The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/05/12 at 18:00 EDT

Episode Date: May 12, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/05/12 at 18:00 EDT

How did the internet go from this? You could actually find what you were looking for right away, bound to this. I feel like I'm in hell. Spoiler alert, it was not an accident. I'm Cory Doctorow, host of Who Broke the Internet from CBC's Understood. In this four-part series, I'm going to tell you

why the internet sucks now, whose fault it is, and my plan to fix it. Find Who Broke the Internet on whatever terrible app you get your podcasts. From CBC News, the World This Hour, I'm Stephanie Scanderis. The question of which party controls the riding of Terrebonne, Quebec could still be up in the air. Over the weekend, a judicial recount revealed the Liberals won the riding by one vote, beating out the Bloc Québécois. But Radio Canada has now learned Elections Canada is trying to decide what to do after one voter said her mail-in ballot was returned to her.

The agency says there was an error on the envelope provided. They say they're gathering more details. The results of the recount gave the Liberals 170 seats in the House, too short of a majority. Alberta is freezing its industrial carbon price at $95 per ton of emissions, effective immediately. Premier Danielle Smith says the move is meant to keep the energy industry competitive and provide it with certainty. We have a reasonable system in place that's working, but any additional increases past $100 per tonne will wipe out any of the benefits we've seen. That means fewer jobs for Albertans, less revenue to invest in our public services, and decreased innovation across our industries.

The price had been set to rise to $110 per tonne next year and continue increasing to $170 per tonne by 2030. The government says the freeze is indefinite. Meanwhile, an Alberta separatist group says it'll push the Premier to hold a referendum on independence from Canada this year. And the Alberta Prosperity Project has released the question it hopes to have on the ballot. Josh McLean has the details. This is as serious as a heart attack.

Jeffrey Rath with the Alberta Prosperity Project unveiling the question his group hopes to put to Albertans later this year. Do you agree that the province of Alberta shall become a sovereign country and cease to be a province of Canada? This is what Albertans expect. They want a clear, concise question leading to a clear, unequivocal answer. Rath argues Alberta would fare better economically, free of Ottawa's oversight. But his group has more hurdles to clear before the question will appear on a ballot, including getting it approved. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith wouldn't weigh in when asked about the question. There are several groups out there that are proposing different timelines, different questions,

and so I'll wait to see which one garners enough signatures. Smith says she wants to see Alberta have more sovereignty while staying a part of Canada. Josh McLean, CBC News, Calgary. The last living American hostage abducted by Hamas is now in Israeli custody. Crowds in Tel Aviv cheered as they saw a picture taken today of Eden Alexander standing with workers from the Red Cross. The 21-year-old was serving at an Israeli military base near the Gaza border when he was taken in the October 7th attacks. Washington negotiated

the handover of the U.S. Israeli citizen with Hamas without Israeli involvement. Hamas says the release was a gesture of goodwill in efforts to revive ceasefire talks and the delivery of humanitarian aid. Israel has blockaded Gaza for two months. North American markets are climbing after the US and China announced a 90-day truce in their trade war. The world's two largest economies agreed to temporarily roll back most of their tariffs against each other. Aaron Collins has more from Washington. The talks in Geneva were very friendly, the relationship is very good.

Donald Trump speaking in Washington, signaling progress in trade talks with China. Both sides have agreed to dramatically reduce tariffs while they work on a deal. We're not looking to hurt China. China was being hurt very badly. They were closing up factories. They were having a lot of unrest. This trade war also a burden for the U.S. Worries of rising prices making getting trade deals done important here too. An opportunity for Canada according to international trade lawyer Martha Harrison. With the U.S. key retail markets continuing to suffer, that may create additional leverage

for Canada to try and settle this tariff issue once and for all with the United States. Perhaps a good place to make progress on a deal. A G7 meeting being held in Alberta next month. Aaron Collins, CBC News, Washington. And that is Your World This Hour. I'm Stephanie Skanderas.