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

Episode Date: December 18, 2025

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

This ascent isn't for everyone. You need grit to climb this high this often. You've got to be an underdog that always over-delivers. You've got to be 6,500 hospital staff, 1,000 doctors, all doing so much with so little. You've got to be Scarborough. Defined by our uphill battle and always striving towards new heights. And you can help us keep climbing.

Donate at lovescarbro.cairbo. From CBC News, the world this hour. I'm Neil Hurland. Good evening, America. 11 months ago, I inherited a mess, and I'm fixing it. U.S. President Donald Trump painted a rosy picture of the U.S. economy in a live speech from the White House tonight, and Trump announced he was sending bonus checks worth $1,776 to U.S. troops this Christmas. One year ago, our country was dead. We were absolutely dead.

Our country was ready to fail. Totally failed. Now, we're the hottest country anywhere in the world. And that's said by every single leader that I've spoken to over the last five months. Trump also did not mention Venezuela during his speech. There had been speculation he might discuss the rising tension between the United States

and the South American country. And there's another big story we're following in Washington tonight. For the first time, the Trump administration is outlining exactly what it wants from Canada in order to keep the Canada-US Mexico or Kuzma Free Trade Agreement. The American trade rep Jameson Greer told the U.S. Congress, there needs to be changes before Trump agrees to extend it. That includes an end to provincial bans on the sale of American alcohol and making it easier for American farmers to sell dairy products into Canada.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a plan to fight anti-Semitism after gunmen opened fire at a Jewish event in Sydney on Sunday, killing 15 people. The Attorney General and Minister for Home Affairs will develop a package of legislative reforms to crack down on those who spread hate, division and radicalization. It will target people who preach religious hate speech that promotes violence and increase penalties. It will also make hate an aggravating factor in sentencing people who make online threats and harassment. A huge winter storm is bringing snow and frigid air to the prairies and portions of northern Ontario. There are treacherous travel conditions brewing in Saskatchewan,

and in Alberta, the high winds and blizzards, forced the Calgary airport to suspend flights. Josh McLean reports. Drivers slowly make their way through a snowy Calgary. intersection in treacherous white-out conditions. Their cars buffeted by the wind, that frigid blustery weather, blanketing a large swath of Alberta, dumping just five centimeters of snow, but more significantly bringing wind gusts up to 80 kilometers an hour. That's prompting yellow weather advisories from Environment Canada throughout the province, causing crashes and closing roadways, RCMP telling people not to travel, and reporting as many as 100 vehicles

stuck on the highway just north of Calgary. And in southwestern Alberta, the winds are expected to be especially bad. Environment Canada has an orange wind warning in place. Gus in that part of the province could reach up to 130 kilometers an hour. The agency is warning of possible power outages and overturned vehicles. Josh McLean, CBC News, Calgary. Well, it's official Canada's binding 2030 climate target is out of reach. That's according to new emission projections from environment and climate change Canada.

David Thurton reports. This year's emissions report shows an even wider gap than previous years, making it impossible to achieve the country's 2030 climate goal. The report's projections show Canada will fall well short of its 2030 target, just halfway to Ottawa's 40 to 45% emissions reduction below 2005 levels. This is the first report released under Prime Minister Mark Carney, and it comes after the Carney government removed key planks from the country's climate plan. including the consumer carbon tax, pausing the electric vehicle mandate,

all while backing additional LNG exports and potentially another bitumen pipeline to the Pacific coast. One of Canada's leading energy think tanks, the Canadian Climate Institute, is reacting. It said Canada is well off track and needs immediate policy delivery. David Thornton, CBC News, Ottawa. And that is your world this hour for CBC News. I'm Neil Hurland.