The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/03/23 at 22:00 EDT

Episode Date: March 24, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/03/23 at 22:00 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 Neil Herland. We begin in Ottawa. I've just requested that the governor general

dissolve parliament and call an election for April 28th. She has agreed. Canadians will vote next month in a federal election three and a half years after the last vote. The party leaders and their candidates are now presenting their plans and promises for a country under the threat of US tariffsS. tariffs, Karina Roman reports. Liberal leader Mark Carney says the amount and pace of the changes he has implemented will convince Canadians that a vote for the Liberals is not a vote for the same old same old. We put many of the foundations in place in just nine days.

We're asking for a mandate to finish that job. But Conservative leader Pierre Poliev says it is he who represents real change. To all those who wonder what happened to the country that they knew and loved, change and hope are both on the way. But what was set to be a change election is now about who is best suited to stand up to the US President and his tariffs and threats to Canada's sovereignty. You can be respectful and firm. We're over the shock of the betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons.

The polls have shifted dramatically over the past two months, the Liberals catching up to the Conservatives, partly at the expense of the NDP and Bloc Québécois, making this election outcome anything but certain. Carina Roman, CBC News, Ottawa. NDP leader Jagmeet Singh launched his third election campaign with a pitch to working Canadians, saying only the New Democrats are prioritizing average Canadians over the rich. This is like being told you have to pick between a house with a leaky roof or a cracked foundation. One patched together with empty conservative slogans, the other rotting from the inside after years of liberals

protecting the most wealthy. People will tell you in this election that it's about who can negotiate with Donald Trump. I'm here to tell you the real question is, who will make sure you and the things that you care about are not on the table? The Green Party is running this time with two co-leaders. Elizabeth May is sharing duties with Jonathan Pidnau, a 34-year-old Quebecer

who has never been elected. The role for the Green Party right now is to stand up for every single Canadian that's having a hard time because of politicians and career politicians standing up in front of them and consistently constantly lying to them. We're not politicians. We're both people who have been to the front lines have put our bodies on the line to fight for what we believe in. Annamie Paul was the Green Party leader in the last federal election. Her tenure was marked by infighting among Green members. For months the Conservative Party appeared set to win a majority, according to the polls.

But everything seems to have changed when former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation. Poll analyst Philippe Fournier breaks down the dramatic change. There has been a dramatic and I would say historic turnaround in the numbers in the past two months. Since Justin Trudeau announced his resignation on January 6, the Liberals have completely closed the gap. They trailed the Conservative by 25 points on average.

And the polls that we saw this week from the Angus Street Institute, from Léger and Ipsos and other polling firms, show not only that the Liberals have closed the gap, but they have taken the lead in voting intentions throughout the country and in key areas where the Liberals could make seed gains in this election. Obviously, we are at the starting line of this election, so this is not a prediction, but right now, amazingly, the Liberals enter this election campaign as the favorites.

Philippe Fournier is a poll analyst who runs the website 338 Canada. And finally we're following some new developments in South Korea's political crisis. South Korea's Constitutional Court has just overturned the impeachment of acting President Han Daksu. Han took over from President Yun Seok-yul for two weeks in December. Judges are still deciding the separate impeachment case against President Yoon. And that is your World This Hour.

For CBC News, I'm Neal Herland.