The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/05/20 at 11:00 EDT

Episode Date: May 20, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/05/20 at 11:00 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, it's the world this hour. I'm Joe Cummings. There's a big drop to report today in Canada's inflation rate. Statistics Canada says it fell to 1.7% last month from 2.3 in March. The falling price of gasoline is the biggest factor. On average, gas prices are down by 18%, due primarily to the removal of the consumer carbon

tax and the global drop in oil prices. But at the same time, food prices continue to rise. It's the third month in a row now that the price of food has increased faster than any other consumer product. Canada Post is once again on the verge of a shutdown. The union representing the country's postal workers is saying its membership is ready to walk off the job as of Friday and what would be a resumption of their job action that started back in November. Georgie Smyth reports. We didn't take that decision lightly

to go out onto the picket line. Kate Holowariak is the president at Canadian Union of Postal Workers Victoria. She says her members want to lock in a collective agreement with Canada Post and end the months of back and forth talks. Canada Post walked away from the table again last week. I think that's about the third time. The two parties had been working under a collective agreement that was extended

after job action before Christmas last year. It expires on Friday. John Hamilton is a spokesperson for Canada Post. He says a report released last week shows the service needs an overhaul. We need to be making a number of changes, starting with negotiating agreements that reflect the realities of 2025. Both sides say they still hope to return to the bargaining table, but if no agreement is reached, operations including mail and parcel delivery could shut down by

the end of the week. Georgie Smythe, CBC News, Vancouver. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says a weekend joint statement issued by Canada, Britain and France is, quote, a huge prize for Hamas. The statement warns that the three countries will be taking joint action if Israel continues with its military offensive in Gaza, and it criticizes Netanyahu for blocking aid into the Palestinian territory. Netanyahu says world leaders need to follow U.S. President Donald Trump's example in supporting

Israel. Diplomats are calling it a victory for worldwide medical cooperation. The draft resolution is therefore approved. That's members of the World Health Organization voting overwhelmingly in favor of a global treaty on improving pandemic preparedness. The agreement encourages countries to share critical research, medicine, and vaccines, and it ensures that poor nations have access to all these products. The United States isn't involved in today's agreement. It withdrew from the WHO shortly after Donald Trump was sworn in for the second

time as president. King Charles paid a visit this morning to Canada House. The royal visit comes as Canada's High Commission to the United Kingdom marks its 100th anniversary. Crystal Gmancing has more. Well, a warm welcome for King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Canada House, greeted by High Commissioner to the UK Ralph Goodale, as well as some other dignitaries. A red carpet covers the steps of the building in central London, which was first open in June 100 years ago.

The royals are here to celebrate that long history. This visit to Canada House sets up the King's trip to Canada later this month when King Charles will deliver the speech from the throne. Richard Hardman is the King's biographer and he says it's unusual for a monarch to be invited to open Canadian Parliament. It's definitely a pretty emphatic statement of the importance of Canadian sovereignty to Canada and to its head of state. Now today Parks Canada has taken the extraordinary step of declaring the

establishment of Canada House a national historic event. Crystal Gamansing, CBC News, London. And that is the World This Hour. For news anytime, go to our website cbcnews.ca. For CBC News, I'm Joe Cummings.