Looking back at the year just ending, it feels like the events of a decade were pressed into a mere 12 months.
Abroad, 2022 began with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a shameful display of naked power that will damn Vladimir Putin down the ages.
At home in sa国际传媒, the year ended with ferocious arctic blasts that drove down temperatures and dumped more snow in one night than our airports, ferries and street crews could cope with.
In between, nothing stood still, even for a day.
The most touching moment came with the death of Queen Elizabeth II. The Queen had served 70 years, dying at the age of 96.
Eighty per cent of sa国际传媒’s population has known no other monarch — truly the passing of an era. Whether we can rally to her successor remains to be seen.
In February, the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act for the first time ever, to take back Ottawa’s streets from protesting truckers.
The protest was indeed broken up, but the decision to invoke the act has been widely criticized as overkill. Surprisingly, even local police forces joined the clamour, claiming there was no need for such a controversial step because all along they had a plan to regain control. No such plan ever saw the light of day.
In October, Danielle Smith, riding a wave of frustration over COVID restrictions, won the leadership of her United Conservative party and with it the premiership of Alberta. One of her first acts was to introduce a “sovereignty act” designed to protect Alberta from the perceived over-reach of Ottawa.
But Smith came a cropper right from the start, when she was forced to amend her signature legislation after it appeared to give cabinet ministers unilateral powers unknown to the Constitution.
And confirming the definition of history as one damn thing after another, in May the sa国际传媒 government announced plans to shutter the much loved Royal sa国际传媒 Museum in Victoria.
The plan was to replace the museum with a new facility, giving more emphasis to Indigenous heritage. However, when it became known the project would take eight years to complete, and cost a staggering $789 million, a wave of public outrage rose up, and the scheme had to be abandoned.
South of the border, Elon Musk completed his purchase of the social networking giant Twitter, promptly fired half the staff, then announced he was stepping down as CEO after his decision to suspend journalists for “doxxing” his family led to a backlash.
And the U.S. House of Representatives referred criminal charges against Donald Trump to the Justice Department, laying the groundwork for an epic legal battle even as the ex-president begins his campaign for a second term.
Guy Lafleur, one of the all-time hockey greats and five-times winner of the Stanley Cup, died in April. Lafleur, more than any player then or since, played the game with a grace and style we still remember. He was accorded a state funeral in Montreal.
Soccer fans had something to cheer about as Argentina’s Lionel Messi led his team to a World Cup victory in Qatar. Messi, the top soccer player in the world and one of the best ever, had won nearly every other honour in the game, but the World Cup had consistently eluded him.
It took a penalty shoot-out to beat France, but no one could grudge a genuinely decent, self-effacing man his moment in the sun.
But the jubilation surrounding Messi’s triumph soon turned into sadness with the passing of Pelé, a legend of the “beautiful game” — and arguably the greatest player of all time — who transcended the sport and became Brazil’s ambassador to the world.
What lies ahead only time will tell. But for now we wish all our readers a happy and enjoyable new year.
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