What Canadians Said in 2025
A Yearbook of Public Opinion and Perspective
by Charlie Dickson

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Did you hear what they said!? Sometimes someone says something so astonishing, so dumb or brilliant, so insightful or infuriating that everyone takes notice. But other times, a poignant or perceptive comment can get lost in the general noise of our society. It can be hard to know who and what to focus on or to get a sense of what is important to Canadians. Enter What Canadians Said in 2025: A Yearbook of Public Opinion and Perspective, a fascinating compendium of what those in the public eye said about our country and what they felt other Canadians needed to hear. Garnered from newspapers, interviews, speeches, podcasts, social media, broadcasts, public forums, and online commentary, the quotes featured in this yearbook capture a wide-ranging set of opinions from people with a variety of backgrounds, roles, and ideologies. Organized in eighteen thematic sections—including politics, economy, labour, sports, international affairs, culture, religion, education, and the environment—this thought-provoking and engaging book offers you a chance to do what you probably didn’t have time to do while life was happening around you: catch up on the ideas, arguments, and voices of Canadians in a pivotal year and add your own thoughts to the mix.

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Charlie Dickson is a Canadian writer, journalist, and historian who wants to preserve the stories, perspectives, and public conversations that shape national life. A graduate of the University of Waterloo with an undergraduate degree in political science and history, Dickson found his inspiration for What Canadians Said in 2025 when he came across a copy of What They Said in 1969: A Yearbook of Spoken Opinion in the university library. He immediately appreciated how the book acted as a time capsule to preserve the spirit of the era and decided that he would set out to create a Canadian equivalent for modern readers and future historians someday. That finally happened in 2025. Dickson currently lives in Atikokan, Ontario, where he works at a local newspaper for much of the year. During the summer months, he runs a tree-planting crew across Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia. Outside of writing, Dickson is a folk musician and avid reader whose influences include Stan Rogers, The Guess Who, Herman Melville, and his mother’s own storytelling. What Canadians Said in 2025 is his first book.

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Contributors

Author

Charlie Dickson

Editor

Will Dickson

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