The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/01/21 at 12:00 EST

Episode Date: January 21, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/01/21 at 12:00 EST

Hi, I'm Jamie Poisson and I host CBC's daily news podcast, Frontburner. Every weekday, we set out to have a conversation about the biggest Canadian and global issues that you want to know more about, from politics to culture to online stuff. We spend a lot of time on the show thinking about the best ways to have those conversations and searching for the smartest people to have them with. That's it. That's The Cell. I hope you'll tune in.

From CBC News, it's the world this hour. I'm Joe Cummings. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada has to remain calm and strong in the face of tariff threats from the new U.S. administration. U.S. President Donald Trump made no mention of imposing tariffs on Canada during his inauguration yesterday, but he floated the idea once again last night while signing executive orders in the Oval Office. Tom Perry reports. We know that there is always going to be a certain amount of unpredictability and rhetoric coming out from this administration. As the prime minister sits down with his ministers on the final day of their cabinet retreat, Trudeau is urging Canadians and Canadian politicians to keep calm when it comes to Trump and his persistent threat of tariffs.

Donald Trump is, as always, a skilled negotiator and will do what he can to keep his negotiating partners a little bit off balance. Trump threw Canada and Mexico off balance last night. When he mused to reporters in the Oval Office he could impose a 25% tariff on both countries by February 1st. Trudeau says his government will keep working to avoid that. But if the U.S. goes ahead, he says Canada will retaliate, with Trudeau saying he would be prepared to go as far as levying tariffs that match the U.S. dollar for dollar. Tom Perry, CBC News, Montbello, Quebec. Still with Trump news, of the many executive orders he signed immediately after being sworn in yesterday, one of the first formally removes

the United States from the Paris Climate Accord. Susan Ormiston has more. The next item here is the withdrawal from the Paris Climate Treaty. Trump signed the order at a sports arena in Washington. The U.S. will no longer partner with nearly every other country in an international pact to limit global warming and curb harmful carbon emissions. Environment Minister Stephen Guilbeau says Trump's timing is tragic. And it is quite ironic as California is going through one of the worst forest fire season in its history. And on the heels of the hottest year on record,

denying a climate crisis, Trump says there's an energy emergency promising a huge lift in oil and gas production and exports, an end to electric vehicle mandates and other green incentives. Coalitions are strong. Climate groups are prepared for the fight back, says Elizabeth Lean with All in America. States have actually tremendous amount of power to make sure that they remain focused on those climate goals. Trump's team appears determined to unravel the U.S.'s climate agenda. Susan Ormiston, CBC News, Toronto.

At least 66 people have been killed in a fire at a ski resort in northern Turkey. As a response team treating survivors, officials say at least two of the victims died trying to escape the flames by jumping from the burning building. Firefighters say their efforts have been hampered by the hotel's remote location, which is in Ballou province. Ahead of the Bank of Canada's interest rate setting next week, the country's inflation rate is on the decline. It dipped down to 1.8 percent last month from 1.9 in November.

Statistics Canada says the biggest factor in the decline was the federal government's temporary GST break. Without it, StatsCan says the inflation rate would have increased by close to half a percentage point. The last surviving member of the band has died. Garth Hudson was 87 years old. From 1968, that's Hudson playing the organ on the band Classic Chest Fever. Hudson grew up in London, Ontario and was the group's keyboard player, but also played the accordion and the saxophone.

He was one of four Canadians that made up the band, which is considered one of the most influential acts in rock music. The group was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. Garth Hudson died today in a nursing home in Woodstock, New York. And that is The World This Hour. Remember, you can listen to us wherever you get your podcasts. The World This Hour is updated every hour, seven days a week. For CBC News, I'm Joe Cummings.