The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/05/15 at 06:00 EDT

Episode Date: May 15, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/05/15 at 06:00 EDT

Canadians have plenty of reasons to pay attention right now, but not everyone has a daily news habit. So if you're hoping to build one, we're here to make that really easy. I'm Marcia Young. I'm John Northcott and we host World Report. Give us 10 minutes every morning and we'll give you the biggest stories happening in Canada and around the globe. Whether you're tracking Trump's latest tariff threats, election season in Canada, or how the war in Ukraine is changing, we'll help you understand what's going on. You can find and follow World Report wherever you get your podcasts.

From CBC News, it's the world this hour. I'm Joe Cummings. Under the looming shadow of the Trump tariff campaign, today is Budget Day for the Ontario government. It's the first for the Progressive Conservatives since Premier Doug Ford's re-election in February. And as we hear now from Jamie Strashen, the PC's are calling it their plan to survive the trade war. Let's not rely on President Trump any longer.

Let's start creating... Ontario Premier Doug Ford says reducing reliance on American trade and becoming more self-reliant will be priorities in today's budget. There's been a flurry of pre-budget spending already. Billions of dollars to speed up housing growth, retrain workers and reduce tolls. Also a plan to defer billions in taxes. Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethenfalse That is what the budget is going to be about.

Boosting our economic prosperity, thinking big and championing nation building projects. All of this will come at a cost. Ontario's relatively small $1.5 billion deficit could swell. And shelf plans to balance the books by next year, says the province's former chief economist Brian Lewis. We are seeing slower economic growth so that's going to affect government revenue projections. Beyond Trump, Lewis says health care is a priority. Things like addressing hospital wait times, also much needed money for the province's universities and colleges.

Jamie Strash in CBC News, Toronto. Meanwhile in Ottawa, the Carney government has identified housing as one of its immediate priorities. But the opposition is already suggesting that Housing Minister Gregor Robertson, the former Mayor of Vancouver, has a credibility problem. Rafi Boudjikanian reports. We need to build a lot more across Canada. Housing Minister Gregor Robertson fresh into the job with a strong opinion on what should happen. We need to deliver more supply. We need to be delivering more affordable housing.

Robertson was the mayor of Vancouver from 2008 to 2018. During that time, data from the Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation shows the average price of single-family and semi-detached homes rose 179% across the metro Vancouver area. That's already put him in the crosshairs of opposition leader Pierre Poliev. But Robertson is defending his record. I wasn't getting the help I needed from the federal government when I was mayor or the provincial government, of all stripes. Robertson will be spearheading the new government agency in

charge of building affordable homes, a campaign promise from Prime Minister Mark Carney. Carney has also pledged to remove the GST on the purchase of a home at or under $1 million for first-time buyers. Rafi Bajikani on CBC News, Ottawa. The Manitoba RCMP say it will take days to confirm the identities of two people believed to have been killed this week in a wildfire northeast of Winnipeg. The two bodies, believed to be a man and a woman, were found in a region where fast-moving wildfires have destroyed structures and have prompted a series of evacuation orders. At this point, about 1,000 people have been ordered to leave their communities.

A hospital in southern Gaza is reporting that 54 people have been killed in overnight Israeli airstrikes on the city of Hanunis. It was the second night of heavy bombing after airstrikes on northern and southern Gaza killed at least 70 people. The strikes come as US President Donald Trump visits the Middle East visiting Gulf states, but not Israel. Now to hockey and the Edmonton Oilers, they've moved on to the second round, the, rather the next round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Edmonton last night eliminating Las Vegas with a 1-0 overtime win in game five in that semi-final. Here's Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner. Really happy that I was able to come in and give my team a chance to win and obviously being able to do it in five is huge. Edmonton moves on now to face either Dallas or Winnipeg in the Western Conference final. That's the good news. The bad news is Toronto was routed last night by the Florida Panthers.

It goes into the box. It's a thorough six one victory for the Panthers here in game five. And that means Florida now leads at best of seven three games to two. Game six in that series set for tomorrow night back in Florida. And that is The World This Hour. For CBC News, I'm Joe Cummings.