The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/01/22 at 19:00 EST

Episode Date: January 23, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/01/22 at 19:00 EST

Every language is a note in the symphony of our heritage. Together, they create a harmony that cannot be silenced. Discover your voice on the new APTN Languages TV channel. From CBC News, the world this hour. I'm Tom Harrington. As the possibility of a tariff war with the U.S. looms, Canada's First Ministers held a virtual meeting today to discuss this country's

response. It's not just how to push back on Washington. As Olivia Stavanovich tells us, one of the proposals involved removing interprovincial trade barriers. Why is it so hard to send a bottle of wine from one province to another? Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston expressing frustration with interprovincial trade barriers. We should have a lot of pride in what we produce here. The problem has existed since confederation, but now there's growing consensus among premieres to cut the red tape in light of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threat. Ottawa is preparing a strong retaliatory response, but Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe doesn't

agree with the entire approach. Broad-based tariffs, dollar-for-dollar tariffs with the U.S. is not in Canadians' best interests. Moe is siding with Alberta Premier Daniel Smith, who also disagrees with using energy exports as leverage. But Moe and Smith do agree with the need for trade diversification, a subject the federal government is convening an urgent meeting on next week. Olivia Stefanovic, CBC News, Ottawa. Amazon Canada is closing all seven of its warehouses in Quebec that put 1,700 permanent employees and 250 temporary workers out of a job.

The decision comes after Amazon lost an effort to stop an effect effort by its Laval warehouse to establish a union. The online retailer says the closures are not in response to that initiative. In a statement, industry minister Francois Félix Champagne wrote of Amazon's move, this is not the way business is done in Canada. A historic winter storm is slamming southern parts of the US, causing slippery roads, power outages, and travel delays. Icy weather swept through southern Texas, then east through Georgia, and north to the Carolinas, and Virginia, and dumped record-breaking snow on New Orleans. From impromptu hockey to snowball fights, some say this winter blast is one for the books.

I've never seen snow falling I'm like a little kid right now. It's like Christmas like I'm from Texas So it don't snow like that down here So seeing all this snow is something like new is magical to me. Being able to come out in Florida and make a snowman Over on the side of the the parking lot here at the hotel It's just phenomenal. Some 20 million people across the region were under winter weather Some 20 million people across the region were under winter weather advisories and warnings. The storm has killed at least 12 people. It's expected to crawl through Mississippi, Georgia and Florida this week.

CNN says it plans to lay off hundreds of employees tomorrow. The News Network says it will refocus its business around a global digital audience. The job cuts come as the company is rearranging its linear TV lineup and building out digital subscription products. The move will help CNN reduce production costs and consolidate teams. Social media users are saying their feeds have shifted to include more Donald Trump and Trump supporters. Some say they believe platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and X are forcing these changes on them. But as Jenna Benchertritt explains, there may be a simpler explanation.

The claims began making the rounds this week following Trump's inauguration. Metta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was among several social media and tech CEOs in attendance. Metta's communications director Andy Stone denies claims of a pro-Trump bias, saying there's a simple explanation for why people are unexpectedly seeing so much of Trump and Vance on their feeds. When he was sworn in, Trump's team took over the accounts for the US president and the White House, which were previously managed by Joe Biden's team. It's the standard protocol for every transition. But media expert Mohit Rajans says distrust of big tech is also affecting perceptions.

Their follower counts are changing, who they follow are changing, and how people are being recommended to them is changing as well. Gallup data from July shows that less than a third of Democrats and slightly fewer Republicans have confidence in big tech companies. Jenna Benchert, CBC News, Toronto. And that is Your World This Hour. For CBC News, I'm Tom Harrington. Thanks for listening.