What Went Wrong in the 2025 Election
🇨🇦 Reflections on the Canadian Federal Election
First, let me be clear — when I say what went wrong, I don’t mean that a certain party should or shouldn’t have been elected. I trust Canadians to vote their conscience, to respond to the issues of the day, and to make informed decisions for the future of this country. I don’t buy into the rhetoric that “Canada is dead,” or that voters are stupid or hopeless. Democracy is messy, complicated, and vital. But it only works when certain conditions are met — and this election fell short.
We’re facing serious challenges as a nation: the Trump tariffs are already straining our economy, inflation and cost of living remain top concerns, and far too many Canadians are living in poverty. These aren’t issues that can be solved with soundbites. They demand real, difficult, nuanced conversations — the kind that were largely missing from this campaign.
A Short Election and a Long Silence
The 2025 federal election was announced on March 23rd and held on April 28th. That gave voters just 36 days to assess candidates, policies, and visions for Canada’s future. While that timeline falls within Elections Canada guidelines, what made this problematic was the uncertainty. The election call came suddenly, and the major parties were not prepared to engage the public meaningfully.
The Liberal and NDP platforms were released on April 19th, and the Conservatives followed on April 22nd. That gave Canadians just over a week to read, compare, and digest three major national platforms — assuming they even knew where to find them.
That compressed timeline wasn’t just a logistical issue. It created a vacuum — one that was filled not with ideas, but with tribalism. When people don’t hear real conversations, when platforms are dropped last-minute and leaders avoid spontaneous interactions, we retreat into camps. And what drives tribalism? Scarcity. In this case, it was a scarcity of dialogue, honesty, and human connection.
The Death of Real Conversations
At the start of the year, I genuinely believed 2025 would be the breakthrough moment for independent media and podcasts in Canadian politics. I expected to see party leaders sitting down for long-form interviews, answering tough questions in unscripted environments. I was wrong.
Like many of you know, I hoped to interview the party leaders on my own platform. But it wasn’t just me — even respected Canadian YouTuber J.J. McCullough, with nearly a million subscribers, couldn’t secure interviews. The Conservatives reportedly told candidates not to do podcast interviews at all. Every party stuck closely to the playbook: stick to the talking points, hit the doors, control the narrative.
And to some extent, it worked. Both the Liberals and Conservatives gained seats. But something deeper was lost — authenticity.
The Makeover Era
Politics has always involved strategy and presentation. Pierre Poilievre has undergone a full transformation over the past five years — fitness, image, polish — and it showed. Mark Carney, though initially stiff in media scrums, found his footing in the final weeks, repeating rehearsed lines effectively even with challenging questions.
That’s the game. But if we reduce our democracy to image control and message discipline, we lose something essential. We lose the space for leaders to be real, to be vulnerable, to be challenged in ways that reveal character — not just polish.
My favourite part of interviewing provincial party leaders last year was asking them real questions about their ideas, values, and intent. Not traps. Not spin. Just honest dialogue. And the public responded. We saw Reddit threads unpacking full conversations, and messages from Canadians who said they finally understood a leader’s perspective — because they heard them speak without a 2-minute filter.
That’s the future I want for political journalism in this country.
The Only One Who Showed Up
The only federal leader who proactively reached out to come on my show was Maxime Bernier. Like him or not, he was willing to explain his views openly and consistently. If you don’t agree with him, that’s fine. But ask yourself: why was he the only one who showed up?
That’s what worries me most. Not who won. But what lessons the big parties may be taking away from this election — that silence is safer, that control beats honesty, that limiting access is good strategy. That’s not just bad for journalism — it’s bad for democracy.
Where We Go From Here
If we want a healthier democracy, we need to reward honesty. We need to value accountability, vulnerability, and substance. We need to create a culture where politicians feel they gain, not risk, by being transparent.
I’m disappointed by how this election played out — not in the outcome, but in the missed opportunities. I’m disappointed that platforms came late, that interviews were dodged, and that voters were left in the dark. We can do better.
We deserve better.
We, as Canadians, need to start demanding it — from our leaders, from our parties, and from our media.