The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/02/12 at 21:00 EST

Episode Date: February 13, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/02/12 at 21:00 EST

In Scarborough, there's this fire behind our eyes. A passion in our bellies. It's in the hearts of our neighbors. The eyes of our nurses. And the hands of our doctors. It's what makes Scarborough, Scarborough. In our hospitals, we do more than anyone thought possible. We've less than anyone could imagine.

But it's time to imagine what we can do with more. Join Scarborough Health Network and together, we can turn grit into greatness. Donate at lovescarborough.ca. From CBC News, the world this hour. I'm Neil Herland. Canada's premiers went to the White House today to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump's senior staff.

They spoke about the threat of American tariffs. Kate McKenna has more from Washington. We had a good conversation with two people, high level, and we discussed ways to come back with a good relationship between Canada and U.S. And I think we had answers or ways to progress. And we apologize that was not Kate McKenna's story. Canada's new Fentanyl czar says he's committed to stopping the drug flow over the Canada-U.S. border. Kevin Brousseau's new role was created to appease the concerns of President Trump.

If it's one pound, ten pounds, we all know the amount of deaths that that possibly could represent. This is a national security and a public safety crisis. We should be focused on eliminating the scourge that is fentanyl in this country and in the United States. Brousseau was appointed to the position on Tuesday. He visited the border in Lansdowne, Ontario, where he was briefed by law enforcement officials. Less than 1 percent of the fentanyl trafficked into the U.S. actually comes from Canada.

Donald Trump spoke to the leaders of both Russia and Ukraine today. The president says negotiations to end their nearly three-year-old war will begin Friday in Munich, and the United States will mediate the talks, Richard Madden reports. The president spoke to President Putin of Russia. They spoke at length. White House press secretary Caroline Levitt confirms President Donald Trump discussed arranging formal talks on ending Russia's bloody war in Ukraine with separate calls to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian

President Vladimir Zelensky. They were very good calls, they were very positive, and the administration is wholeheartedly committed to a peace deal to end, once and for all, the Russia-Ukraine war. This is Trump's first acknowledged call to Putin since he began his second term. And it comes as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told NATO allies the U.S. would not support Ukraine joining the alliance as a way to ensure Russia doesn't restart the war at a later date. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has now been tasked with leading negotiations on a peace deal. Ukraine's President Zelensky posting on social media, let's get it done.

Richard Madden, CBC News, Washington. Returning back to our top story, Canada's premiers went to the White House today. Kate McKenna has more from Washington. We had a very constructive conversation. Ontario's Doug Ford says the premier's afternoon at the White House was productive. We appreciate the Trump administration facilitating this literally in the last minute. And we're just, we're grateful. We listened, we communicated,

and we look forward to further conversations. They met with Trump's Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Blair and the President's hiring advisor Sergio Gore. David Eby is the Premier of British Columbia. We had frank conversations about the 51st State Comment where we underlined that that was a non-starter. That's the message from the Premiers but not necessarily the White House. Blair posted on social media soon after the meeting saying it was a pleasant chat

but they never agreed Canada would not become the 51st state. Earlier in the day Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said this trip is about diplomacy. I think we're in a new reality created by Donald Trump. Canadian premiers hired a U.S.-based lobby firm to land big meetings. They're paying $85,000 American per month. But there are questions about whether the premier's group trip to the U.S. Capitol is making any difference. Kate McKenna, CBC News, Washington.

For the first time in four years, auto theft is down in Canada. That's according to the insurance fraud prevention group Equité Association. Its report says there's been an 18 percent decline nationally between 2023 and 2024. And finally, we're following a developing story in France tonight. Someone threw a grenade at a bar in Grenoble. Twelve people are wounded, two of them seriously. And that is your World This Hour. For CBC News, I'm Neal Herland.