2025 Year in Review

December 30, 2025 news-nouvelles

Dear Neighbour,

2025 has been an exciting and often challenging year, one full of change and new opportunities. Canadians elected a new federal government, and I was honored to take on new responsibilities as Minister of Environment, Climate Change, and Nature alongside my duties as your MP for Toronto-Danforth. This year our new government has centered focused on what we can control as a country when the global economic landscape has fundamentally shifted, and we are called to adapt.

Our new government has made some significant steps since the election, we introduced Budget 2025 , a generational budget that invests in Canadian industry and empowers individuals in their everyday lives. We are focused on reducing everyday costs, proposing nation-building projects, making housing more affordable, reinvesting in our Armed Forces, protecting our tariff-hit industries, and unlocking $1 trillion in investments and working with provinces, territories and Indigenous partners to advance climate action across the country.

I’m grateful for the trust you have put in me as your federal representative, and I look forward to continuing to work hard for our community and all Canadians in my role as an MP and as a Cabinet Minister.

In this newsletter let’s take a look at some of the important progress that’s been made in 2025.

2025 Year in Review

Lowering everyday costs and Empowering Canadians

Investing in families through the Canada Child Benefit , that helps make raising children more affordable. This investment is tax-free and indexed to inflation annually to keep up with the cost of living.

Supporting young people with the Canada Summer Jobs Program and the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy. Last summer Canada Summer Jobs created 193 jobs for youth in Toronto-Danforth.

Canada Summer Jobs visit at Eastview Neighborhood CC this summer.

Nearly 6 million Canadians are now covered by the Canadian Dental Care Plan. The plan helps make life more affordable by allowing eligible individuals to save an average of $800 per year on oral health services. Including over 612,000 children under the age of 18 who can now access affordable dental care

Protecting the Canada-wide early learning and childcare system that is saving families of over 900,000 children across the country thousands of dollars in fees .

Our new government will automate tax filing so that all Canadians are receiving the benefits they are entitled too.

Made the National School Food Program permanent. This will provide up to 400,000 children with healthy meals and saving families with two children approximately $800 per year on groceries.

With Coalition for Healthy School Food when I read their petition in the House of Commons in 2023.

Cut taxes for 22 million Canadians by reducing the lowest marginal personal income tax rate from 15 per cent to 14 per cent, effective July 1, 2025.
Lowering telecom costs by increasing competition, access to infrastructure, and cutting red tape.
Modernizing Canada’s financial sector to drive innovation and help smaller financial institutions to invest, scale, and compete.
Making banking fairer and more affordable by prohibiting registered and investment account transfer fees and improving transparency for cross-border payments.
Regulating stablecoins with legislation and promoting the responsible adoption of AI in our financial services.

Tackling Canada’s Housing Crisis

This year in Toronto-Danforth we have seen the completion of some important projects that will increase affordable housing in our community. The new Don Summerville housing complex was unveiled this year with 770 mixed income homes and re-opened Riverdale Co-op with revitalized and expanded units on 685 Queens Street East. And, the re-naturalization of the Port Lands will unlock land for new housing in the coming years.

Nationally, our new government is taking a bold new approach to this crisis with unprecedented investments to increase housing supply in Canada with Build Canada Homes . This new federal agency will work with the provinces, territories, municipalities and Indigenous communities to build transitional and supportive housing, affordable housing for low-income households, and partner with private market developers to build affordable homes for the Canadian middle class.

At the new Don Summerville housing complex unveiling.

Generational Investments in Canadian Arts and Culture

Budget 2025 has investments in culture totaling $503 million over four years, starting in 2026-27, in sectors such as the arts, multimedia, journalism, and national celebrations.

This includes support for Telefilm Canada, the Canada Media Fund, the National Film Board, and the Canada Council for the Arts. Budget 2025 also proposes funding to help Canadian talent succeed in an increasingly digital and global marketplace, including through the Canada Music Fund.

Locally, we came together to celebrate diversity and community with multiple events and street festivals supported across all levels of government that foster stronger and more connected communities.

1. Riverdale Art Walk 2. East York Canada Day Parade 3. Festival of South Asia

Advancing Climate Action and Accelerating Canada’s Clean Power Advantage

Canada must act with urgency, unity and determination to seize the opportunities of the energy transition. With the Climate Competitiveness Strategy , we are positioning climate action and economic growth as inseparable, aiming to build a stronger, more sustainable, and more competitive Canada for decades to come.

Right here in Toronto-Danforth our government has partnered with the City and the Province on protecting nature locally. In 2025, Biidaasige Park officially opened in the Port Lands, and we were able to enjoy the beautiful new waterfront greenspace that will provide essential flood protection for the eastern waterfront and increase habitat for more biodiversity in the city.

In Tommy Thompson Park, the federal government is supporting enhancing nearshore fish habitat by creating habitat in five different areas of the park including important wetlands for warm and cool water fish species. The project also involves planting native plants in priority areas to control erosion.

1. Biidaasige Park opening 2. Climate Competitiveness Strategy announced with Budget 2025

Building Safer Communities

Keeping Canadians Safe from Gun Crime

In 2025 our government renewed its commitments to keeping communities safe from gun crime. By strengthening restrictions on assault-style firearms and introducing measures to prevent high-risk individuals from accessing guns, these steps aim to reduce violence and protect Canadians. These efforts reflect a broader strategy to ensure public safety and build trust in our neighborhoods. Some measures include:

Regulations introducing mandatory license refusal and revocation requirements that will protect people in at-risk situations, including those involving gender-based or intimate partner violence, as called for under former Bill C-21, coming into force in Spring 2026.
Regulations requiring all domestic firearms manufacturers and importers to share technical information with the RCMP for classification before manufacturing or importing any firearms into Canada. This is a key step towards ensuring all firearms in Canada are properly classified according to their impact on public safety.
Launching a comprehensive review of the classification regime, with an emphasis on simplicity and consistency to modernize the regime and ensure Canadians’ safety.

Addressing gender-based violence

The Protecting Victims Act was proposed in late 2025 and is one of the most significant updates to Canada’s Criminal Code in generations. This legislation aims to better protect victims and keep children safe from predators. These changes include a strengthened response to intimate partner violence and sexual offenders, enhanced protections for children, stronger rights for victims, and measures to address court delays.

Combatting Hate

Everyone should feel safe in our communities, and Canada should be a place where you can publicly celebrate your identity with your community safely. That’s why in 2025 our government proposed new legislation that would make sure people going to their schools, community centers and places of worship are free from intimidation or physical obstruction to access these spaces.

Building Canada Strong

Our new government is moving from reliance to resilience, building new connections to attract investment, diversify trade, and double non-US exports over the next decade.

This year Prime Minister Mark Carney has been diversifying our trade partners to strengthen Canada’s economy and reduce reliance on the US market. The Prime Minister has expanded partnerships with Europe, Asia, and Latin America, while investing in infrastructure to support new trade routes and secure access to critical resources.

Another key pillar of strengthening our economy in light of US tariffs is creating one Canadian economy by removing federal barriers to internal trade and labor mobility, expediting nation-building projects that will connect and transform our country and unleash economic growth while ensuring environmental protections and Indigenous rights are upheld.

Prime Minister Carney secures new agreements with the United Arab Emirates to expand trade and attract new investment into Canada.

Protecting and Transforming our Steel and Lumber Industries

Canada’s new government has moved quickly to protect and strengthen the sectors most affected by US tariffs – introducing new measures to help workers gain new skills, support businesses as they modernize and diversify, and boost domestic demand for Canadian goods.

Building on previously announced measures to help transform the Canadian steel and softwood lumber industries, the following new initiatives were announced today. Canada’s new government will:

Further limit foreign steel imports to ensure that Canadian steel producers have better access to the domestic market.
Make it easier to build with Canadian steel and lumber, helping more of our construction and development rely on homegrown materials.
Increase protections for Canadian steel and lumber workers and businesses so they can adapt and thrive in this new global landscape.

Buy Canadian Policy

Effective as of December 16th, 2025, our government is rolling out the new federal procurement rules to support Canadian workers and industries. With this new policy our federal government will be our own best customers. When we build, we will do so with Canadian goods and suppliers. This requires an economy that is more unified than it has ever been by removing internal trade barriers to increase flows of goods and services across the country.

Yours truly,

Julie

Hon. Julie Dabrusin, PC

Member of Parliament for Toronto-Danforth

Minister of Environment, Climate Change, and Nature

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2025 Year in Review

2025 Year in Review

Lowering everyday costs and Empowering Canadians

Tackling Canada’s Housing Crisis

Generational Investments in Canadian Arts and Culture

Advancing Climate Action and Accelerating Canada’s Clean Power Advantage

Building Safer Communities

Building Canada Strong

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