The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/04/17 at 12:00 EDT

Episode Date: April 17, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/04/17 at 12:00 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 Pig. Federal party leaders squared off in the

first debate of the election campaign. The leaders of the four major parties went head to head in French last night. And as Raffy Boudjacanian reports, Liberal leader Mark Carney was the main target of his three opponents. On shake dans nos culottes quand l'automobile va pas bien. We shake in our pants when Ontario's auto industry is not doing well, said Yves-François Blanchet, the leader of the Bloc Québécois trying to paint liberal Marc Carney as someone who does not have Quebec's interests at heart, saying he's helping the auto industry with massive counter tariffs but not his province's aluminum sector.

Your numbers are off, Carney pushed back. Blanchet also attacked him and other party leaders on their finances, accusing them of making Harry Potter budget promises. Conservative leader Pierre Polièvre did reveal where he would make some cuts. We'll get rid of government consultants, he said, and added he would also cut down on bureaucracy by attrition, not replacing every public sector worker who retires. He will cut health services. Marconi also made a statement. Christian, not replacing every public sector worker who retires. The NDP's Jagmeet Singh accusing both Poilèvres and Kearney of targeting health care for cuts,

something both men deny. Rafi Mujikhan, YonCBC News, Montreal. Susan Bonner and Piyya Chattopadhyay will bring you full coverage of the federal leader's English language debate tonight. Then it's your chance to weigh in with a special debate edition of Cross Country Checkup. It all begins at 7 p.m. Eastern on CBC Radio 1 and the CBC Listen app. A crucial battleground in the federal election is the 905 area code, the ring of cities around Toronto.

It's been dominated by liberals for the past three elections, but it was key to conservative victories under Stephen Harper. Mike Crawley takes us to a riding that's seen as a must-win for Pierre Pauliev's team. Drivers commuting home in the riding of Aurora Oak Ridges Richmond Hill, a prime target for the Conservatives. The Liberals won this seat by fewer than 1500 votes last election, their slimmest margin of victory in the Greater Toronto area. That is the battleground.

Fred Delorey is a former National Campaign Director for the Conservatives. He says the 31 seats in this region are pivotal. There's tight, tight races, and any path to government goes through the 905. What's on voters' minds here? Number one, that we do not become the 51st state for sure. I am not happy with the liberals. They just seem to do the same thing over and over again.

Currently I'm undecided. We'll see what they say in the next coming weeks. The Tories have had success in this riding before, as recently as 2019, and in 2011 took every seat in the 905 but one. Mike Crawley, CBC News, Richmond Hill, Ontario. The RCMP are searching for a woman and two children near the Quebec-U.S. border. The Mounties believe they were traveling with three others who they arrested for illegally

crossing into Quebec from the U.S. last night. Corporal Martina Pilarova says rescue efforts are still underway. We are looking for them since after midnight. It's been many hours, so we are talking about search and rescue operation. Pilarova says dogs in a helicopter are being used in the search. She cannot provide the nationality of the missing people. The three migrants in custody are being questioned by the Canada Border Services Agency. The NHL's most decorated franchise

is back in the chase for hockey's Holy Grail. The Montreal Canadiens, winners of 24 Stanley Cups, qualified for the postseason for the first time in four years last night, beating the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 in their final regular season game. The Habs will face off against the Washington Capitals in the first round of the playoffs, one of five Canadian teams that qualified for the postseason, joining league-leading Winnipeg, Toronto, Edmonton and Ottawa.

Only the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames failed to qualify for the playoffs. The Stanley Cup playoffs begin on Saturday. And that is your World This Hour. For CBC News, I'm Claude Faye.