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

Episode Date: December 12, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/12/12 at 17:00 EST

Hey Canada. It's me, Gavin Crawford, host of Because News. Each week, I put comedians on the spot with a pop quiz about the headlines. This week, we're talking about the monster of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's own making, Wayne Gretzky's incredible pronunciation skills, and the one kind of Christmas toy experts are all calling dangerous. Miguel Revis, Emma Hunter, and Gene Yune are here, so laugh along as we try to make sense of the headlines. Follow Because News on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts for free. From CBC News, the world this hour. I'm Kate McGilfrey. It's something that's been promised for decades, but Ottawa is now sketching in the details on how it plans to build a high-speed rail line. The train will eventually link Toronto and Quebec City, and today, the government said the first section

will be built between Montreal and Ottawa. Alexander Silberman has some of those details. One of the largest public works ever contemplated, in the history of our country. Transport Minister Stephen McKinnon, unveiling the first phase of a high-speed rail corridor, set to span 200 kilometers from Montreal to Ottawa, the shortest and flattest section of the entire project.

A generational investment that will shape the Canadian economy for decades to come. The exact route has not been finalized, but will include a stop in LaValle, Quebec. Plans include future extensions west to Toronto and east to country. Quebec City, with the overall project set to cost between $60 billion and $90 billion. McKinnon says the Ottawa to Montreal section is the most realistic to build first. High-speed trains, they don't like curves. He says consultations on the first section will begin in January, and construction is expected

to begin in 2029. Alexander Silberman, CBC News, Montreal. Conservative leader Pierre Pollyev accuses Prime Minister Mark Carney of trying to manipulate his way to a majority government. Yesterday, Ontario MP Michael Maugh became the second person to leave the conservatives and joined the liberals. That puts the Kearney government one seat shy of a majority. Flooding in BC's Fraser Valley is expected to peak today,

but the threat isn't over with another onslaught of rain on tap for the weekend. For now, evacuation orders remain in place for hundreds of properties and schools are closed. Tanya Fletcher reports. The rising waters over the past 24 hours have not been good news. BC Agriculture Minister Lana Popham says through the night floodwaters inundated many barns in the Fraser Valley. We've lost a couple poultry barns. We have a hog farm currently that is relocating some of its animals. The heart of the evacuation zone is the Sumas Prairie,

the same swath of agricultural land hit hardest by historic flooding four years ago. To see that we are disappointed, and frustrated is an understatement. Abbotsford Mayor Ross Seaman's levels blame directly at Ottawa for not doing enough mitigation work, he says, since the 2021 floods. We don't need empty promises from the federal government that they have our back. In fact, the federal government has not even reached out. In total, 450 properties remain under evacuation order.

Another 1,700 are on alert. Tanew Fletcher, CBC News, Vancouver. And south of the border, the National Guard was called in to deal with severe flooding in Washington State. Troops went door to door in the city of Burlington, helping people get out. The floodwater stranded families on rooftops, washed over bridges, and ripped homes from their foundations. Several rivers swelled to record levels, and officials are warning. Multiple dikes and levies could still fail. Several members of a junior hockey team have been injured in a bus crash in northern Alberta.

The bus carrying players of the crow's nest crush drove off the highway and into a ditch south of Athabasca. The RCMP say two teens were taken to hospital in Edmonton with non-life-threatening injuries. Others reported minor injuries and retreated at the scene. Police say weather might have been a factor. And American skier Lindsay Vaughn has set a new record. At 41, she is the oldest winner of a World Cup race since the circuit started in 1967. 17. That's Vaughn racing into first place in St. Moritz today. It's her first wins and she came back to skiing following five years off in a knee surgery. The 2010 Olympic champion is hoping to score another gold medal at this year's winter games in Italy.

And that is the world this hour. For CBC News, I'm Kate McGilvery. Thank you.