The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/03/09 at 17:00 EDT

Episode Date: March 9, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/03/09 at 17:00 EDT

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 Julianne Hazelwood. The voting is now over and the race to become the next Liberal Leader and Canada's Prime Minister

designate and votes for the four contenders, Mark Carney, Christiaan Freeland, Karina Gould and Frank Baylis are being tallied. We should know the results in the next few hours. JP Tasker reports from the Liberal Convention. The former Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney is the clear front-runner in this race. He's pulled in $4.5 million in donations.

He also has the overwhelming support of caucus, MPs and cabinet ministers. Dozens of them have lined up behind his candidacy, leaving all the other candidates in the dust, frankly, when it comes to endorsements. Now it is a ranked ballot, so there could be some upsets tonight. It's certainly possible with a ranked ballot. So Christia Freeland, Frank Bayless, Karina Gould, the other candidates in this race are hoping to see an upset despite Mark Carney having overwhelming support among caucus and a huge haul in donations. J.P. Tasker at the Liberal Convention in Ottawa. CBC Radio has special coverage of the Liberal

leadership race and eventual results. That's airing right now and is hosted by Susan Bonner and Catherine Cullen. Whoever wins the Liberal leadership, a federal election is likely to come soon. And the polls are suggesting the standings have shifted in the last few months. For almost two years, the Conservatives had a dominant lead. But then came Donald Trump and his threats to Canada's economy and its sovereignty. Eric Grenier, a poll analyst and founder of the writ.ca, tells us what the polls look like now. Right now, based on the numbers that we've seen over the last few weeks,

the Conservatives would probably still win the most seats if an election were held today. The polls that we've seen do still give them an advantage. Now again, these are polls that would be asking about Justin Trudeau or just talking about the generic Liberal Party, so not testing Mark Kearney. With Mark Kearney, we have seen that you would more or less have a neck-and-neck race between the Conservatives and the Liberals, and in terms of the seat counts, it would depend on how that broke down regionally. But right now, just based on where the generic ballot numbers are, you would have the Conservatives somewhere short of a majority government, really just on the

cusp of winning one, and the Liberals would be north of 100, 120 seats, which is a remarkable change from where they were just a few weeks ago when they were on track to maybe finish third behind the Bloc Québécois in terms of the seat count. So there's been a radical change. The race is far more competitive than I think anybody was expecting it would be at the beginning of the year. But the Conservatives still go into the campaign, I would say, as favorites. Polanalyst Eric Grenier. The death toll continues to rise in Syria. Forces aligned with ousted President Bashar al-Assad battle the new regime and other groups.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says more than a thousand people in Syria have been killed since Thursday, and about three quarters were civilians. Phil Blishanok reports. Protesters in the capital Damascus condemn violence started by attacks on the minority Alawite sect in cities along Syria's Mediterranean coast. That is where remnants of former President Bashar al-Assad's forces are concentrated. This man says Syria must move beyond sectarian violence. We must build a free Syria, the new Syria, hand in hand, he says.

The latest round of killing started when Alawite gunmen ambushed forces of the new Syrian government. Sajid Gohel is international security director at the Asia Pacific Foundation. And they have retaliated in the most aggressive way possible. He says the violence has now spread to revenge and bloodletting by other groups and threatens to spiral out of control. The foreign ministers of Syria, Turkey, Iraq and Lebanon met in Jordan Sunday

to discuss a plan for stability in the region. Philipp Lee Shanok, CBC News, Toronto. An armed man was shot by U.S. Secret Service agents near the White House early today. In a statement, the Secret Service says a quote, suicidal individual brandished a firearm. He was shot and wounded during the confrontation. His condition is not known. And that is your World This Hour. Remember, you can listen to CBC Radio's special coverage of the liberal leadership race and

results that's airing now hosted by Susan Bonner and Catherine Cullen. For CBC News, I'm Julianne Hazelwood.