Here are CHCH News’ ‘most captivating’ stories of 2024

Here is a compiled list of the stories of 2024 that became the most watched, read and clicked on by our viewers.

These are CHCH News’ most captivating stories of the year.

A chaotic year for Canadian politics

It was a bad year for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau – in the biggest political bombshell of 2024 – his own Finance Minister and Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland quit his cabinet.

She said she and Trudeau were at odds about the best path forward for the country.

“Like most families, sometimes we have fights around the holidays, but like most families we find our way through it,” she said.

Despite his attempt to lighten up the situation, the turmoil within the liberal party became more and more obvious.

Local Liberal MP Chad Collins spoke out against Trudeau saying many MPs were unhappy with their leader.

“We still have a lot of time remaining over the next six to nine months to choose a new leader, to go in a new direction,” he said.

CHCH has a one-on-one with Pierre Poilievre

Earlier in December Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre spoke with CHCH News in a one-on-one interview, which became one of CHCH’s most watched videos.

Poilievre answered questions about Trudeau’s leadership, discussed affordability in Canada, and how to handle President Elect Donald Trump.

“I know exactly what I want to do – we need to put Canada first,” he said. “We need to counter the threat by projecting strength and that means saying to President Trump that we will never be the ’51st state’.”

Hamilton MPP ejected from Ontario Legislative Assembly

At Queen’s Park, provincial politics garnered lots of attention especially revolving around MPP Sarah Jama.

In April, Jama was kicked out of the legislature for wearing a keffiyeh, a black-and-white Arab scarf commonly worn as a show of support for Palestine.

The speaker deemed the garment a political statement tied to the Israel-Hamas war.

“There was no way for me to have her removed short of physical force,” said the speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Ted Arnott. “I wasn’t prepared to do that.”

Jama is still not allowed to speak in the legislative assembly.

Encampments and homelessness in Hamilton

Unfortunately Hamilton did not solve it’s encampment problems in 2024.

The tiny house project at the Barton-Tiffany site was supposed to be up already is at a stand-still.

The plan was originally scheduled to be built by mid-December, but it has since been delayed to finish in mid-January.

‘The dawn of new things’

On a lighter note one of 2024’s biggest stories had everyone looking up at the sky.

The solar eclipse in April had many in Hamilton filled with amazement and joy.

CHCH hopes there will be lots more of that in 2025.

WATCH MORE: https://www.chch.com/chch-news/here-are-chch-news-most-viewed-local-stories-of-2024/