The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/12/18 at 20:00 EST

Episode Date: December 19, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/12/18 at 20:00 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 prime minister mark carney says there likely won't be relief on u.s tariffs until next year at the soonest on 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's 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 Pollyev has criticized Carney for failing to get a faster deal removing those sectoral tariffs. When the trade talks about, Talks do begin in the new year. Canada has a better idea now of what the U.S. wants to discuss.

The U.S. trade representative laid out a series of conditions yesterday, including more access for American dairy products and Canadian markets. The Prime Minister has said he's unwilling to budge on that, saying he stands by the supply management system, which limits imports. Albertans pushing for province-wide referendums will soon have to shell out a lot more money for the opportunity. The Alberta government has hiked the application fee. for new citizen initiatives. As Sam Sampson tells us, it will now be 50 times higher than the current fee. The provincial government outlined the changes in an order in council posted online yesterday. It states any Albertan who wants to apply for a citizen's initiative will now have to pay a $25,000

application fee. The cost used to be $500. In a statement, a spokesperson for the Minister of Justice says petitions are costly and the higher fee was added to discourage, quote, frivolous applications. The spokesperson added the new fee will only be tacked on to new applications, meaning those currently in play have to refile within a set time frame to avoid the big jump in fees. That includes the Alberta Prosperity Project's independence petition and the petition from country singer Corb Lund to stop new coal mining in the Rockies. Sam Sampson, CBC News, Edmonton. Quebec's health minister says he's quitting cabinet and will sit as an independent.

Christian Dubei passed a controversial law, billed two, then infuriated the province'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 in talks with family doctors on changes to that law. Dubet says he's not the right person to conduct those negotiations. Blizzard conditions are moving east in Canada tonight, with yellow winter storm warnings now in place in some regions of Ontario and Quebec. Environment Canada says there will be blowing snow beginning early Friday morning.

Meanwhile, parts of Manitoba and northern Ontario hit hard by a blizzard today have now been left with a different severe weather alert, this time for extreme cold, with wind chill temperatures expected to hit as low as minus 50. The U.S. says it will sell a massive package of weapons to Taiwan worth more than $10 billion. It will include medium-range missiles, howitzers, drones, and military software. Department says the sale is in the United States' economic and security interest, but China is slamming the move. A spokesperson for China's foreign ministry says this sale sends the wrong message to pro-independence

groups in Taiwan. Beijing has long said Taiwan must reunify with the mainland. And Washington is trying to make it easier to do medical research involving marijuana. President Trump signed an executive order today, downgrading cannabis from the most restrictive category of drugs. It doesn't legalize it, but it does make it easier to access for health care and research. And that is The World This Hour. You can listen to us wherever you get your podcasts. We update every hour seven days a week.

For CBC News, I'm Kate McGilfrey. Thank you.