The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/04/08 at 17:00 EDT

Episode Date: April 8, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/04/08 at 17:00 EDT

From CBC News, the world this hour, I'm Angie Seth. North American stock markets have finished in the red again on worries about tariff uncertainty. But the US trade representative insists Trump's sweeping tariff plan is good for the US economy. Jameson Greer has been speaking at a congressional finance hearing. Katie Nicholson has more. 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 off-shoring and loss of manufacturing jobs is something that's persisted for too long. Tomorrow, Greer may face more of the same before the House's chief tax rating committee.

Katie Nicholson, CBC News, Washington. Home ownership took center stage on the campaign trail today. Build Canada Homes will provide billions of dollars in financing for affordable home builders. In Delta, British Columbia, Liberal leader Mark Carney is talking up his plan to speed up construction of affordable homes across Canada. Also in BC, the NDP says it will fight to remove roadblocks to Canadians owning homes. Leader Jagmeet Singh is making his pledge as his own political future is on the line. Julie Wong has that story.

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 the NDP will close a loophole allowing investors to flip homes after just one year. Julia Wong, CBC News, Ottawa. Meantime 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. While Ontario schools have started to suspend thousands of unvaccinated students to prevent the spread of measles. There are hundreds of cases in the province and the majority are children. 173 students were suspended in Toronto today and 1,600 in Waterloo last week. Toronto Public Health says about 10,000 students are not up to date on their vaccinations.

And Ottawa Public Health says it's handed out about 15,000 immunization notices. 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 the UN will not take part in new Israeli controlled aid plans and he's

demanding an independent investigation into the deaths of humanitarian workers in the Gaza Strip, including those working for the UN. And that is Your World This Hour. For CBC News, I'm Angie Seth.