The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/04/08 at 15:00 EDT

Episode Date: April 8, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/04/08 at 15:00 EDT

1942, Europe. Soldiers find a boy surviving alone in the woods. They make him a member of Hitler's army. But what no one would know for decades, he was Jewish. Could a story so unbelievable be true? I'm Dan Goldberg. I'm from CBC's Personally, Toy Soldier. Available now wherever you get your podcasts. From CBC News, the world this hour, I'm Angie Seth. Home ownership is taking center stage on the campaign trail today. Build Canada Homes will provide billions of dollars in financing for affordable home builders. And Delta BC Liberal leader Mark Carney is talking up his plan to speed up construction of affordable

homes across Canada. The NDP says it will fight to remove roadblocks to Canadians owning homes. Leader Jagmeet Singh is making this pledge as his own political future is on the line. Julia Wong has more. If you want us to stay in there fighting for you and your family, you got to vote for us. NDP leader Jagmeet Singh insists his party is the best option to deliver on the issues that matter most to Canadians, and he's asking voters to send more new Democrats to Ottawa. But with polls showing sinking support for the NDP, Singh was asked point-blank whether he can hang on to

his own seat. I'm confident that I'll be able to serve the people of Burnaby Central and I'm also confident that people in this country need New Democrats. We saw that we were able to deliver things like health care expansions including dental care and Medicare. Singh was in Vancouver to announce New Democrats will make permanent a ban on foreign investors buying Canadian homes. He also says that NDP will close a loophole allowing investors to flip homes after just one year.

Julia Wong, CBC News, Ottawa. Conservative leader Pierre Pauliev is in Edmonton today. He is promising to lower taxes for Canadians by cracking down on offshore tax havens. We will be naming a bring it home economic and tax task force whose mandate will be to ensure that we close overseas tax havens and force the very wealthy to pay what they owe. Pauliev also wants to create a name and shame publication to expose corporations evading taxes. He says his proposed measures can recover as much as $1 billion a year in lost revenues.

Major stock markets are bouncing back today, days after Trump's sweeping tariff plan caused worldwide turmoil. But as the US Trade Representative says, it's not Wall Street he's concerned about, it's Main Street. Jameson Greer insists Trump's sweeping tariff plan is good for the U.S. economy. He's speaking at a congressional finance hearing. Katie Nicholson has more. Katie Nicholson, U.S. Trade Representative, U.S. Senate Senate I'm kind of offended by your testimony that says we must accept self-inflicted economic

pain. Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto pushing hard on U.S. Trade Representative Jameson Greer. Greer also had to answer tough questions from Republicans, like James Lankford, who pressed him on what American retailers who sell clothing made in Asian countries are expected to do. The president has been clear that he does not intend to have exclusions and exemptions. While Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan asked Greer what it might take to call off the plan. Would the administration reverse course if the president's tariffs led to 10% inflation?

Senator, the president is fixed in his purpose. This trade deficit and the offshore and loss of manufacturing jobs is something that has persisted for too long. Tomorrow, Greer may face more of the same before the House's chief tax writing committee. Katie Nicholson, CBC News, Washington. UN chief Antonio Guterres says more than a month after the Gaza ceasefire was broken, the territory has become a killing field and a total blockade by Israel has strangled UN's capacity for delivering life-saving aid. No food, no fuel, no medicine, no commercial supplies. As aid has dried up, the floodgates of horror have reopened.

Guterres says Israel is not fulfilling its obligations as occupying power under international law, and he is demanding an independent investigation into the deaths of humanitarian workers in the Gaza Strip including those working for the United Nations. At least 44 people are dead after the roof of a nightclub collapsed in the Dominican Republic. It happened early today in the capital of Santo Domingo. Officials say the governor of Monte Cristo, a province in the northwest, is among the dead and more than 160 people were injured. It remains unclear what triggered the collapse. And that is Your World This Hour.

For CBC News, I'm Angie Seth.