World Report - June 29: Monday's top stories in 10 minutes

Episode Date: June 30, 2025

Mark Carney's government rescinds Digital Services Tax, which would have forced companies like Amazon, Google and Meta to pay a 3% tax in Canada. Palestinians in northern Gaza say last night was one of the worst nights of Israeli bombardment in weeks.Still no date set for US-Iran diplomatic talks; Tehran accuses US President Donald Trump of playing psychological games. US Senators to vote on Donald Trump's "big beautiful bill."Conservative leader Pierre Polievre to run in by-election in Alberta riding of Battle River-Crowfoot on August 18th. More than 200 flights delayed at YVR because of a shortage of air traffic controllers at Vancouver's International Airport. 

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mental health professionals with a diverse variety of expertise. Talk it out with BetterHelp. Our listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com slash Canada World. That's betterHELP.com slash Canada World. This is a CBC Podcast. This is World Report. Good morning. I'm Marcia Young. Canada's digital services tax is not coming into effect today as planned. The government announced late last night it will rescind the tax.

It is an effort to get US President Donald Trump back to the negotiating table and US candidate trade talks back on track. For more, let's go to the CBC's Carina Roman in our Parliamentary Bureau. And Carina, what more did the Carney government say about why it is rescinding this tax? It's essentially to get trade negotiations back on track. And they say in the news release, it's in anticipation of a mutually beneficial, comprehensive trade agreement with the United States. In other words, we have to do this

if we wanna get that agreement. Now, clearly there was some kind of communication between Prime Minister Mark Carney and US President Donald Trump. Maybe they had a chat or they exchanged some texts as we are told they do because in the news release it also says, Prime Minister Mark Carney and President Trump have agreed that parties will resume negotiations with a view towards agreeing on a deal by July

21st, 2025. Now that was the date originally agreed upon at the G7 in Cananascus. How did we get here? The digital services tax was announced in 2020. So it's not something that's brand new. And it was to address the fact that many large technology companies who operate in Canada may not otherwise pay tax on revenues generated from Canadians.

Now, the tax was to apply to all big tech companies that operate online marketplaces or advertising services or social media platforms and earn revenue from sales of user data. It's really for companies that make more than $20 million a year doing that. And of course, most of those are based in the US. The parliamentary budget officer estimated Canada would raise more than seven billion dollars over five years off the tax. In fact, some saw it as a possible negotiating piece in this Terra 4, but it seems that Donald Trump called Canada's bluff on Friday because it's no longer a negotiating

piece when our rescinding it with nothing in return other than the fact that trade negotiations will continue. Thank you, Karina. You're welcome. Karina Roman reporting from Ottawa. Palestinians in northern Gaza say last night was one of the worst nights of Israeli bombardment in weeks. Health authorities say at least 55 people were killed. One man told Reuters news agency the strikes were so intense they felt like earthquakes. Israeli forces ordered people to evacuate northern Gaza yesterday.

It says it is fighting Hamas militants operating there, including in Gaza City. Israeli officials are expected to be at the White House today for talks on a Gaza ceasefire. Officials in Iran say the latest forensic evidence shows 935 people were killed in Iran during the 12 day air war with Israel. The two countries have reached a ceasefire and now Iran is preparing to enter diplomatic negotiations with the United States. But on social media this morning, the US.S. president said he's not talking to Iran. And an Iranian spokesperson says Trump's comments are psychological games. The CBC's Tom Perry is following the story from Jerusalem.

In yet another post to social media, U.S. president Donald Trump has repeated his claim the U.S. obliterated Iran's nuclear facilities with obliterated written in all caps. Trump adds he's not speaking to Iran. This after claiming at the NATO summit he would be talking to Iranian officials. Trump has called the U.S. operation against Iran a spectacular military success. But in an interview over the weekend, Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said, while Iran's nuclear capabilities have suffered a severe setback, they haven't been eradicated.

Iran had a very vast, ambitious program, and part of it may still be there. And if not, there is also the self-evident truth that the knowledge is there. The industrial capacity is there. Iran is a very sophisticated country in terms of nuclear technology, as is obvious. Grossi says this issue can only be resolved through diplomacy, as for Iran.

Its deputy foreign minister told the BBC, the message he's getting from the Americans is, they want to talk. What Iran wants is a guarantee. The US won't launch more strikes if and when those talks begin. Tom Perry, CBC News, Jerusalem. Senate Democrats will bring one amendment after the other

again and again and again to put Republicans on the record. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer speaking ahead of another marathon session. This one started earlier this morning. U.S. President Donald Trump's signature tax cut and spending bill is before the Senate. Trump wants Congress to pass the bill in time for him to sign it on July 4th, Independence Day in the United States. But Democrats and some members of his own Republican party are slowing down legislation. Katie Nicholson is following this story from Washington.

And Katie, what are we expecting now that the Senate has resumed? Well, this is a start of a long day, maybe a long night of political theater and amendments, which could spill into tomorrow because it is voterama time. So essentially what that means, after debate, senators can introduce an unlimited number of amendments and each one gets a vote. Several senators have signaled they want to see more changes, which is going to further drag out this big, beautiful bill process before, and I guess even if the House can get something it can vote on again. New estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office suggests

that it would add $3.3 trillion over a decade to the national debt. So that's a trillion more than the version that was passed by the House. And the Senate version of this bill also cuts more deeply into the social safety net. Nearly 12 million Americans could lose health insurance by 2034. That's again, according to the CBO. So if it goes back to the House, there are fears that those who are worried about how health care cuts could affect them in the next election may vote against it. Things got very heated for one of the holdouts in the Senate this weekend. Tell us more about that. Yeah. So last night, actually, North Carolina Senator Tom Tillis lashed out at fellow Republicans saying that they were betraying President Trump's promise

not to cut health care. It is inescapable that this bill and its current form will betray the very promise that Donald J. Trump made where he said we can go after waste, fraud and abuse on any programs. Now, Tillis also announced this weekend that he would not be seeking a third term as a senator after Trump and many of his supporters unleashed a torrent of anger and criticism around his reluctance to support the bill. So this frees him up a bit from the president's power over the party. So he can essentially vote however he likes and it's a very thin margin in the Senate

right now. Thank you, Katie. You're welcome. The CBC's Katie Nicholson in Washington. Pierre Prolieve will have the opportunity to rerun for a seat in the House of Commons before the summer is over. The Conservative leader did not win his own area, Ottawa area riding in the past election, but an MP in the Alberta riding of Battle River Crofoot stepped aside so Poliev could run there. Prime Minister Mark Carney has just announced the by-election will be held

on August 18th. Tens of thousands of people are flying through Canadian airports this weekend. But at Vancouver International Airport, more than 200 flights have been delayed. As Yasmin Khanaya reports, a shortage of air traffic controllers has left passengers waiting. We don't want to see delays like this. Steven Smart with the Vancouver Airport Authority says dozens of flights were delayed Sunday and more than 180 flights were behind schedule the day before. It is frustrating for passengers, it's frustrating for us, it's frustrating for everyone involved. NAV Canada, the private non-profit that manages air navigation across the country,

says a shortage of air traffic controllers affected operations at the airport. Spokesperson Jonathan Bagg. We do regret impacts to our airline customers and in turn their passengers. We take delays due to staffing very seriously. The staffing crunch at NAF Canada has been going on for months. It's very annoying. It costs the company a lot of money. It reached new heights in May when an Air Canada pilot vented his frustrations to passengers stuck on the tarmac in Vancouver. Since we got the time, if you want to write a letter to your MP and tell them what's going on.

NAF Canada says it's working hard to train new air traffic controllers, but that takes time. That's a highly skilled position. 24 to 36 months of training that's delivered by NAF Canada to become a licensed controller. Vancouver's airport says today will be the busiest travel day of the long weekend, with almost 88,000 passengers expected to transit through the airport. Yasmina Ranea, CBC News, Vancouver. And that is the latest national and international news from World Report News Anytime, cbcnews.ca. If you like the World Report podcast, please follow us and tell a friend.

It helps spread the word. I'm Marcia Young.