The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/04/19 at 18:00 EDT

Episode Date: April 19, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/04/19 at 18:00 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. Yes. Search for bookends with Matea Roach to hear the rest of that conversation. From CBC News, the world this hour, I'm Julianne Hazelwood. Liberal leader Mark Carney unveiled his costed election platform today.

It proposes billions in new spending but also promises a deficit that shrinks over the next four years. Karina Roman reports. The biggest expenditures in the Liberal platform are the previously announced income tax cut, the scrapping of the capital gains tax changes and the Build Canada Homes Plan for affordable housing. There's $18 billion in new defence spending that the Liberals say would get Canada to the 2% of GDP spending target before 2030. Overall, there's $130 billion over four years of new measures,

with the deficit projected downwards from nearly $62 billion this year to $47 billion in 2029. Liberal leader Mark Carney. The numbers do add up very much. That is how you meet the moment. That is how you meet a crisis. There are a slew of new promises in the costed platform, including a comprehensive review of government programs estimated to save the government $28 billion. The Liberals account for counter-tariff revenues only for this year, signaling their hope that the trade war with the U.S. will get settled.

Karina Roman, CBC News, Peterborough, Ontario. New Democrats also released their election platform today. It contains billions of dollars in both new spending and revenues. The NDP says much of the spending is about helping the middle class while wealthy Canadians and CEOs will pay for it. David Thurton reports. That's why today I'm proud to share our campaign commitments. Jagmeet Singh says the NDP's platform is focused on workers. The document contains massive commitments to public health care. The party would spend $46 billion over four years to provide every Canadian with a family doctor,

expand pharmacare and improve mental health coverage. We'll make mental health care part of public health care. No more waiting, no more choosing between your well-being and your bank account. These and other measures will worsen the federal bottom line the NDP admits, adding $48 billion to the projected deficit over four years. The NDP plans to offset that with taxing those who are extremely wealthy. The party expects that that measure alone could generate more than $94 billion in federal revenues.

David Thurton, CBC News, Burnaby. Conservative leader Pierre Polyev is on the campaign trail in BC. He proposed allowing judges to order mandatory drug treatment instead of sending some drug offenders with minor convictions to jail. JP Tasker has more details. This policy is not about punishment, it's about redemption. Conservative leader Pierre Poliev is pitching mandatory drug treatment for convicted criminals with an addiction, saying some drug offenders should go to rehab, not jail.

We will give judges the power, we will take action, and we will save lives. It's the latest in a string of conservative tough on crime policy proposals. Polyev has also promised to invoke the notwithstanding clause to push through policies that will keep some murderers in jail for life. People in BC are terrorized and afraid to go outside. Critics say Polyev is pushing a cruel American-style agenda that just doesn't work. The Tories meanwhile say a spike in violent crime and drug use demands a crackdown. J.P. Tasker, CBC News, Richmond, B.C. Saturday marks 30 years since the biggest act of domestic terrorism in the U.S., the

bombing of a federal government building in Oklahoma City. 168 people died, including 19 children. Then President Bill Clinton spoke at a memorial commemorating how today's divisive politics could lead to a similar tragedy that is. The country has grown more polarized and on that awful day 30 years ago, you were the center of the polarization. America needs you and America needs the Oklahoma standard and if we all live by it, we'd be a lot better off. The Oklahoma Standard refers to how the city came together in service and compassion. And that's your World This Hour.

For CBC News, I'm Julianne Hazelwood.