Tariffs, borders and housing: 4 southwestern Ontario mayors reflect on 2025
CBC
Mayors of municipalities across southwestern Ontario say they’ve focused on the things they could control this year, as the U.S. trade war with Canada and the world has hammered local economies.
Job losses, stagnating investment and frosty relationships with U.S. neighbours have been a common theme, particularly in border cities.
But so too has tackling homelessness and working to create the conditions for future growth.
Four mayors looked back on 2025 with CBC’s Windsor Morning this week.
Here’s some of what they had to say.
Windsor entered 2025 riding a wave of optimism as the city seemed poised to play a leading role in the transition to electric vehicles.
Then came Donald Trump, his trade war against Canada and the rest of the world, and his roll-back of EV incentives.
“Now we're trying as a country to get our feet under us,” Dilkens told CBC’s Amy Dodge on Windsor Morning.
“In the border city, we knew that we were going to get hit first and hit the hardest, which is why we formed the Border Mayors Alliance and we're working through those issues.”
The hardship faced by laid-off workers and those working reduced hours motivated Dilkens to introduce a budget with a zero tax levy for 2026, he said.
He will table it on Dec. 29, but he told Windsor Morning it does not include major service cuts and achieves its goal by delaying expenditures and finding funding for projects through the federal and provincial governments.
Notwithstanding the headwinds caused by the Trump administration, Dilkens said he’s never been more optimistic about the city’s future.
He’s pleased that Stellantis is proceeding with adding a third shift, he said.
The Gordie Howe Bridge will continue to bring prosperity to the community, he added; and the Trump administration, he said, is giving Canada a competitive advantage in some cases, in that some businesses are bringing their investments to the country seeking stability and the rule of law.
Annette Dionne, the last surviving Dionne quintuplet and a champion of children's rights, has died.
The Newfoundland and Labrador government is warning of multiple scams circulating leading up to the holidays.
The painted bunting usually calls the southern U.S. home and travels south at this time of year, but one decided to spend its Christmas holidays up north in Bayfield, N.B.
The Greater Montreal area could see a prolonged period of freezing rain on Monday, with potentially hazardous conditions developing across much of southern Quebec.
Environment and Climate Change Canada has issued a freezing rain and snowfall warning for large portions of central and northeastern Saskatchewan, with 10 to 15 centimeters of snow expected from Friday into Saturday morning.
A White Rock, B.C., councillor who uses a wheelchair has arranged for the community's popular New Year's Day Polar Bear Swim to be more accessible.
Blowing snow advisories were issued for Alberta’s two largest cities on Boxing Day, while large swaths of the province were also under various winter weather advisories or warnings.
Peterborough police have arrested and charged one man with second-degree murder in connection with a homicide in the city earlier this month.
Two newly published maps show the Bathurst caribou's changing migration patterns as their population rapidly decreases.
Provincial police are warning drivers to stay off the roadways on Boxing Day as southwestern Ontario falls under a freezing rain warning from Environment Canada.
Significant snowfall is expected in Toronto Friday, according to an alert from Environment Canada.
In terms of fighting hunger, the charity food hamper has been a staple for decades.
Christmas is often called the season of peace, but in 1883 a Boxing Day confrontation between Protestants and Catholics in Harbour Grace led to a riot, five deaths and a public outcry that reshaped politics in the colony.