The Empire Club of Canada
Thursday, January 15, 2026
2025 rewrote the political rules. Canada adjusted to a new American president, elected a new prime minister, navigated a trade war with its largest partner, and stared down mounting economic headwinds. A new world order has arrived—and it’s here for the foreseeable future. So, what stories will define 2026?
The Empire Club of Canada brings together three of the country’s most influential political journalists—Bob Fife (Ottawa Bureau Chief, The Globe and Mail), Robert Benzie (Queen’s Park Bureau Chief, Toronto Star), and Sabrina Nanji (Founder and Lead Journalist, Queen’s Park Observer)—to forecast the big political stories that will shape Canada in the year ahead.
Before the panel takes the stage, Darrell Bricker, Global CEO, Ipsos Public Affairs, will deliver an insightful data briefing on the state of the issues that matter most to Canadians in 2026 and how public opinion is starting to shift. Drawing on fresh Ipsos research, he will map the fault lines and emerging trends that will frame the year ahead.
Then in a “turn-the-tables” twist, the journalists become the subjects. Prominent political commentator, Scott Reid will be the one asking the questions, breaking with tradition and promising sharp unfiltered insight into the people, pressures, and power struggles that will drive the 2026 agenda.
On January 15, 2026, join us for Empire Nights: “The Journalists’ Forecast – Big Stories of 2026 that Will Shape Canada.” Expect a fast-paced, highly informed evening of analysis and conversation from the people who frame the national narrative and decode the issues for Canadians every day.
Come for the journalism, stay for the conjecture. Scott Reid will be firmly “in the captain’s chair” as he engages Canada’s top political reporters. Enjoy refreshments and networking with fellow stakeholders, insiders, and news junkies in an atmosphere built for real dialogue and fresh perspective.
Prior to joining Ipsos in 1990, Dr. Bricker was Director of Research in the office of Canada’s Prime Minister. He was also a research consultant with firms in Ottawa and Toronto.
Dr. Bricker holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Carleton University, and a BA and MA from Wilfrid Laurier University. He has been awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree by Wilfrid Laurier University, which named him one of their top 100 graduates in the last 100 years. Darrell is also a Senior Research Fellow with the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, and at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) in Waterloo, Ontario.
Darrell has written several national bestselling books.
Breaking Point (with John Ibbitson – Signal, 2025) is a seminal work on the future of Canada.
Next: Where To Live, What to Buy, And Who Will Lead Canada’s Future (Harper Collins, 2020) was nominated for Canada’s National Business Book Award.
Empty Planet: The Shock of Global Population Decline (with John Ibbitson – Signal, 2020) was a finalist for the Donner Prize. It has been published in multiple countries and translated into ten languages.
The Big Shift (with John Ibbitson – Harper Collins, 2013), was a number one Canadian bestseller.
Canuckology (with John Wright – Harper Collins, 2011)
We Know What You’re Thinking (with John Wright – Harper Collins, 2009)
What Canadians Think About Almost Everything (with John Wright – Doubleday, 2005)
Searching for Certainty: Inside the New Canadian Mindset (with Ed Greenspon – Doubleday, 2002)
Dr. Bricker is a popular public speaker who regularly engages with audiences around the world. He’s written articles for publications as diverse as Canada’s Globe and Mail and France’s Le Monde. He has also appeared on television and radio with all of Canada’s major national networks, and around the world with news broadcast organizations such as CNN, the BBC and NPR. Darrell is also the 2021 recipient of the Radio Television Digital News Association’s Hutton Award of Excellence for commitment to the betterment of journalism in Canada.
Darrell lives in Toronto with his wife Nina and daughter Emily.
Robert Fife is The Globe and Mail’s Ottawa Bureau Chief. He has broken numerous stories over his nearly 50-year career. Recently he led the way into an investigation into Chinese foreign interference in Canadian elections and domestic affairs. Based on top secret and secret information from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Mr. Fife’s reporting led to the establishment of a judicial inquiry and legislation that resulted in the establishment of a foreign agent registry and changes to the Criminal Code to make foreign interference a criminal offence. His reporting on Canadian universities cooperating with Chinese military institutions led the federal government to ban such research cooperation.
In 2018, Mr. Fife broke the SNC-Lavalin affairs that led to resignations of two senior cabinet ministers, a top lieutenant to the prime minister and the Clerk of the Privy Council – the country’s top civil servant. Mr. Fife set the political agenda in 2014 when he uncovered the Senate expense scandal that resulted in the resignation of the prime minister’s chief of staff and significant reform of Senate expenses.
In 2016 he and his Globe and Mail colleague Steven Chase wrote a series of stories about Liberal Party cash-for-access fundraisers that resulted in Prime Minister Trudeau modifying all party fundraising. Mr. Fife uncovered the Senate expense scandal that cost Nigel Wright his job, setting the course for an RCMP investigation, audits and reform of Senate expense rules. In 2012, he exposed the E. coli contamination of some XL Foods products, forcing the company to recall 1500 tainted meat products.
Maclean’s Magazine and The Hill Times has named Mr. Fife as one of the country’s 50 most powerful people. Mr. Fife has won numerous awards for his journalism, including the prestigious Michener-Baxter Award for exceptional service to Canadian public service journalism.
He is the former Ottawa Bureau Chief of the National Post and CTV National News and host of CTV’s Question Period. He worked as a senior political reporter for United Press International (Canada), The Canadian Press and was Ottawa Bureau Chief for the Sun Media chain. Mr. Fife is the author of several books: A Capital Scandal: Politics, Patronage and Payoff; Why Parliament Must Be Reformed; and Kim Campbell: The Making of a Politician
Robert Benzie is Queen’s Park Bureau Chief for the Toronto Star. He is responsible for coordinating the provincial political coverage for Canada’s largest circulation newspaper. Before joining the Star in 2003, he covered Queen’s Park and Toronto City Hall for the National Post, a paper he helped launch as its Deputy Toronto Editor in 1998. Prior to that, he worked for the Toronto Sun and the Ottawa Sun. Benzie has covered countless elections and leadership contests at federal, provincial and municipal levels. In 2024, he was part of the Star/Narwhat team that won the Michener Award for Public Service Journalism for coverage of the Greenbelt scandal as well as the National Newspaper Award for sustained news coverage.
Sabrina is the author of Queen’s Park Observer, the Legislature’s most-read political newsletter, known for its sharp analysis and insider intelligence from Ontario’s halls of power. She has spent the past decade covering provincial politics — including three elections — turning the Observer into essential reading for cabinet ministers, senior strategists, lobbyists, public-sector leaders, industry stakeholders and political watchers who want to understand everything from what’s driving political and policy decision making, to what’s for lunch in the Legislature’s cafeteria. Sabrina is a regular commentator on CBC, CTV, CP24, TVO, Newstalk 1010 and more. She was born in Etobicoke, raised in Brampton, and graduated from Carleton University in Ottawa.
Scott Reid is one of Canada’s most sought after corporate communications and issues management professionals and a founder of the firm Feschuk.Reid. A former senior advisor to Prime Minister Paul Martin, he has counselled countless CEOs, senior executives and political leaders. Scott currently serves as an on-air analyst for CTV News, Newstalk 1010AM and the Bellmedia network and was previously a columnist forthe Ottawa Citizen. In 2022, Scott was named one of Canada’s 50 most influential Canadians by Maclean’s Magazine for his work on the popular Curse of Politics podcast. He is a Fellow at the Clayton Riddell School of Political Management at Carleton University and is an Adjunct Professor at Queen’s University’s School of Policy Studies where he teaches a course on government & public communications as part of the Masters of Public Administration program. Scott holds a B.A. (Honours) from Queens University and is the father of four sons.
