There’s a lot going down in 2015. From space missions to Canadian Federal Elections, here’s a short – and by no means comprehensive – list of some of the most-anticipated events happening in Vancouver and worldwide.
The Canadian Federal Elections
Are the 2015 Canadian federal elections shaping up to be a three-way fight? NDP Party Leader, Tom Mulclair definitely seems to think so and in an interview he gave before his three day caucus retreat on Tuesday (Jan 13th), he predicted that these elections would be a historic first as a three-way race between the Conservatives, New Democrats and Liberals.
Though the polls generally put the Conservatives and Liberals ahead of NDP, Dr. Greg Millard, Chair of the Political
Science faculty at Kwantlen Polytechnic University believes there are a few factors that could work in NDP’s favour – a strong organization in Quebec and the fact that Mulcair is perceived as a strong politician – which could create a three-way race. “Whether or not the NDP can move up, this certainly looks to be the most exciting federal election in many years, because all three parties are led by compelling figures,” he says. “The real fight of this campaign, I suspect, will be between the Liberals and the NDP over which side
(if any) can capture and consolidate the "anti-Harper" sentiment.”
What does Dr. Millard predict? “My guess is that the likeliest outcome is that neither the NDP nor the Liberals will manage to knock out the other…and the Conservatives will be looking at another victory - probably a minority, but possibly even another majority government.” But at the end of the day, politics are always unpredictable, so it’ll be interesting to see how this all plays out.
FIFA Women’s Word Cup Canada
Soccer fans rejoice! The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2015 is hosted by Canada this year, giving us yet another reason to look forward to summer. Will Germany, the defending champion for the past two World Cups, keep their title? Or will someone else take home the cup? Follow along from June 6 to July 5 and find out! Matches will be held over 6 Canadian cites – and Vancouver’s own BC stadium will be the venue for the final.
They’ll also be making a historic first – this will be the first-ever World Cup soccer final to be held on artificial turf.
ICC Cricket World Cup 2015
The ICC Cricket World Cup, jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand will kick off on February 14th and the defending champion India, will play their first match against Pakistan the next day. Fans are abuzz with anticipation and Nachiket Goswami, a student at SFU, is one of them. He’ll be supporting India and is looking forward to this year’s World Cup. “India needs to improve on the bowling front. They have an amazing line-up of batsmen and that was visible in the recently held India vs. Australia test series. I also feel Australia will emerge as the major competing team for the World Cup. As a huge fan of the sport, I am hoping they will be able to retain the 2015 champion's title,” he says.
Nordstrom Grand Opening
Attention shoppers! There’s a new retail giant coming to town this year. Nordstrom, the iconic US department store will open a 230,000 sq foot flagship store in Vancouver’s Pacific Centre. It’ll be the third Nordstrom in all of Canada – and the largest with three floors and is set to open on September 18th. Its arrival also means that the giant white box of a building at Granville and Georgia, which has been dubbed the ugliest in Vancouver, will be transformed into a glassy new structure which will be home to this top fashion retailer.
Biggest Tech Trend: Smartphone Payments
Over the years, cards have slowly replaced cash in our wallets. A lot of us rely solely on our cards to make payments – even if the bill is in single digits. But will this slowly become a thing of the past? According to a report by global professional services firm Deloitte, 2015 will be the year where more Canadians will be reaching for their smartphones to pay instead. Hailed as the biggest tech trend of 2015, the report predicts that this year will be a tipping point for retailers, banks and the like to adopt technology that will allow people to make small payments with their phones. By the end of the year, it expects one in 20 smartphone owners to make contactless payments with their phone.
While it isn’t likely to become mainstream this year, we are definitely headed in that direction. What will happen when it does? Ava Naves, principal at The Online Strategy House, a boutique online marketing agency, makes a few predictions. “As the technology becomes mainstream, there will be even less barriers for consumers to make small purchases, and that will cause an increase in impulse buying. Secondly, cyber attacks on smartphones will happen more often. Last but not least, merchants will have even more access to data related to what, where, and when people shop. This will cause advertising to be even more tailored to consumers’ behaviour.”
Return to a Galaxy Far, Far Away
2015 will be a good year for major franchises – with highly anticipated blockbusters releasing later this year. Some big ones include a lot of follow-up sequels like Avengers: Age of Ultron, James Bond 24 and Jurassic World. But one film that has everyone talking is the reboot of the epic space saga George Lucas introduced to the world in 1977: Star Wars.
This new trilogy will take place 30 years after Episode VI: the Return of the Jedi and the first film titled The Force Awakens is set to release on 18th December – a day fans worldwide are awaiting eagerly. But will it live up to its hype? Film critic Jorge Ignacio Castillo, says his expectations for the new installation are high. “Unlike the prequels, The Force Awakens has the original cast – the people you grew up with –and is unburden by mythology. In a way, it's a clean slate. Also, J.J. Abrams [the director] has a knack to deliver crowd-pleasers that are also enjoyable for critics [such as], Mission Impossible 3, Star Trek, Lost.”
Mission to Pluto
After a 9 year long journey, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has officially begun its long-awaited mission to explore the mysterious dwarf planet, Pluto. The robotic probe recently awoke from hibernation to prepare for the closest approach to Pluto yet. “NASA’s first mission to distant Pluto will also be humankind’s first close up view of this cold, unexplored world in our solar system,” Jim Green, director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters, Washington said in a press release. There are still 6 months to go before the historic close-up flyby, but in the meantime the piano-sized probe will be collecting data and taking pictures while it covers the remaining distance. By spring, New Horizons will be able to provide images better than the most powerful telescopes on earth, eventually obtaining images good enough to map Pluto and its moons.
