These five Canadian women are the ones to watch in 2025

If you don't know their names now, there's a good chance you will soon.

Our country isn’t lacking for talent, even if we perennially sell ourselves short (see representative prior post “Occidental Petroleum to buy Squamish-based Carbon Engineering for US$1.1B” Aug 22-23).

Given the outsized impact that the political landscape is going to have on businesses this year, for better or worse, I wanted to make sure that readers were attuned to some of the key women who will influence our lives over the course of 2025. It was tough to winnow the list down to five, but I hope you agree that each nominee will/should be a conversation topic for our dining room tables as the days and weeks progress.

All five are somehow connected to Parliament Hill, reflecting Canada’s current reality. None of which suggests that there aren’t hundreds of important female researchers, executives, military leaders or entrepreneurs.

As for the reference to Pearl Jam (see representative prior post “What's with you and Pearl Jam?” Sept 3-23), that band’s legendary inclusiveness compares well against Mark Carney’s one-time favourite Down With Webster, known for the song lyric: “Everywhere I go I'm a one man show.” (Ed. note: you suggesting symbolism??) If you wonder what the fuss is all about, there’s a U.S. tour on the way — show up at a show, and I’ll buy you a drink.

If you want to see how this week’s Star column ends, buy a print copy, use your Apple News, or subscribe to The Star online via my special discount code: www.thestar.com/informed:

Donald Trump and Elon Musk may be dominating our consciousness, but there’s plenty of drama, inspiration and trail-blazing to follow closer to home. Here are five Canadian women to watch in 2025:

Chrystia Freeland, MP

What if Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hadn’t deluded himself into thinking his loyal deputy would accept being sidelined in favour of Mark Carney? Had Freeland not made the tactical choice to quit rather than be fired, I doubt Trudeau would have walked the gangplank last month.

Trailing Carney in the Liberal leadership race, Freeland may well be suffering the consequences of not taking my advice from last summer: “You don’t want to be the one who kills the king, you want to be the one who warmly mourns the king and takes his mantle after someone else kills him.”

Although Freeland has vowed to run in the next election, Carney, as PM, would have a hard time offering her a senior cabinet post given her proximity to Trudeau’s key economic failures (even if Freeland eventually came around on the carbon tax, targeted nursing pay and her proposed capital gains tax increase).

It would be gracious of Carney to appoint Freeland as Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations, bedevilling the Trump administration in the process.

Lucy Hargreaves, Canada Spends

Whoever forms the next government will come to know this name. A former staffer with Liberal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna, Hargreaves is now cutting her teeth at Patch, a carbon removal platform startup backed by some of California’s best known venture capitalists.

What will soon attract attention is her passion project, Canada Spends, a non-profit that promises to shine a light on how our tax dollars are spent. Her hope is that transparency can be a non-partisan issue, even if some will try to draw parallels to Musk’s DOGE initiative. Every taxpayer should be in favour of keeping our government accountable, and her recent tenure on Parliament Hill means Hargreaves knows where to look for largesse.

One early revelation: Canada Spends reported this month that Global Affairs spent $18 million to create six jobs in East Africa, a region of more than 500 million people.

Melissa Lantsman, MP

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has called his deputy “our heroine,” and I don’t know a single party member who wouldn’t agree with that characterization. The ease with which Lantsman has transitioned from working the backrooms to being an essential face at CPC fundraisers and community outreach events speaks volumes about her diverse and magnetic appeal. And while some paint the Conservatives as intolerant of the LGBTQ community, that won’t fly with average voters when they learn that Lantsman has a wife.

To her credit, Lantsman also enjoys Pearl Jam, a band that is famously inclusive.

To read the rest of the piece, hit the link.

MRM

(this post is an Opinion Piece)