It's the time of the nearly-departed year to crystal ball gaze into Canada's political future.

This is not scientific and probably far from prophetic, but if you mix intuition with a survey of reasonably-informed sources for some semi-reliable speculation, this is what you get.

Thus, in 2016, the following will happen:

In a political stunner, Conservative heir apparent MP Jason Kenney announces he won't run for the party leadership, citing the need for fresh faces and contenders beyond Calgary.

MPs Lisa Raitt, Kellie Leitch and Michael Chong join former MP Peter MacKay in declaring they'll seek the Conservative leadership, to be decided in March 2017.

NDP leader Tom Mulcair garners 75 per cent approval of his leadership at the NDP convention in the spring. He declares that a satisfactory level of support and confirms his intention to lead the party through another election.

Two NDP MPs defect – one to the Liberals, one to the Bloc Quebecois - citing the NDP leader's refusal to step aside as their reason.

Sputtering revenue, unexpectedly high refugee resettlement costs and rising demand for infrastructure spending to prop up the soft economy force Finance Minister Bill Morneau to book a $16-billion deficit in his spring budget.

The loonie sinks below 70-cents US in February.

The government admits it has to consider buying the F-35 jet fighter to be compatible in the air with its allies.

Alberta unemployment, office vacancies and foreclosures skyrocket as the oilpatch sheds another 40,000 jobs in the face of $30 oil. The Northern Gateway pipeline project is mothballed.

Former interim Liberal leader Bob Rae will be named Canada's ambassador to the UN and former deputy prime minister Anne McLellan gets a diplomatic appointment, possibly to Washington.

Former aboriginal women's advocate Michele Audette and aboriginal lawyer Roberta Jamieson along with former PEI premier Robert Ghiz are among the 22 named to the Senate.

Justin Trudeau's approval rating dips below 40 per cent for the first time in June. The honeymoon might be over, but prime minister still appears on the cover of GQ magazine.

The First Ministers' Climate Change summit in March agrees to meet the Harper greenhouse gas emissions reduction target. Saskatchewan refuses to sign the accord.

Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger loses to a sudden popularity surge by the Liberals, which will form a minority government under leader Rana Bokhari. Saskatchewan's Brad Wall cruises back to power with a slightly reduced majority.

And, finally, saner minds prevail south of the border and Senator Marco Rubio wins the U.S. Republican nomination to take on Hillary Clinton for the presidency. Donald Trump bows out before the convention.

So that's 2016 as seen through my crystal ball. As always, the safest prediction of all is that some, if not most, will be wrong.

That's the Last Word