The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/04/06 at 16:00 EDT

Episode Date: April 6, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/04/06 at 16:00 EDT

It's on. A federal election is here and party leaders are racing around Canada to convince you to give them your vote. We're seeing a lot of spin, a lot of promises and a lot of accusations swirling around. And we are here to filter through the noise. I'm Catherine Cullen, host of The House. And every Saturday we want to slow you down and make sure you're getting the big picture and deep context and everything you need to make politics make sense. Because democracy is a conversation and we're here for it. From CBC News, the world this hour, I'm Gina Louise Phillips. We start on the campaign trail. The new Conservative government will fund recovery for 50,000 Canadians who need it.

Conservative leader Pierre Polyaev blamed the Liberal government's support for safe injection sites and access to drugs for the increasing rates of overdoses and overdose deaths. He pledged to replace injection sites with rehab sites. To fund this program, we will end federal funding for opioids, defund the drug dens, sue the opioid manufacturers and consulting companies who created this crisis, and we will fund directly those people who need the help through groups that have success in delivering drug-free outcomes.

He also called for tougher sentences for drug traffickers. The scarcity of affordable rental accommodation was the topic of the day for NDP leader Jagmeet Singh. He says his party will fight to change the system in favor of tenants. Our plan is national rent control. We want to make sure that people actually have protections that renters are protected. Our plan is to end fixed-term leases. We want to end rent evictions and dem evictions. We want to strengthen tenant unions to be able to negotiate for their tenants with the

landlords. We want to end the collusion that's going on where large corporate landlords are colluding to jack up rent. The NDP says any province or municipality that wants federal funds for housing will have to adopt laws to protect renters. Meanwhile, Bloc Québécois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet will be attending events in Montreal, and the Green Party co-leaders are splitting up, with Elizabeth May heading to B.C. and Jonathan Pedneau campaigning in New Brunswick.

Ontario power crews are making progress in reconnecting customers to the electrical grid. After back-to-back ice storms knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses, the total of those still in the dark is just over 90,000 and it could take another few days before everyone is reconnected. Torrential rains, flooding and flash floods continue to threaten communities across the US South and Midwest. So far at least 18 deaths have been blamed on the weather. Steve Futterman has more. The violent storms and torrential rains continue to cause flash floods and even worse.

Some have been deadly. Most of the fatalities have occurred in Tennessee with a few in Missouri and Indiana. Millions are on alert. Louisville, Kentucky Mayor Craig Greenberg. This is incredibly serious. We want everyone to be safe. There have also been dozens of tornadoes. This woman was forced to leave her home. It's overwhelming because like I said, you know, it's a family house and everything. There's a lot of memories in the house. In Frankfurt, Kentucky, a nine-year-old boy was swept away by flood waters as he walked to a school bus stop.

This woman says his death hit close to home. He attended the same elementary as my nine-year-old child. He was also in the class with my child. The weather front is now moving east. Here in Florida, a number of cities could be impacted through Monday, including Tallahassee and Jacksonville. Steve Futterman for CBC News, Tampa. A second school aged child has died of complications from a measles infection in the West Texas outbreak. A hospital spokesperson says the child was not vaccinated. Another unvaccinated unvaccinated school child died in February. So far this year, the US has seen more than double the number of measles cases it saw in all of 2024. Here in Canada, there have been 224 measles cases so far this year,

almost all in unvaccinated people. In sports, Alex Ovechkin has made NHL history. Here is Ovechkin, he scores! He scores! Number 895! The Washington Capitals captain broke Wayne Gretzky's record of 894 career goals. The Great One owned that mark for 31 years after taking it from Gordie Howe in 94.

The game was immediately paused for an on-ice ceremony marking the moment. And that is all for the World This Hour. For CBC News, I'm Gina Louise Phillips. Thanks for listening.