The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/02/15 at 21:00 EST

Episode Date: February 16, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/02/15 at 21:00 EST

It's the epitome of classical ballet, beloved the world over. The National Ballet of Canada invites you to experience Swan Lake, revel in Tchaikovsky's glorious score, and an unforgettable production directed and staged by Karen Kane, whose vision emphasizes the love story at the heart of the ballet. Presented by Nicola Wealth Management, on stage March 8th to 22nd, tickets are selling fast. Secure your seat now at national.ballet.ca. From CBC News, the world this hour. I'm Claude Fague. Canada first.

That was the message today from Pierre Paliève, the Conservative leader held a rally in Ottawa surrounded by supporters and standing in front of a massive Canadian flag. Poliev outlined his vision for the country. Kate McKenna was there. Pierre Poliev's key message was he's the guy best positioned to take on Donald Trump and build a stronger, more economically resilient Canada.

He dropped his slogan, Canada is broken, but kept a lot of his other messaging. He wants to cut taxes to make Canada more competitive. He wants to expedite permits to get more mining projects going. He's unequivocally in favour of a pipeline running from the west to east. All of these things, he says, would help make Canada more resilient in the face of Trump's tariff and annexation threat. And he says these are conservative ideas. In fact, the Trump tariff threats have proven conservatives right on everything. It's true. It's worth mentioning though on retaliation, diversifying trade and trying to negotiate with the Trump administration.

Poliev shares a lot of common ground with the liberal strategy. His goal will be trying to convince Canadians that he's best suited to handle whatever comes next. Kate McKenna, CBC News, Ottawa. US government agencies are being crippled as the Trump administration's cost-cutting team continues to make cuts. The fallout from the cuts to the US Agency for International Development means its staff can no longer respond to natural disasters. Caroline Malone has more.

The Trump administration's efforts to slash spending now means a highly regarded international disaster response team can no longer function. The DART or Disaster Assistance Response Teams were deployed to help people in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake and Japan after its 2011 quake and tsunami. But the DOJ or Department of Government Efficiency is dismantling the USAID aid agency. That means DART teams working in Afghanistan, Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine can no longer function. Each overseas team had a support team in Washington but those staffers are not allowed into their offices. Tech billionaire Elon Musk and his team are moving at lightning speed to reduce

the workforce across many government agencies, including those protecting the environment, health and consumers, sending out thousands of termination notices. Caroline Malone for CBC News, Washington. At an Israeli army base. Sagid Dekel-Chan falls into his wife's arms, learning the name of the youngest daughter for the first time. She was born when he was in Hamas captivity. He's one of three Israeli men released today. They didn't look as emaciated as last weekend's released hostages, but Israel's Ministry of

Health says they do face a complex process of rehabilitation. Their release was accompanied by the release of 369 Palestinian prisoners and as well as detainees. Meanwhile in Gaza, the free Palestinians were welcomed home by family and friends cheering around their bus. Some were lifted on shoulders and paraded through the crowd. The Vatican says Pope Francis had a restful night in hospital. The 88-year-old was admitted yesterday suffering from a respiratory illness. He will not lead the Angelus Prayer at St. Peter's tomorrow. The federal government's holiday tax break on certain goods comes to an end at midnight.

The tax break on groceries, restaurant meals, gifts and children's clothing was introduced two months ago. Jennifer LeBron, as a business owner in Calgary, says her store did not see a boost in sales tied to the GST cut, and it took a lot of staff and effort to sort through what did and did not get taxed. I think if you're going to really take a big chunk out of our taxation it should be more productive. There's many more other areas I think that would have been helpful.

Initial data from credit card processor Monerus says in late December and early January spending actually dropped compared to the previous year and that of course did not include all items in retail. And that is your World This Hour. For CBC News, I'm Claude Bae.