The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/01/28 at 17:00 EST

Episode Date: January 28, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/01/28 at 17:00 EST

When a body is discovered 10 miles out to sea, it sparks a mind-blowing police investigation. There's a man living in this address in the name of a deceased. He's one of the most wanted men in the world. This isn't really happening. Officers are finding large sums of money. It's a tale of murder, skullduggery and international intrigue. So who really is he? I'm Sam Mullins and this is Sea of Lies from CBC's Uncovered, available now.

From CBC News, the world this hour. I'm Tom Harrington. It's official, Ontarians will go to the polls on February 27th, 15 months earlier than the fixed date election. Premier Doug Ford says he needs a new mandate to deal with President Donald Trump. At the same time, his government is mailing out $200 checks to every resident, costing the provincial treasury $3 billion. Ford calls them taxpayer rebates, but some residents are having problems cashing the checks.

Megan Fitzpatrick has the exclusive story. To say I was upset is an understatement. Christine Newton was counting on her $200 check from the Ontario government, but soon after she deposited it last week, she noticed it didn't clear. The check had essentially bounced. And she was charged about $8 for trying to cash an invalid check. Newton Banks was simply financial, but the problem had to do with the Royal Bank of Canada. It's one of several banks the government used to issue the checks on their behalf. A spokesperson for RBC told CBC News the glitch was caused during the

authentication process and some checks were returned when they should have been processed. The bank says between 150 and 200 people were impacted and they fixed the issue. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience, the spokesperson said. Today, the $200 did show up in Newton's account and she was refunded the fee she was charged. Megan Fitzpatrick, CBC News, Toronto. There are reports Ottawa is preparing a pandemic-style tariff relief program. It would help workers and businesses affected by Donald Trump's 25% tariffs on Canadian imports.

Most of the program's measures would have to be passed by Parliament. NDP leader Jagmeet Singh says he wants to see the plan. Nothing of that sort has happened now. Nothing of that sort is on the table. I've not been reached in any way. I've maintained my position that I'll be voting against the government at the earliest opportunity. If the Liberals are serious though about something, a plan that should be put in place to support

workers, call the opposition leaders together if they're serious about it. Discuss that plan with us the way we did during the pandemic. Singh says if there's tariff relief money it should go to workers rather than company executives and shareholders. Marie-Josée Ug has tabled her final report into foreign interference in the last two federal elections. The Inquiry's commissioner found no evidence of traitors in Parliament. She says Canada's democracy has held up against attempted meddling. But Oug also found shortcomings in investigating interference. The government sometimes took too long to act and coordination was not always optimal.

Certain documents never got to where they were supposed to go and there seems to be no good reason why. I found that the government has been overall a poor communicator when it comes to foreign interference. Just before UG's news conference, Ottawa announced new measures to combat potential meddling. They include $44 million to give the Chief Electoral Officer more resources to investigate interference and disinformation. Medical associations are slamming a report on COVID-19 by the Alberta government, calling it anti-science.

Some experts say the whole thing should be retracted. Josh McLean reports. The contents are very troubling. The new pandemic report calls into question the effectiveness of masks and vaccines and argues doctors should have more leeway to provide alternative treatments for COVID. But physicians are raising questions about the science in the report. Dr. Shelley Duggan is the president of the Alberta Medical Association. Misinformation is a huge problem and misinformation kills people and that's why it's important that we're speaking

out about it. The two million dollar report was commissioned by the Alberta government. UCP MLA Eric Bouchard is defending the report's findings. I'd like to see at the very least a pause on mRNA vaccinations for children immediately until we find out more.

The province has not announced any plans to act on the report. Josh McLean, CBC News, Calgary. The leader of the BC Greens is stepping down. Sonia Firstenow has led the party since 2020 and was an MLA from 2017 until last year. She failed to be re-elected in the October provincial election. Firstenow stayed on as leader to help negotiate with the NDP,

which won a very narrow majority. And that is Your World This Hour. For CBC News, I'm Tom Harrington. Thanks for listening.