Ottawa Sun
Published: Thursday, December 31, 2009

Best bets on what's ahead for 2010

End-of-year columns are a freebie for writers since we review the year that was (oops, did that last week) or look ahead and fearlessly divine what will transpire and unfold in the coming 12 months.

And while I’m not as good — okay, not even in the same league — as noted Ottawa mentalist and hypnotist Blair Robertson, here are my predictions for 2010.

In local politics look for eight new faces around the council table after the Oct. 25 election.

As for the contest for the mayor’s chair, look for a two-horse race to emerge in the final month between Larry O’Brien and Jim Watson with our incumbent mayor taking to the airwaves in a large media buy (shades of 2006) while the Watson team will opt for social media and non-traditional campaigning tactics to get out their vote. As an aside, voter turnout will be over 50%, rivalling provincial levels.

Provincially, look for Dalton McGuinty to shuffle his cabinet big time before the end of January with a nod to local MPP Yasir Naqvi into a junior portfolio. As readers know, I’m no fan of the provincial Grits, but Mr. Naqvi has acquitted himself well, works damn hard and deserves an elevated role in government.

Also look for PC Leader Tim Hudak to pull a Mike Harris and release the main tenets of his 2011 election platform before the end of calendar 2010.

On the federal file, there will be no election in 2010. In fact this minority Parliament might last until the fall 2011. And various federal ministers will stop referring to the “Obama administration” and simply say “we are working with the Americans” instead as President Obama’s approval ratings will stagnate then fall as the U.S. recovery continues to sputter along, at best.

Okay, enough about politics. On the hockey front look for Team Canada to beat the Russians by a score of six to five in a thrilling gold medal finale at the Olympics.

As well, look for our boys at the World Juniors in Saskatchewan to clinch their sixth straight title.

As for the Senators, they should go at least two rounds into the playoffs in 2010 with goaltending being the deciding factor if they proceed further to the conference finals or another Stanley Cup run.

In the technology world, Twitter will morph into two or three different social media platforms in 2010.

Meanwhile, a major vendor will release an application combining e-mail and video technology to allow us to send holographic video mails.

As for the entertainment domain, I predict an end to all reality TV shows (yes I know, wishful thinking, but a dream is a dream). As well, Jay Leno’s show will be cancelled, the Jonas Brothers will split up (sorry girls) and Lady GaGa will retire from music (again, let one of my dreams come true, please).

Locally, the CTV supper-hour newscast will be totally revamped with a much faster pace (more stories and hard news), former A-News anchor Sandra Blaikie will land a national radio gig, and Ottawa Sun publisher Rick Gibbons will take up hot yoga (hey, gotta have a little fun with this piece).

Finally, I predict a column on these pages in December 2010 to assess my foretelling success, or failures.