The moment Naheed Nenshi entered the Alberta NDP leadership race this past March, he was quickly named the candidate to beat—and the one who could beat Premier Danielle Smith. It didn’t matter that the next provincial election was three years away. This was the three-term mayor who comforted Calgarians during the devastating 2013 floods; who galvanized citizens, red and blue, with his overwhelmingly purple wardrobe; and who made international headlines for his social-media savvy. (One memorable meme: “Keep Calm and Nenshi On.”)  Still, it’s going to take more than name recognition, violet ..read more

In 1990, I was living with my family in El Salvador, against the backdrop of the civil war. Back then, you’d get in trouble just for talking about human rights, and my husband, Francisco, was a lawyer who dealt with political detainees. I worked with children with disabilities. The army saw both of us as threats and, after soldiers came to our house looking for our kids, we knew we had to leave. I was five months pregnant with our third child when we boarded a plane to Toronto.  At the time, Canada had a special permit set up for Salvadoran refugees, similar to the current emergency tempo ..read more

In 2012, I was working as a McDonald’s manager in Tagaytay, a city one hour south of Manila, Philippines. My then-husband, Franco, and I had three kids: a daughter, Kate, and two sons, Jelo and Jade. I was earning $600 a month and always struggling to make ends meet. I constantly thought about how I could give my children a better life.  That year, some of my McDonald’s co-workers moved to Australia to work food-service jobs—and they quadrupled their wages. There are special agencies back home that get Filipinos jobs abroad based on their skills and the demand in those countries. In March ..read more

Informed by the magazine’s May issue cover story, the Maclean’s Ideas Summit will return on May 2 for an exploration of power across different verticals. Think hot-button topics like artificial intelligence, misinformation and the future of Canadian governance.  Luma, atop the TIFF Lightbox, will welcome a roster of speakers for an evening of compelling conversation. Together, we’ll unpack some of the most pressing questions on the minds of Canadians today. What influences are shaping the country? Where does true power reside? Who is next when it comes to leadership in Canada?   ..read more

I’ve worked in restaurants for my whole career. After culinary school, I started as an entry-level cook and came up through kitchens in Toronto. Eventually, I worked my way up to head chef at a restaurant on King Street West and, in 2020, I joined Beast Pizza, a 20-seat restaurant in West Queen West, as a partner and owner. I love what I do. I get to cook six-course meals for guests almost every day. We also serve whole-animal dinners: last week, I cooked an entire goat for a large group of people. The next day, I prepared venison six ways. From a culinary perspective, I’m living my dream.&nbs ..read more

In 2019, I was living in Ibadan, Nigeria, and working as a high school teacher. My wife, Kenny, and I had a four-year-old son named Dotun, plus lots of relatives living nearby. One of my sisters, Jummy, had recently moved to Lethbridge, Alberta, with her husband, Niyi, who was doing his postdoc there. They just had a son, Tishe, and wanted me to meet him. So I flew from Nigeria to Canada in November of 2019 to see the three of them. My trip was only supposed to last a few weeks. But Jummy liked having me around so much that she suggested I extend my stay until late March of 2020, so I could ce ..read more

When Sarika Ghag and her husband, Happy Ghag, married in 2010, they both wanted a home with a huge backyard, where they could raise kids on a steady diet of sunshine, exercise and fresh air. First, they moved into Happy’s pastoral childhood home in Chilliwack, B.C.—a colossal house where Happy had freewheeling afternoons as a boy playing soccer and driving tractors around the fields behind his home. By 2016, Sarika and Happy had two young children. It was time to build their dream home and move out. The kitchen features cabinetry painted in Benjamin Moore’s Raccoon Fur. Happy, an orthodontist ..read more

Maclean’s Ideas Summit returned for its third iteration in February. This year, the Summit kicked off with the Maclean’s Salon at Bar ARDO on Tuesday, February 27, followed by a panel discussion with thought leaders in tech, science, and public policy about Canada’s future on Wednesday, February 28. Uber Canada was the presenting sponsor of The Summit, which was also supported by Microsoft Canada, Amazon Canada and Fitzrovia.   Guests in conversation at the Maclean’s Ideas Summit: Powerhouse Salon at Bar Ardo. On the evening of Wednesday, February 28, guests and speakers trickled int ..read more

The seeds for Meg Somerville’s gap year were planted way back in Grade 2. Her teacher had taken a year off to travel after his teaching degree, and made a point of sharing his experiences with his students. He told them about hanging out with orangutans in Borneo and displayed paraphernalia from his trip—a rain stick from Australia, postcards from Cambodia and a big world map—in the classroom. For the young Somerville, it was a window into a world she didn’t yet know, but she knew she wanted to explore. Her interest in geography, history and other cultures blossomed throughout her school years ..read more

As soon as Nathan Sears checked into his Airbnb in March of 2023, he knew something felt wrong. The door to his unit was so flimsy he thought he could kick it down. The building’s front entrance was unlocked, open to anyone who might wander in. He called his wife, Araceli, and gave her a video tour—he didn’t want to leave any valuables inside, he said. It didn’t feel safe. But the Airbnb was in a prime location, on the second floor of a beautiful, three-storey limestone heritage building in Old Montreal, at 135 rue du Port. It was just a 20-minute walk from the venue for the conference th ..read more