World Report - May 15: Friday's top stories in 10 minutes

Episode Date: May 15, 2026

Ottawa and Alberta strike a carbon pricing compromise to secure the future of the Pathways pipeline project.CBC investigation reveals Canadian white nationalist group is coordinating with U.S. fascist fight clubs.Donald Trump and Xi Jinping call Trump's state visit a success, but offer few details.CIA Director delivers Trump’s ultimatum to Havana as U.S. prepares to indict Raul Castro.Drake freezes over Toronto with a massive triple-album drop and a glowing blue CN Tower.

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Good morning. I'm John Northcott. Prime Minister Mark Carney is in Calgary today to finalize a major industrial carbon pricing deal with Premier Danielle Smith. The agreement is a critical step towards building a new bitumen pipeline from Alberta to the BC Coast. While Carney pitched a clean energy future just yesterday, he says this project would go ahead as long as the pathway's carbon capture initiative is completed. Critics argue that technology is unproven, but for the energy sector, today's announcement is the breakthrough they've been waiting for. The CBC's Janice McGregor is covering the story in Ottawa. Janice, this is the third time over the last

week we've seen the Carney government shift its approach to energy regulations. What's the political calculation here. John, despite all the talk this week of the value of being pragmatic, this is an uncomfortable spot for the liberals. Daniel Smith has been able to deliver for Alberta's industry a longer time horizon leading to a lower effective carbon price than the regulations of Justin Trudeau's era would have indulged, making the math on Canada's 2030 or even 2035 emissions targets harder and harder to square. But it's also true that the current policies weren't working. Once fossil fuel producers take up the credits available to them in Alberta, the market price of their carbon is trading so low there's no business case

for the major carbon capture and storage investments like the Pathways Alliance Storage Hub. Prime Minister Mark Carney specifically inserted that into the MOU as a condition to offset the environmental harm of expanding oil sands production with another bitumen pipeline. It includes very much the Pathways project moving forward, no pathways, no pipelines, so all those elements moving forward, but we're making progress. The Canadian Climate Institute calculates that Alberta's current carbon price costs the industry an average of only nine cents a barrel, and that's in a world where the price of that barrel has spiked.

Environmentalists, like-minded politicians are frustrated at today's compromise, but Conservative leader Pierre Pollyov, on the other hand, said yesterday, the price on carbon should be zero, reiterating his thesis that these pricing schemes make goods uncompetitive and unaffordable. Staking out middle ground can be politically thankless, even risky, because no one gets what they want. Okay, Janice, this is a deal worked out with Alberta. Now, what about carbon pricing with other provinces? Indeed, keeping premiers across the board satisfied on carbon pricing, it's always difficult.

BC, for example, has its own system, David E.B. yesterday seemed to signal. In the wake of this deal with Alberta, this province might need more changes, too. We're reviewing the details the prime minister has provided about what's in the MOU in terms of implications. for British Columbia, the most significant of which relate to the carbon tax. Federal liberals might tout their flexibility here, but sometimes it all comes down to just encouraging premiers to say, hey, where's my special deal? CBC's Janice McGregor in Ottawa.

Thanks, Janice. You're welcome. Canada's largest white nationalist group is coordinating with fascist fight clubs in the United States. The CBC News investigation has learned that Second Suns Canada met with the founder of what's called the Active Club movement during a trip to Texas. Experts warn these groups pose a serious threat to public safety. Christian Poslang has this exclusive report from CBC's Visual Investigations Unit. When I first saw that picture, I laughed because I, despite the blurring, I knew it was Rondo right away.

Journalist Michael Colborne has been following Robert Rundo for years, and he says there's no doubt it's Rundo, the founder of the global white supremacist active club movement, in a blurred photo with two members of Second Sons Canada, a major white nationalist group in this country. Second Sons members traveled to the U.S. in late March, meeting there with several other fascist fight clubs that train in combat sports. But a CBC visual investigation also finds that,

while in Texas, the Canadian group met with Rundo, who was sentenced to two years in prison for rioting at political events. They also participated in a South Carolina combat sports tournament and event organized by Patriot Front, a notorious American white nationalist group. I think it's very significant that we're seeing Canadians travel across the border. Stephen Ray, a digital research manager with the Think Tank Institute for Strategic Dialogue,

says this kind of travel is becoming more organized. And the involvement of Canadian groups is a sign that the movement is global. This shows that this problem of white supremacy is not isolated to Canada alone and that the white supremacist groups in Canada are not operating within geographical silos. Second Sense Canada has grown rapidly since 2024, with chapters across. the country. Christian Paz-Lang, CBC News, Toronto. And you can find the visual investigation team's full report on our website, cbc.ca.ca. slash news. U.S. President Donald Trump is heading home after his summit with China's Xi Jinping.

A band played as the U.S. president climbed the steps of Air Force One this morning. Trump is hailing his state visit as a success, and President Xi says relations with the U.S. are stabilizing. However, it's not clear how much progress was made on key differences. Emily Sue has the latest from Hong Kong. Following yesterday's warm exchanges, Friday's meeting of superpowers began with a rare tour of the Zhongnanhai complex. It's a former imperial garden that houses the walled-off offices of Chinese leaders. President Donald Trump asks whether other leaders are ever brought here. Very few replied Xi Jinping, for example, Putin.

In their talks today, the Chinese leader hailed what he called a milestone visit and said the two sides had reached understanding on cooperative outcomes. The two countries have agreed to keep trade ties stable and to continue communicating with one another. The U.S. also says China agrees on the need to keep the straight-up-harmouth open. But it was unclear just how concrete other results were. In a televised interview earlier, U.S. trade representative Jameson Greer said China would invest billions of dollars and soybeans and other agricultural goods. Trump also said Beijing would buy 200 Boeing planes.

But details remain thin. And there was little mention of what Beijing wanted in return. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marker Rubio says U.S. policy on Taiwan had not changed. For Beijing, it's a red line. It regards the self-governing island as its territory and warns Washington against supplying it with arms. A U.S. shipment of weapons is pending and could quickly undo any problem. made in Beijing. Emily Sue for CBC News, Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, the United States is offering to help Cuba with its economic and energy crises if Havana meets certain conditions. CIA director John Ratcliffe visited the island yesterday to meet with his counterpart and deliver a personal message from President Donald Trump. Willie Lowry is in our Washington Bureau. Willie, what is Radcliffe's visit all about? This was really the latest effort by the Trump administration to increase preference. pressure on the Cuban government. As you said, John, CIA director John Ratcliffe met with his counterpart as well as with Raul Rodriguez Castro, the grandson of former president, Raul Castro. His message, the administration is willing to engage on economic and security issues

only if the Cuban government is willing to fundamentally change. President Donald Trump has openly mused about possible regime change in the island nation. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the current Cuban government was unable to help its people. The current model they have is broken. It doesn't work and never change as long as the people that are there now are running it. They are closed-minded, unfortunately. Cuba's energy infrastructure is in tatters. It received most of its oil from Venezuela, which dried up following the U.S. capture of President Nicolas Maduro, and the U.S. has placed a blockade around the country, leading to rolling blackouts lasting.

nearly the whole day. So the head of the CIA meeting with a Castro. At the same time, though, Willie, reports the U.S. is preparing to criminally indict a former Cuban president, another Castro. What's that all about? That's right. U.S. media is reporting that the Department of Justice is preparing an indictment against Raul Castro, the 94-year-old brother of Fidel, who led Cuba from 2008 to 2018.

The indictment is expected to center on the downing of two planes in 1996 belonging to the humanitarian organization Brothers to the Rescue. Castro, while retired John, still holds significant sway in Cuba. CBC's Willie Lowry in Washington.

Thanks, Willie. My pleasure. And finally. Yeah. Ice. Toronto Skyline turned an icy blue this morning to celebrate the release of Drake's new album, Iceman. The CNN Tower was lit up to look like a block of ice as the rapper dropped the project along with two surprise bonus albums.

On the new tracks, Drake reveals personal details including about his feud with Kendrick Lamar. Drake has sold 170 million albums in his career, making him one of the most successful artists in history. And that is the latest national and international news from World Report. I'm John Northcott. This is CBC News. For more CBC Podcasts, go to CBC Podcasts.