and mitigate the serious conflicts there.
A college instructor who called the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023 an “amazing, brilliant offensive” had her job reinstated by an arbitrator, then resigned from her position.
The Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of B.C. (FPSE), which represents faculty at several B.C. post-secondary institutions, called the decision — issued by arbitrator Randy Noonan on Nov. 19 — to reinstate Natalie Knight to her position at Vancouver’s Langara College a victory for academic freedom and freedom of speech.
