The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/12/18 at 16:00 EST

Episode Date: December 18, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/12/18 at 16:00 EST

There are two kinds of Canadians, those who feel something when they hear this music. And those who've been missing out so far. I'm Chris Howden. And I'm Neil Kuksal. We are the co-hosts of As It Happens. And every day we speak with people at the center of the day's most hard-hitting, heartbreaking, and sometimes hilarious news stories. Also, we have puns.

Here Why As It Happens is one of Canada's longest running in most beloved shows. You can find us wherever you get your podcasts. From CBC News, the world this hour. I'm Kate McGilfrey. Prime Minister Mark Carney says there likely won't be relief on U.S. tariffs until next year at the soonest when the free trade agreement between Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. comes up for review. Right now, goods and services covered by Kuzma aren't subject to tariffs, but everything else, things like car parts, steel, and lumber are.

Carney says he thinks those sectors will be incorporated into Kuzma talks. My judgment is that that is now going to roll into the broader Kizma negotiation, so we're less likely, we're unlikely, given the time horizons coming together to have a sectoral agreement, although if the United States wants to come back on that in those areas, we're always ready there, we're very ready. Conservative leader Pierre Paliav has criticized Carney for failing to get a faster deal to remove sectoral tariffs. Ottawa and Ontario have agreed on a way to significantly speed up approvals for infrastructure projects. They are dropping federal impact assessments altogether,

hoping to make construction move faster on things like access roads into the ring of fire. That's an area rich with critical minerals that the province is keen to mine. Philip Lyshanik has more. Ontario government ads tout the ring of fires promise. It has the critical minerals the world needs and wants. Ontario Premier Doug Ford says An agreement that will defer the federal government's approvals on key infrastructure plans to the province

will get those minerals out of the ground faster. President Trump is taking direct aim at our economy every second counts. Along with streamlining in the approvals process for these special economic zones, the Ontario government is trying to get legal action from several Treaty 9 First Nations dismissed. Kate Kemptim is the lead lawyer for 10,

First Nations challenging the Ontario and Canadian governments. Bulldozing ahead in the ring of fire. Not one step without First Nations consent. Ford says he already has agreements with two First Nations and could start building an access road by the summer. Philip Lyshanock, CBC News, Toronto. Quebec's health minister says he's quitting cabinet and will sit as an independent. Christian Dubet passed a controversial law, Bill 2, that infuriated Quebec's doctors.

It led some to apply for medical licenses in Ontario and New Brunswick, saying they'd rather practice elsewhere. The Lago government is now in talks with family doctors on changes to the law. Dubei says he's not the right person to conduct those negotiations. And earlier in the day... I took this decision solely out of a sense of duty for my party, for Quebec, and for my country. Pablo Rodriguez made it official announcing his resignation of the... leader of the Quebec Liberal Party. Pressure had been mounting after allegations surfaced that some liberals were paid cash to vote for him in last summer's leadership race.

Today, Rodriguez repeatedly said he'd done nothing illegal or unethical, but he'd become a distraction at a time when the party needs to concentrate on winning the next election. The Quebec Liberal Party is bigger than any of us. It has weather storms. It has risen time and time again, and it will rise again. Quebecers go to the polls on October 5th of next year. Israel conducted a series of airstrikes in southern and northeastern Lebanon today, injuring at least four people. The Israeli military says it was targeting Hezbollah infrastructure and military sites. The United Nations says Israel has been conducting almost daily airstrikes,

killing Hezbollah members, and more than 125 civilians since the ceasefire with Lebanon began. And in Brussels. Police, protesting farmers clashed with police near the European Parliament. They're upset about a proposed trade agreement between the European Union and a group of South American countries known as Mercosur. The farmers worry that cheap commodities will flood the European market. And that is the world this hour. For CBC News, I'm Kate McGilfrey.

Thank you.