It’s been a wild year for me, personally and professionally. There have been some real highs and some serious lows, but overall it felt like that Drake song. And I hate Drake, okay, but it’s the only song that truly felt like the year I’ve had.

This time last year, I had no idea I’d be doing this. I did, however, have ideas on what a new Canadian media venture would look like that could cut through all the clickbait.. So when Neil approached me with this idea back in April, I’d already done a lot of the thinking and planning in my head for what this could be.

I wouldn’t say it’s been bumpy, but it hasn’t exactly been easy, either. What we’ve both realized is, in the year 2025, old-school, grassroots methods of marketing and brand awareness are essential here. When you drill right down to the centre of it, it’s about winning one new reader at a time – focusing on quality and usefulness of the content over everything else, and feeding that into the eyeballs of right kind of reader.

I think we have a handle on how to do that. I feel like we’re sending 2025 off on a high note and I’m excited about what’s coming for The Level in 2026. I hope you’ll stick with us for that. If you like what we do, please tell a friend and encourage them to subscribe as well.

In the meantime, I want to thank all of you for supporting us as we got this project off the ground and figured out how, exactly, we make it work. It means everything to me. I don’t want to speak for Neil, but I will anyway. He feels the same.

Happy New Year and we’ll see you in 2026!

- Stephen Smysnuik

We launched officially in October, but we’d actually been publishing since the summer, focusing on the biggest news and cultural stories that helped shape Canadians understanding of ourselves and ours place in the world.

Here are six stories from before our hard launch that you may have missed, but are still relevant – or that we think you should read anyway.

We published this back when the announcement was made that the Canadian government was planning to recognize the Palestinian state, but before it actually did so. Our take wasn’t exploring whether or not we should do it, but whether or not it made sense to do it now, or further down the road.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. taking on Tylenol was one of the weirder stories of 2025, and it was also perfect for what we do here. On the one hand, like, the science is clear about the effects of Tylenol and its impact on pregnancy…but there are issues with its usage that many of us just aren’t considering.

The outspoken Conservative commentator was murdered in September, and it was easily the most disturbing and shocking news story out of the U.S. this year. The aftermath of his death, though, was fascinating – one side anointed him into sainthood, basically, while the other used him as the ultimate example of FAFO.

The repercussions of this case continue to dominate dinnertime (and some Reddit) conversations, months after the news broke. I also find that so many people have no real idea what actually happened here, so I’ve been sharing this story, months after we published, to help people get a deeper grasp on what’s true and what’s false, to stay better informed on the issue.

OK, let’s lighten it up a bit. This was the most fun I had writing a story for The Level this year. Too bad no one read it. Maybe we can change that.

And finally – let’s talk Poilievre. This was written after he lost his seat in the 2025 election back in April, but before he gained a seat back and regained his leadership over the Conservative Party. The conversation remains relevant now that he’s facing his leadership review next month, and almost all the arguments I outline here remain valid.

We’re going to skip our regular In Other News section today. Forget about the rest of the planet today. Just try to enjoy yourself in anticipation of 2026. Cool? Cool.