The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/02/28 at 11:00 EST

Episode Date: February 28, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/02/28 at 11:00 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.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is in Washington this hour for talks with US President Donald Trump. The White House says Zelensky is in Washington this hour for talks with US President Donald Trump. The White House says Zelensky will sign an agreement that will give the United States access to Ukraine's rare mineral deposits. It's not clear yet what Ukraine will get in return, but Ukrainian officials are concerned, considering the Trump administration's warming relationship with Moscow. Cam McIntosh reports. Not only is Trump appearing to cozy up to Russia, starting peace negotiations without Ukraine at the table,

he's implied Ukraine started the war. It didn't. Just days ago, he called Zelensky a dictator. Asked about that, Trump was pretty dismissive. What do you think was Zelensky's dictator? Did I say that? I can't believe I said that. Next question. Now, Zelensky was initially reluctant to sign a minerals deal without firm US military guarantees, even suggesting Ukraine join NATO. That's not on the table.

We'll find out more about what's in this for Ukraine later today. And of course, this all hinges on a peace deal with Russia that hasn't been reached yet. Cameron McIntosh, CBC News, Washington. Now to the Ontario election and another win for the Progressive Conservative Party. The PCs won a third straight majority with leader Doug Ford selling himself as the province's best bet against the threats from the Trump administration. This election, we asked the people for a mandate, a strong mandate that outlives and outlasts

the Trump administration. Well, friends, the people have spoken. Luthori's third straight majority is something the province hasn't seen in more than 60 years. 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 Crombie did not win her riding. And the Green Party, it held onto the two seats it had going into the election. Statistics Canada says the economy ended last year on a much stronger note than expected.

The gross domestic product rose by 2.6%, which is well ahead of what most analysts had been expecting. Peter Armstrong has more. It's been a while since the Canadian economy expanded on a per capita basis, but the fourth quarter saw that measure finally turn around. Growth overall came in much stronger than expected, and Statistics Canada actually revised up the third quarter numbers as well and it's flash estimates.

It's preliminary estimates for January show that strength continued into January. Now, a lot of that will be due to the drop in interest rates. And it's important to remember these numbers came before we saw the real weight of uncertainty that comes with the threat of tariffs and a looming trade war with the United States. This news has pushed the Canadian dollar slightly higher. It's all just a sense that there's a little bit of cushion, not a lot to be sure, but strength is better than weakness. And the picture we got this morning is stronger than

most people had been expecting. Peter Armstrong, CBC News, Toronto. It's been a long time coming, but a new plastic bottle return program is going into effect tomorrow, province-wide in Quebec. Lauren McCallum has the details. Quebec's new bottle deposit and return system was supposed to come into effect in 2022, then was delayed until 2023, and then again until tomorrow. People will be charged 10 cents on drink bottles ranging from 100 milliliters to 2 liters in size. They will get their

money back when they return them. Normand Bisson is the president and CEO of Consigne Action, which is responsible for managing the system. So tomorrow everything in plastic, it's about 1.2 billion more containers under deposit in Quebec per year. Bissau says people will be able to return the plastic bottles to some 3,500 retailers. We are confident that for tomorrow everything will go great. Bissau says wine bottles and multi-layered containers like milk cartons will have to wait until 2027. The Retail Council of Canada is concerned there will be issues with tomorrow's rollout

and the council is asking people to not bombard stores with returns right away. Lauren McCallum, CBC News, Montreal. And that is The World This Hour. For CBC News, I'm Joe Cummings.