The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/12/18 at 19:00 EST

Episode Date: December 19, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/12/18 at 19:00 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 Kate McGilfrey. Quebec's health minister has resigned. Christian Dubet is leaving his role and his party to sit as an independent after hinting that he was upset that Premier Francois Legoe backed away for many of his health care reforms. Alexander Silberman has the details. Christian Zubé says he's stepping down as Quebec's health minister and departing from the

Coalition Avenir Quebec Caucus. He plans to sit as an independent member in the National Assembly until the end of his mandate. Dubet's resignation announced in a post on social media follows an intense period of negotiations between the provincial government and doctors. Zubay led an effort to push through controversial reforms, like Bill 2 that would tie a part of physicians' pay to collective performance targets. The change was set to take effect at the start of the new year, but the impact was already being felt across the province when hundreds of Quebec doctors applied for a license in Ontario. The Quebec government and doctors union recently reached a tentative agreement, but Zubé says the difficult negotiations are one of the

reasons behind his departure. Alexander Silberman, CBC News, Montreal. That's not the only turmoil in Quebec politics today. Pablo Rodriguez also announced his resignation as the leader of the Quebec Liberal Party. Pressure had been mounting after allegations surfaced that some liberals were paid to vote for him in last summer's leadership race. 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. As he stepped down, Rodriguez repeatedly said he'd done nothing illegal or unethical, but said he'd become a distraction at a time when the party needs to concentrate on winning the next provincial election.

October. Albertans, pushing for more province-wide referendums, will soon have to shell out 50 times more for the opportunity. The Alberta government has hiked the application fee for new citizen initiatives from $500 to $25,000. The Minister of Justice says petitions are costly, and the higher fee was added to discourage, quote, frivolous applications. TikTok's owners have signed a deal to sell U.S. operations to American investors.

A number of reputable news sources have seen a purported memo from BightDance's CEO. It says the proposed deal isn't quite complete and could be closed by the second half of January. Chinese-based Bight Dance had been under pressure to sell the U.S. assets or be banned. Canada now has a better idea of what the U.S. wants to discuss when the review of the Canada-Mexico-U.S. trade agreement starts next year. The U.S. trade representative laid out a series of conditions yesterday, including more access for American products in Canadian markets. David Thurton has more on how leaders here are responding.

When the Prime Minister and President Trump come up with a great deal for both countries, we'd be more than happy to bring in some maybe Kentucky bourbon. Ontario Premier Doug Ford making it clear his province's drinkers love American booze, and it will return to store shells once Donald Trump's tariffs are gone. Until then, we're going to hold off. On Wednesday, American trade representative, Jameson Greer, listed Washington's demands when the Canada-US-Mexico trade deal comes up for negotiations next year. Those include lifting bans on American booze, changes to laws that require U.S. web giants

to finance Canadian media content, plus greater market access for American dairy. The Prime Minister unwilling to budge on that. We've been clear about our approach to supply management. We continue to stand by that. We'll continue to protect supply management. Mark Carney says a deal will only be signed. That's good for Canada. David Thurton, CBC News, Ottawa.

And 2025 was Canada's second worst wildfire year on record, with nearly 9 million hectares burned. Environment and Climate Change Canada released a top 10 list of the weather events for the year. Wildfires were number one. The list also included drought across much of the country, powerful thunder and hailstorms and heat waves. And that is the world this hour. For CBC News, I'm Kate McGilvery.