The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/02/28 at 08:00 EST

Episode Date: February 28, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/02/28 at 08:00 EST

What does a mummified Egyptian child, the Parthenon marbles of Greece and an Irish giant all have in common? They are all stuff the British stole. Maybe. Join me, Mark Fennell, as I travel around the globe uncovering the shocking stories of how some, let's call them ill-gotten, artifacts made it to faraway institutions. Spoiler, it was probably the British. Don't miss a brand new season of Stuff the British Style. Watch it free on CBC Gem. From CBC News, it's the World This Hour. I'm Joe Cummings.

First to the Ontario election and another win for Doug Ford and the Progressive Conservative Party. Together we have made history. Together we have secured a strong, historic third majority mandate. That's a PC leader celebrating his party's victory. It's not precisely history making, but the third straight majority is something the province hasn't seen in more than 60 years.

And polling analyst Eric Grenier says the Ford campaign was helped significantly by Donald Trump's tariff threats. I do think it has played a big role in this campaign because while Doug Ford wanted to make the campaign about Donald Trump and the tariffs, you know, the campaign itself might not have always dominated the news, but Donald Trump often has. So even when we weren't actually talking about the Ontario election, we were talking about the issue that Doug Ford wanted to run this campaign on. As for the New Democrats and leader Merritt Stiles, they remain the official opposition.

The Liberals managed to earn back their official party status, but leader Bonnie Cromby will not be going to Queen's Park. She failed to win her home writing. And the Green Party held on to the two seats it had going into the election. With Ontario at the forefront of the outbreak, the number of confirmed measles cases across the country is surging. And the increase comes as immunization rates are on the decline. Jennifer Yoon has more. In southwestern Ontario, public health officials are racing to contain the spread of measles.

There are 119 confirmed cases of the highly contagious disease in the province. It's the largest outbreak since measles was declared eradicated in 1998, after a high percentage of Canadians got vaccinated. But now, immunization rates have dropped. Both abroad and in Canada, say public health authorities. Across Canada, there are 156 confirmed cases already this year. For comparison, last year there were 147 cases of measles in total. It's devastating when you have to manage a vaccine-preventable disease that results in a fatality. Dr. Sarah Kahn is a pediatric infectious disease specialist at McMaster University.

She's encouraging those who are hesitant to get the jab to speak with their doctor. Otherwise, Kahn says, measles could be back for good in Canada. Jennifer Yoon, CBC News, Toronto. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky meets today at the White House with US President Donald Trump. He's expected to sign an agreement that will give the US access to Ukraine's rare mineral deposits. It's not clear what security guarantees or military support Ukraine can expect in return, but Trump has said he's looking to recover some of the costs the US has paid out in backing the Ukrainian war effort.

Consumer protection officials say Canadians in large numbers continue to fall victim to pricey and unfair contracts for home heating and cooling equipment. Rosa Markatelli from CBC's Marketplace has the story. My name is Stacey and I agreed to a contract with Provincial Smart Home Services initially at $27,000. Marketplace brought more than 80 people together to tell their stories about being taken by the same company, Provincial Smart Home Services. In all, they owe more than $1.5 million.

They say Provincial made false promises when they bought heating and cooling equipment for their homes, and then locked them into these massive loans with financing companies they never agreed to do business with. Provincial Smart Home Services is now facing charges under Ontario's Consumer Protection Act. The company says it followed all the rules and it's now shut down. But that's no help to its customers who are still on the hook for those loans. The Ontario government says it does have financial penalties in place.

When asked how it plans to better protect consumers, it didn't respond. Rosa Marcitelli, CBC News, Toronto. For more on the investigation, tune into Marketplace tonight on CBC TV and CBC Gem. And that is The World This Hour. 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.