2026 Predictions

As we brace for another trip around the sun, it’s safe to say 2025 kept us all on our toes — and 2026 doesn’t look like it’s planning to slow down. In the spirit of looking ahead, here’s a few predictions for the year to come

Edmonton will finally embrace its destiny and declare itself the “Official Snow Capital of Earth”

Tired of apologizing for its weather, the city will lean in — hard. Downtown will host the first Snow Festival World Cup, where teams compete in events like Competitive Shovelling, Artistic Frostbite, and Synchronized Winter Complaining.

The city’s slogan will change to: “Edmonton: Cold? Yes. Sorry? Never.”

Tourism will skyrocket.

— Jasleen

The U of A will launch a new campus tradition: The Great Quad Goose Diplomatic Summit

After years of conflict between students and the campus geese, the university will attempt peace by organizing an annual summit — complete with tiny podiums, student delegates, and one goose appointed “Honorary Chancellor.”

Negotiations will fail immediately.

The geese will seize full control of the Quad by April.

Students will adapt, declaring the geese “co-presidents” of the university and petitioning for goose-themed convocation robes.

— Jasleen

2026 will officially be the year everyone collectively snaps and declares a digital detox — only for it to last roughly four days.

After a decade of algorithm-driven everything, constant notifications and an internet that somehow feels louder every year, people will enter 2026 determined to touch grass, unplug and rediscover hobbies that don’t involve scrolling. Zen journals will be bought. Vision boards will be made. Meditation books will fly off the shelves.

And then, inevitably, someone’s phone will buzz with a meme too good not to share, a breaking-news headline impossible to ignore, or a TikTok dance that looks suspiciously doable. By the end of January, the world will be right back online — only now insisting that they’re mindful about it.

Silly? Maybe. Realistic? Absolutely.

— Jasleen

A historic student uprising over the Tory Henry Marshal building

It’s about time. We all know the desks are way too small, the seating is uncomfortable and packed into classrooms like a can of sardines, and it’s always too hot or too cold. Not to mention the poor souls that have been stuck wandering Tory for the last seven years after getting lost on their way to class.

Pitchforks and all, students will take to the streets to demand that Tory be demolished. The property damage will be costly, but you won’t really be able to tell the difference anyways. Tory always looked like it barely survived a war.

— Leah

One week of winter will be so cold it becomes campus lore

In early 2026, Edmonton will experience a cold snap so aggressive it will alter the collective psyche of the university. Classes will not be cancelled. Attendance will drop to survival levels.

Students will arrive wrapped like Arctic explorers. Eyelashes will freeze. Phones will die instantly upon exposure to the frigid outside air.

Years later, alumni will still say, “You think this is cold? You should’ve been here in ‘26.”

— Peris

University burnout will be rebranded as “character development”

By mid-semester 2026, U of A students will stop calling it burnout altogether. Instead, exhaustion will be reframed as “building resilience” and “entering my protagonist arc.”

Caffeine consumption will reach concerning levels. Libraries will feel more like long-term residency programs. Everyone will be tired, but spiritually competitive about it.

Despite it all, deadlines will be met. Barely.

And somehow, against all odds, everyone will still show up to exams with a laptop, a coffee, and one functioning brain cell.

— Peris

TikTok launches streaming service for movies and shows

We’ve all been guilty of it. You’re innocently doomscrolling and suddenly you get sucked into a 28-part series that is actually a full length movie. Well, enjoy it while it lasts. TikTok is going to monetize our beloved movies split into a who-knows-how-many-part series. It will become Netflix’s biggest competitor.

Soon, movies will be shot in a vertical format to feed TikTok’s streaming service. This will bring the death of movie theatres. And TVs.

— Leah

Canada will embrace the “Vibe-Based Economy”

Forget GDP growth — 2026 will be the year economists throw up their hands and admit none of the usual indicators make sense anymore. Instead, policy briefs, Bank of Canada updates, and business forecasts will all start referencing the National Vibes Index.

If Canadians collectively feel good? Interest rates go down.

If Canadians feel stressed? Rates go up.

If everyone is simply “meh”? The Bank pauses and blames Mercury retrograde.

By summer, financial analysts will stop using charts altogether and start presenting moodboards. Markets will surge because the vibes felt “crispy and delightful.” It will be unhinged, but strangely efficient.

— Jasleen

Nostalgia for 2020 will somehow become a thing

Against everyone’s better judgement, 2026 will see a brief wave of nostalgia for early-pandemic culture. People will say things like, “at least we were all in it together,” while conveniently forgetting the collective psychological damage.

Fashion will resurrect sweatpants unironically.

Music playlists will be titled Quarantine Classics.

Someone will suggest bringing back Among Us.

We will reflect. We will cringe. And then we will quietly move on.

— Peris

U Sports sanctions a new sport: Microsoft Excel

Since the Industrial Revolution, work has been moving farther away from physical labour. It’s time for sports to do the same.

Competitive Microsoft Excel is a true test of a team’s capabilities, and pushes the limits of human achievement in the workforce. Fans will cheer as the Golden Bears and Pandas format columns and cells. Children will train tirelessly with hopes of, one day, reaching the big leagues.

IRL sports are old news: the future is in the sheets.

— Davis

UASU election gets rigged by University of Calgary

Worried about foreign interference in your elections? Don’t be. The real worry should be inter-university interference in elections. The University of Calgary will hack into the University of Alberta Students’ Union voting system and rig the election in their favour.

Why would U of C even bother? To take over the U of A, of course. We are naturally the superior campus, with more stylish students, and more interesting lore. It’s only a matter of time until U of C launches a coup to try to steal our campus for their own.

— Leah

Curated by Peris Jones