The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/12/18 at 13:00 EST

Episode Date: December 18, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/12/18 at 13:00 EST

Choose clicks, choose the algorithm, choose doom scrolling at 3am, eyes tired, brain rewired, choose headlines that scream, choose fake friends, deepfakes, bots, and comment wars that never end. Choose truth bent and broken until you can't tell up from down or right from wrong. Choose the chaos, choose the noise. Or don't. Choose news, not noise. From CBC News, the world this hour. I'm Kate McGilfrey.

The Prime Minister and Ontario's Premier have struck a deal to speed up projects in the province. The two governments say they'll streamline approvals for infrastructure and resource projects. They'll do that by requiring approval only through the Ontario environmental assessment process and dropping the federal assessment altogether. Prime Minister Mark Carney says it will reduce duplication. By working together, we'll be providing greater certainty to builders so we can turbocharge the construction of the infrastructure

Ontario and Canada needs to build our economy strong. Carney says increased regulation over the past two decades has suppressed business investment growth by 10%. The two governments also agreed to complete assessments of road construction to the Ring of Fire region in Ontario by June next year. The North American trade deal, Kuzma, is up for review in the new year. In the last few weeks, Donald Trump's chief trade negotiator has said the U.S. President could walk away from the agreement. But Prime Minister Mark Carney tells CBC that Trump hasn't said that to him.

Darren Major has more. We talked about the process for reviewing, renegotiating, Kuzma. Prime Minister Mark Carney met with his U.S. and Mexican counterparts on the sidelines of the FIFA World Cup draw earlier this month. Carney said much of their private deliberations laid out the groundwork for the upcoming Kuzma review. Just days after that meeting, U.S. Trade Representative Jameson Greer suggested it's possible Trump could tear up the agreement during the coming negotiations. Could it be exited? Yeah, it could be exited. Could it be revised? Yes. Could it be renegotiated? Yes. Greer tabled a report to Congress just yesterday that said Trump will only commit to keeping

Kuzma if changes are made. But Carney says that the president hasn't given him any indication that he's interested in leaving the deal. Rather, the prime minister says, Trump is looking for adjustments to the trade pact. The U.S. is currently imposing hefty tariffs on a number of Canadian sectors, including steel and aluminum. Carney says addressing those levies will need to be part of the Kuzman negotiations in the new year. Darim Major, CBC News, Ottawa. Pablo Rodriguez made it official this morning, publicly announcing his resignation as the leader of the Quebec Liberal Party. As Alexander Silberman tells us, that leaves the Liberals without a leader 10 months before the next provincial election.

I took this decision solely out of a sense of duty. an emotional Pablo Rodriguez, formally announcing his resignation after six months, the shortest tenure in the history of the province as leader of Quebec's Liberal Party. For my party, for Quebec, and for my country. Rodriguez's departure comes after a month of political turmoil, including allegations of a cash-for-vote scheme

during his leadership bid and an investigation by Quebec's anti-corruption police. Rodriguez maintains he's done nothing wrong, but says it all became a distraction when liberals need to be focusing on winning the next provincial election. The liberals now face a short timeline to pick a new leader. A provincial election is in 10 months and the separatist Perci Quebecois is surging in the polls. Quebec's liberals say it's now essential for them to rebuild fast and offer voters a viable federalist option. Alexander Silberman, CBC News, Montreal.

A blizzard hit southern Manitoba overnight, closing down schools, canceling exams at the University of Manitoba and the University of Winnipeg. The RCMP is also urging people to stay home, if possible. Here's Sergeant Paul Monegra. Ideally, you want to get off these roads, with that wind being almost 80 kilometers now, our visibility is next to nothing. Menegris says they're not getting reports of serious crashes, but a lot of cars ended up in the ditch.

And prosecutors have dropped charges rather than holding a new murder trial for Timothy Rees. The Court of Appeal for Ontario overturned his conviction last month after new information was presented. The Justice has called the initial conviction a miscarriage of justice. Rees spent 23 years in prison for the killing of a 10-year-old girl. And that is the world this hour. The latest headlines are accessible anytime on our website. CBCNews.ca. I'm Kate McGilfrey.

Thank you.