The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/12/23 at 12:00 EST

Episode Date: December 23, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/12/23 at 12:00 EST

Hi, Steve Patterson here, host of The Debaters, the show where we answer your most burning questions, like, do candles deserve more appreciation? Canada's best comedians wax on about it in this week's new episode, so listen wherever you get your podcasts. From CBC News, it's the world this hour. I'm Joe Cummings. The latest GDP update is out today, and it's showing the economy lost ground. in October, edging down 0.3 percent. Statistics Canada says one of the biggest declines came from the construction sector, which fell off for the first time in six months. Looking ahead at the early November numbers, Stats Canada is predicting most of the ground lost in October

will be made up by a stronger than expected performance from the transportation industry. Alberta is now a step closer to a referendum on separating from Canada. The Provincial Elections Agency has approved a citizen petition to gather the signatures needed to trigger a province-wide vote. Mitch Sylvester is with the Alberta Prosperity Project, which is organizing the petition. I think this is going to be the biggest political decision anybody in Canada will ever make in their lifetime.

I believe every Albertan will be much better at the end of this referendum vote if we vote to leave Canada. The Canada that I grew up with is no longer the Canada that I'm living in. And my fervent hope is to have that back. The organizers of the campaign now have to collect more than 170,000 signatures to formally trigger a vote. Another petition calling for Alberta to remain part of Canada has already collected more than enough signatures and has been officially certified. The deep freeze gripping most of Western Canada is leading to concerns about possible power outages across the Yukon. People across the territory are being asked to conserve electricity and to prepare for the possibility of rolling blackouts.

This has extreme weather warnings are in effect again today from Alberta to Manitoba with some regions in line for temperatures with the windchill down around minus 40. The U.S. Justice Department has released another round of documents related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. But even as this latest release is being examined, concerns are being raised about what material is being withheld or redacted.

Steve Fuderman reports. Many of the survivors were just like all of these documents to be completely released. They would like it all out. They'd like to be done with this drip, drip, drip of some documents being released. Even though these are significant numbers, they would like all the documents released. It's very, very difficult for them each time a new batch of documents are released to wonder, are their names going to be mentioned?

Some of these victims, by the way, have been talking about how as much as these documents are redacted, and this new batch includes lots of redactions from some of the PDFs I've looked at so far. but there have been some names that have gotten through this redaction process, and it's been very difficult for some of the victims to see their names mentioned. There were a couple Jane Does who had their names mentioned, and they've been very upset having their names exposed. So it's not a perfect process.

No one thought it would be, but again, the victims and the lawmakers who were demanding that these Epstein files be released, basically they would like it all released once and for all. Steve Futterman, CBC News, Los Angeles. Thanks to the Trump administration's tariff campaign. It's been a difficult year, of course, for Canada's automotive sector. But in Windsor, a reimagined classic is sparking some optimism. Emma Loup explains. That's the Canadian-built muscle car that's turning heads across the continent. The reborn Dodge Charger six-pack is assembled in Windsor, but is racking up awards in the U.S. It's won top-geared U.S. car of the year and the Detroit News is. vehicle of the year. The 550 horsepower six-pack started rolling off the line in Windsor earlier this month. The six-pack embodies the enduring cross-border nature of the North American

auto industry. For Canada's car capital, the reborn charger is also a glimmer of hope. Windsor's unemployment rate was among the highest in Canada for much of the year. Mike Stevenson is from Unifor Local 444, which represents workers at the plant. Stalantis is putting these cars here in spite of the tariffs. So that's a testament to the workforce. The six-pack is now a finalist for North American car of the year. The winner will be revealed next month at the Detroit Auto Show. Emma Loop, CBC News, Windsor. And that is the world this hour.

For CBC News, I'm Joe Cummings.