The Best of 2025: Maclean’s Top 10 Longreads

In the last year, Canadians elected our first new leader in a decade, broke up with our closest ally and coped with nationwide economic turmoil. The good news? The chaos made for some fascinating stories. Our most popular longreads of the year ranged in subject from the political to the personal, chronicling power brokers, ordinary people and everyone in between. Stephen Maher profiled Mark Carney, the hard-nosed banker-turned-PM who’s been eyeing the top job since his days at Oxford University, while Ali Amad chronicled why the condo market crashed in Toronto and Vancouver—and why we should have all seen it coming. Luc Rinaldi wrote about the Canadians with mental illness who are suing the government for the right to die, and Courtney Shea documented the mystifying spending habits of young Canadians and the predatory industry designed to keep them in debt. Here, our top 10 longreads of 2025.

NO. 6

Mark Carney Is a Very Demanding Boss

His elbows-up enthusiasm won him the election. Now he’s governing like a Bay Street exec.

BY Stephen Maher

NO. 5

The Doom Spenders

Faced with an uncertain future, young Canadians are racking up more debt than ever before. Portrait of a generation on the instalment plan.

By Courtney Shea

NO. 4

Jenni Byrne’s Big Gamble

The ruthless tactician behind Pierre Poilievre’s campaign has spent decades shaping Canadian conservatism from behind the scenes. This year’s election will be her greatest achievement—or her undoing.

BY Simon Lewsen

NO. 2

The Condo Crash

For years, low interest rates fuelled a big-city condo-flipping frenzy. Profits got bigger and condos got smaller. Now the bubble has popped, leaving behind thousands of unsellable, unlivable units.

By Ali Amad

NO. 1

Why Gen Z Will Never Leave Home

Thanks to soaring housing costs, a generation of twentysomethings are still in their childhood bedrooms. A portrait of family life with no empty nest.

By Claire Gagné