December 2, 2025

I’m jumping the gun a bit to be thinking about the promise of 2026 but as you read this, I will be at the Boating Ontario Conference and for me, it’s always the lead up to the Holidays, a New Year and the big Canadian boat shows too. Already we have seen lots of new products and emerging technologies that are exciting. There is a lot happening in our world and some of it is very creative. I recently heard about a walkable solar panel sidewalk that could be a great energy boost to our cities. There is a Canadian firm that has developed super-thin (1.5 mm) flexible solar panels that would be perfect wrapped across a cabin top. Again, here in Canada, a foiling electric boat will be making its debut at The Toronto Boat Show. I have been out on the ENVGO NV1 and our boat review of it is in the January 2026 issue of Canadian Boating that is scheduled to mail out January 1^st.

I am also excited to see how VIBS and TIBS do. Strong winter boat shows portend a strong summer for sales. FLIBS show management claims it was their biggest show ever and I anticipate that MIBS will be a success too. But there is always the other side to things. In France, lawmakers just voted to maintain a yacht tax similar to the now-dropped Canadian Luxury Tax on boats, in spite of the French tax raising little revenue. I try not to think about it but it seems that politics drives the day. Common sense is just not common anymore.

We all can understand air pollution and the importance of our forests in controlling carbon but who thinks about kelp? It turns out the ocean’s kelp forests are 20 times bigger than all the coral reefs. Shipping and related pollution is greatly damaging the kelp forests. Also, for us in the boat business, there is growing opposition to wake surf boats because the prop wash can damage underwater vegetation and fish nests in shallower areas. 

Canada’s new Prime Minister was elected because voters believed Mark Carney was our best chance to manage the Trump Whitehouse and counter the economic damage our country was facing. The new Memorandum of Understanding between Alberta and the Federal Government proposing a pipeline to the Pacific across British Columbia, sounds like good news to me but the current BC coast tanker bans may be an insurmountable barrier. Canada needs the economic boost of shipping Alberta’s energy to foreign markets in the Pacific. But I would hate to see an oil spill on the coast.

Just prior to last weekend, I saw a news story that President Trump wants to start drilling for oil in the coastal areas all around Florida and the Gulf. As the planet’s number one energy consumer, America would benefit from a big new source of domestic energy. I can’t help but wonder if that drive for energy independence is why the US troops seem to be massing near Venezuela?

I can’t do much about all these big political issues but what I could do was to rearrange the living room furniture so I can’t see the TV anymore. One small step…

Hope to see you at Boating Ontario!

Andy Adams – Editor