The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/04/04 at 05:00 EDT

Episode Date: April 4, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/04/04 at 05:00 EDT

The world we live in isn't perfect. This is all wrong. I say put mental health first. But it doesn't get any better on its own. I stand before you as a concerned citizen. That's why we talk to activists about how they do what they do and what inspires them to keep going. Because we're all about change.

Listen to stories that give us all hope on all about change wherever you get your podcasts. From CBC News, the world this hour. I'm Mike Miles. The tariff issue has followed Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Jolie to Brussels this morning. With Donald Trump imposing a 20% levy on goods from the European Union, Jolie says Canada and the EU need to keep up the pressure on the US. The only people on earth that will be able to really have President Trump change course are the Americans themselves. And the Americans now understand that tariffs are a tax on them.

And we need to make sure, and Europeans need to make sure, that they take that message to the American and Europeans need to make sure that they take that message to the American people in order to influence the U.S. administration. Jolie's in Brussels meeting with counterparts from NATO countries about the Ukraine war. The markets have reacted and trillions have been wiped out. Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne says the chickens are coming home to roost with the Trump tariff plan. Markets are tumbling, businesses are putting investments on hold and unions are watching

the first job losses happen. Champagne says Canadians will have to go through a period of turbulence, but the country can come out stronger and more resilient. We're blessed with a lot of talents. We have very strong industries from cars, from ships, from aircrafts. We have mining, we have oil and gas, we have critical minerals, we have abundant energy. We're the only G7 country with a free trade agreement with all the other G7 nations. So when you look at the fundamentals of Canada, that's what gives me confidence.

Champagne says he'll be meeting today with provincial and territorial finance ministers to discuss dismantling inter-provincial trade barriers. Now while Canada got off relatively unscathed from Trump's newest tariffs, it's still looking for new trade partners to replace the U.S. More than 200 companies are at a trade show in Germany hoping to grow their business in Europe. Breyer Stewart reports. At a sprawling trade fair in Hanover, Germany, technology and innovation are front and centre. The problems over the last couple of months really showed the urgency but also the opportunity to find new markets.

That's Jason Myers, the CEO of NGen, a Canadian non-profit focused on growing the advanced manufacturing industry. He's part of a group of 1,600 Canadians in Hanover, where Canada is in the spotlight as the partner nation for the trade fair. It comes as the EU is looking to shore up its ties to new markets after the US introduced a 20% across-the-board tariff on its products. Hartmut Raun is the Deputy Executive Director of Germany's Mechanical Engineering Industry Association. Canada and Europe could develop a good partnership. And the businesses hope those warm conversations will translate into actual trade.

Briar Stewart, CBC News, Hanover, Germany. All five major party leaders will start today campaigning in several cities across Quebec after taking turns last night for a 3-1-1 grilling by Radio-Canada journalists. Mr Blanchet, good evening. Good evening, Mr Singh. Good evening, Madam. Good evening, Mr Cornyn. Mr Pénu, good evening.

Mr Poilier, welcome to this great show. It was an opportunity for the campaigns to get their message out in French. The stakes? 78 writings in Quebec in terms of seats, second only to Ontario. The special came two weeks ahead of the French and English language leaders' debates. A federal grant program for home energy retrofits saw thousands of Canadians turning to heat pumps to try and save money. Climate reporter Emily Chung takes a look at a new

report on what difference the program made and what experts say needs to come next. There's still snow in Howard Buxteens backyard, but the electric heat pump here keeps his Toronto home toasty warm. I desperately wanted to cut off like one of our major source of co2 emissions. Buxteens is one of 500,000 homes that took advantage of the Greener Homes Grant, according to a new report. Non-profit Green Communities Canada says those homes installed a quarter of a million heat pumps. Kai Milyard co-authored the report.

There's demand all across the country for heat pumps. So far, he estimates the program has cut as many greenhouse gas emissions as taking 200,000 cars off the road. And that is your World This Hour. For CBC News, I'm Mike Miles.