The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/04/17 at 11:00 EDT

Episode Date: April 17, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/04/17 at 11:00 EDT

Readers have been waiting for a new novel from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie for 12 years. On my podcast Bookends, Chimamanda tells me what was happening behind the scenes, about the sudden loss of both of her parents and how her mother's spirit brought her back to fiction. Sometimes I do not even want to talk about my mother because I get ridiculously emotional. But she kind of helped me start writing because she realized that I might go mad if I wasn't... If the thoughts all had to stay inside. Search for bookends with Matea Roach to hear the rest of that conversation. From CBC News, the world this hour, I'm Claude Fague. Federal party leaders are gearing up for their second major showdown

of this election campaign. They're going toe-to-toe tonight in the English debate prior to the April 28 election. Last night, French-speaking Canadians had their opportunity as the leaders debated for two hours en français. Janice McGregor reports. The format really allowed all four leaders to lay out stark differences between them and also reveal their personalities too. It was Yves-François Blanchet standing to Carney's left that got in the first early shot at the liberal frontrunner saying there's no proof actually that he's a master negotiator and the best to take on Trump.

And it was Jogmeet Singh who had the podium closest to Poliev that was most frequently tearing down what the conservative leader had to say, questioning early on the Harper government's actual track record for building housing. And later during the exchanges on immigration and foreign affairs, we also had Singh say it was disgusting and hateful to hear Poliev call the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, a terrorist organization, and say he'd cut it because it was a waste of money. That led to another uncomfortable moment when Singh asked Carney why he wouldn't call what's happening there a genocide. Carney said it's horrible, but he didn't want to politicize the conflict. Janice McGregor,

CBC News, Ottawa. The Green Party has released its full- costed platform ahead of this month's federal election. Jonathan Pedneau is the party's co-leader. Today I want to speak to you not of naive optimism but of hope rooted in courage, clarity and action. Our plan isn't just a list of promises, it is a vision. A vision for a Canada that is no longer governed by fear or complacency, but a vision grounded in social justice, in collective sovereignty, and in respect for the planet that we call home. Pedneau says a green government would end reliance on fossil fuels by investing in renewable energy, a commitment to affordable housing by building

more than a million new homes, a guaranteed livable income, and universal child care. The Premiers of Manitoba and Nunavut have signed a joint statement that will help develop a transmission line from the province to the territory, diverting energy the province sells to the United States to the territory instead. Juanita Taylor reports. Manitoba Premier Wab Kanu and Nunavut Premier P.J. Akeroq signed an agreement to partner on a hydroelectric project. Because it's about nation building, it's about climate change, it's about the economy.

Kanu says his province's wealth of hydroelectric resources will be used to light up the North instead of the United States. On Tuesday, he signed an order to stop exporting 500 megawatts of power to the U.S. Because all Canadians know, after what they've heard from Trump for the past few months, that we need to really build up our country. The agreement commits 50 megawatts from Manitoba Hydro to help develop the Kivala Hydro FiberLink, a 1200-kilometer infrastructure project that will bring electricity and internet service to five communities and two mines,

relieving them from burning diesel for power and heat. Wynita Taylor, CBC News, Yellowknife. A search and rescue operation is underway near the Quebec-U.S. border. The RCMP and the SQ are searching for a woman and two young children who were reported missing yesterday. The Mounties say they arrested two men and a woman near Trout River for illegally crossing the border from the U.S. They say that's when they learned about the woman and the two children. An RCMP helicopter and canine teams have been searching the area since midnight.

Scientists have made an interesting discovery using the James Webb Space Telescope. We have found evidence for possible biological activity on an exoplanet. They're calling it the strongest signs yet of possible life beyond our solar system. On a far away planet they detected the chemical fingerprints of gases that here on Earth are only made by biological creatures. And that is your World This Hour. For CBC News, I'm Claude Fague.