Whether you are a political junkie or not, chances are you talked a lot about politics over the past year.
The year began auspiciously with the SNC Lavalin scandal on Parliament Hill and ended with a presidential impeachment in Washington.
When BlackburnNews.com called University of Windsor Political Scientist, Lydia Miljan, she said there were not many highlights. Just "lowlights."
"It was certainly the year that I think people are going to remember as being riddled by scandal," she explained. "It's been a really tough year for politics."
While Canadians kept their Liberal government, there was no doubt the political landscape had changed. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was returned to power with a minority government, the New Democrats saw their influence in the House of Commons reduced, and the leader of the Official Opposition resigned.
"He was never going to be Prime Minister," said Miljan of Andrew Scheer, pointing to his election as party leader with less than 50 per cent of the member's vote. "He was the placeholder for the Conservatives. "Andrew Scheer actually got a huge bonus by all those scandals, and he wasn't able to capitalize on it, which goes to show he wasn't ready for prime time."
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Despite those scandals, photos of Justin Trudeau in blackface and his maligned trip to India, Miljan does not believe voters have lost total faith in Trudeau.
"There is something about a government that has been in power for four years. There's a little bit of frustration with broken promises," she said. "But, I don't think overall there's a rejection of political leadership. It's just we're never happy with what we get."
She also pointed out voter turnout in October's federal election was just slightly lower than the record turnout in the 2015 vote.
So, who could Trudeau face in the next federal election? Miljan has a favourite: Rona Ambrose.
"She's already held the job, so she knows what it takes," Miljan said. "She's a very likeable leader. She's a woman which puts a test to the feminist agenda of the current Prime Minister. I think she's actually a person who is able to hold together that shaky coalition of fiscal and social conservatives."
Her second choice was John Baird.
South of the border, Miljan said it would be premature to count out Donald Trump, despite his impeachment by the U.S. House of Representatives.
"I think in some respects this actually could help his re-election bid. He's certainly using it to his advantage," opined Miljan. "The real question is, moving forward, who are the Democrats going to find to beat Donald Trump?"
