As 2015 draws to a close, it’s time to reflect on people and events that made news over the past year.

In that spirit, here’s my annual list of the top 10 winners and losers from the Toronto area, Ontario and Canada. As in past years, some big names and events didn’t make the final cut because the competition was so tough.

First, the winners:

1. Justin Trudeau: After the Conservatives spent millions branding him as “Not Ready,” he led the Liberals to a stunning come-from-behind majority victory that even most Liberal insiders thought unlikely.

2. Toronto Blue Jays: After 22 years of disappointments, the baseball squad became “Canada’s team” after a miracle season filled with late-game heroics that ended the longest playoff drought in North American pro sports.

3. Tonika “Toni” Morgan: Once homeless and a high-school dropout who was told she wouldn’t amount to anything, this dynamic Toronto woman is now studying for a master's degree at Harvard. Her expenses are fully paid thanks to crowdfunding.

4. Patrick Brown: Dismissed as a no-hope candidate at the start of the race, he stunned the Ontario Conservative establishment by easily winning the party leadership contest over runner-up Christine Elliott.

5. Scarborough ethnic restaurants: Popular U.S. economist and international foodie Tyler Cowen toured east-end eateries and declared the area “the best ethnic food suburb I have seen in my life, ever, and by an order of magnitude.”

6. Carey Price: The Montreal Canadiens goaltender, who dominated the NHL awards last season, became the first goalie and only the second hockey player in two decades to win the Lou Marsh Award as Canada’s top athlete.

7. Justin Bieber: He took a huge stride in restoring his battered image when he staged a concert before 1,500 screaming fans in Toronto and donated the show’s proceeds to the Stratford House of Blessing, a charity in his hometown whose services were once used by his mother.

8. John Tory: The Toronto mayor spent a successful first year in office, restoring respectability to city hall, improving the city’s reputation internationally and launching key city-building initiatives.

9. Alberta voters: They made history in May when they gave Rachel Notley and her New Democrats a surprise majority victory, ending 44 years of Progressive Conservative rule.

10. Jackson: A young reader stuffed a handwritten note inside a comic book at a Toronto library that read: “I am sorry that a page ripped when it fell out of my bunk.” It was signed simply “Jackson.” Library staffers accepted the apology and happily repaired the book.

And now the losers:

1. Stephen Harper: His Tory government’s defeat was so humiliating that the former prime minister has barely shown his face in public since the election. Even many Tories are glad his reign is over.

2. Hockey Hall of Fame: Officials at the hockey shrine claim they had no say in the appointment of Toronto’s controversial ex-mayor Rob Ford to its board of directors. They should have told the City of Toronto, which gets to select three directors, that the optics were disgraceful and they didn’t want Ford.

3. Kathleen Wynne: A winner last year, the now-embattled Ontario premier spent the year embroiled in controversies over the sale of Hydro One, teacher strikes, sex education programs and more. Barely 21 per cent of voters polled recently approved of her job performance.

4. Tag, You’re It: A Toronto elementary school banned the children’s game of tag in its playground because supposedly it was getting too rough.

5. Pearson Airport train: The new express train between Union Station and the airport is running at barely 10-per-cent capacity. Potential riders warned officials that the fares, up to $27.50 for a one-way ticket, were too high. But bosses know better, right?

6. Thomas Mulcair: He’s lucky he’s still the NDP leader after seeing the party plunge from first place in mid-campaign to a distant third when the votes were counted. It’s clear Mulcair’s “Smiling Tom” act failed miserably in what may be the worst-run campaign in recent memory.

7. The Loonie: Our dollar fell to its lowest level in 12 years as oil prices dropped to seven-year lows. The loonie started the year at 86 cents and stood at about 72 cents in late-December.

8. Randy Carlyle and Peter Horachek: These two head coaches were fired by the Toronto Maple Leafs brass, one in mid-season, as the hockey team put in another lost year. Sadly, the Leafs are as bad as ever this season.

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9. Captain John’s: This once-popular floating restaurant that had fallen on hard times and become just a derelict ship on the lakefront was towed from the foot of Yonge Street to Port Colborne where it was cut up for scrap.

10. hitchBOT: Another winner last year after it travelled safely across Canada and parts of Europe, this hitchhiking robot was beheaded and destroyed by vandals in Philadelphia while it was trying to travel across the U.S., breaking the hearts of children everywhere who loved the robot.

Bob Hepburn’s column appears Sunday. bhepburn@thestar.ca

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