World Report - October 27: Monday's top stories in 10 minutes

Episode Date: October 27, 2025

US President Donald Trump leaves ASEAN summit without talking to Prime Minister Mark Carney, says he won't speak to him at APEC either. Canada Revenue Agency spends 2 years in court trying to recover $5M refund approved by automated systems, without human oversight. Government of Canada announces temporary tax credit for Personal Support Workers. Food Banks Canada's 2025 Hunger Count report shows nearly 2.2 million visits to food banks in the month of March alone. Hurricane Melissa is now a Category 5 storm as it heads towards Jamaica. Canadian medical experts say more needs to be done to prevent another resugrence of measles. RBC and CIBC allow 89-year-old to drain life savings, lose nearly $1.7 million to scammers. One of the biggest scams ever reported in Canada. Anne Murray to be honoured at Nashville's Opry House tonight.

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. This is a CBC podcast. This is World Report. Good morning. I'm Marcia Young. Have you had any contact with President Trump since Thursday? I have not. Prime Minister Mark Carney at the ASEAN summit this morning in Kuala Lumpur, confirming U.S. President Donald Trump left the talks without speaking to him.

That prompted a flurry of questions about the future of Canada. U.S. negotiations, and whether a trade deal with the Trump administration is even possible. Murray Brewster has more. In any complicated high-stakes negotiation, you can get unexpected twists and turns, and you have to keep your cool during those situations. Prime Minister Mark Carney, with his best poker face over the fact that he and U.S. President Donald Trump haven't spoken since trade talks were scuttled last week. doesn't pay to be upset. Emotions don't carry you very far. That may be Carney's playbook. It

certainly isn't Trump's. The U.S. President is still steamed over the Ontario government-sponsored anti-tariff ad that has been running in the United States. Trump says he has no intention of talking with Carney for a long time. The fact that they haven't spoken is not a good sign. And an indication that not only are sectoral trade talks on ice, so is the often-hyped rapport between the two men. Karnie says, We have to take Trump at his word that the ad is the only thing he's offended about and that there's nothing else at play. The Prime Minister declined to blame Ontario Premier Doug Ford for crashing and burning the negotiations.

Others will have opinions and others welcome free advice, unsolicited advice, as entirely appropriate. Every Canadian is a stakeholder in these negotiations. In the end, Carney says the federal government is the one in the negotiating room and talks with the U.S. will resume when it's a problem. appropriate. Murray Brewster, CBC News, Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. The Canada Revenue Agency has been stuck in federal court for more than two years now. It's trying to recover a nearly $5 million refund, it says, was wrongly paid to distribution car flex, a body shop in Quebec. Documents obtained by the CBC's fifth state revealed the transaction was quickly approved by the CRA's automated processes without human oversight.

Danielle LeBlanc reports. This is where I have questions about the CRA system. Tax expert Rafael Klima doesn't understand why the Canada Revenue Agency reimbursed $4.99 million to body repair shop in Quebec two years ago, even though there's no public record of the company paying the taxes in the first place. Why would CRA just refund money that you never paid? The answer lies in confidential records obtained by the CBC's the fifth estate. The documents show the CRA automatically approved the $4.99 million refund

distribution carflex because it fell just short of a $5 million threshold for a manual review. A source with inside knowledge of the CRA's workings said there would have ideally been eyeballs on that transaction before it was processed electronically. Alarm bells only rang out after the payment was issued. Ottawa has been in court for two years in an effort to get the money back. Distribution Carflex did not respond to a request for comment. In records tabled in court, the company says it was entitled to the refund and fought back against attempts to freeze its bank account.

The Canada Revenue Agency refused to comment on a specific case. Tax expert, Klima, says this case raises questions about the CRA's ability to protect public funds. Should there have been some system or safeguard in place at the CRA level before sending the $5 million? Confidential sources were not authorized to speak publicly about the CRA have told CBC there needs to be an outside investigation into the agency's anti-fraud systems. Daniel LeBlanc, CBC News, Ottawa. We are getting a preview of some of the new initiatives that will be revealed in next week's federal budget. One of them is a tax credit for personal support workers.

It's temporary. But for the next five years, PSWs will be able to claim 5% of their eligible earnings up to $1,100 per year. Jobs Minister Patty Heidu announced the new tax credit this past hour in Ottawa. Now you hear that clapping, and that's the sound of victory for folks that have worked so hard and lobbied so hard

to have their profession recognized as essential to the economy of Canada. This new tax credit will be available in provinces and territories that are not covered by a bilateral agreement with Ottawa to increase wages for PSWs. Canada's hunger crisis is getting worse. That is the finding from a new report from Food Bank Bank's Canada. The 2025 hunger count report shows that there were nearly 2.2 million visits to food banks in the month of March alone. That's a 5% jump from the previous year. Food Banks Canada wants

Ottawa to extend and increase benefits to self-employed Canadians, disability benefit recipients, and those on employment insurance. The report also notes that one in five visitors to food banks are working adults, one-third are children. It's been a year since Canada experienced one of its biggest measles outbreaks in decades, and medical experts warn it could happen again. They say more needs to be done now to prevent another resurgence. Lauren Pelley has the story. I think it's inevitable that there will be more cases of measles in Canada.

One year after Canada declared a measles outbreak, new infections have died down, but concern about the future remains high. McMaster University immunologist Don Bodesh said childhood vaccination rates have dropped in recent years, while entire pockets of the country remain unprotected. She's among those calling for a national vaccine registry for better tracking to help target public health efforts. It is shocking that Canada is one of the few countries in the G7 that doesn't have such a thing. If chains of measles transmission continue past October, it's also possible Canada could lose its measles elimination status from the World Health Organization. Quite frankly, if we were to lose our status, it's embarrassing.

It's embarrassing at an international level. But Toronto infectious disease specialist, Dr. Isaac Bogosh, says that outcome isn't a sure thing. He said more targeted outreach to under-vaccinated communities could help boost uptake and stop the spread of one of the world's most contagious diseases. Lauren Pelley, CBC News, Toronto. Jamaica is bracing for Hurricane Melissa. Heavy rain and strong winds. Wiptha Southeast Coast near the town of Portmore. The Category 5 storm is getting closer and it is

expected to get stronger before it makes landfall in Jamaica late tonight. Two people were killed cutting trees in preparation for the storm. Right now Melissa is packing winds of up to 220 kilometers an hour and officials say it could bring storm surges of nearly four meters. Mandatory evacuation orders have been issued for parts of Kingston and six other areas. Cuba and Bahamas are also in Melissa's path. A Victoria man is telling the story of how he fell victim to one of the biggest ever scams reported in Canada. He lost his entire life savings to someone posing as a bank investigator. But he says the most shocking part is the two major banks did not stop it.

The CBC's Erica Johnson has more in this go-public investigation. Can't think of anything else, day in and day out. 89-year-old Ray Anholt was left penniless after scammers convinced him to hand over his life savings, almost $1.7 million. It started with a phone call, someone posing as a bank employee with CIBC. He said Anhalt's identity had been stolen,

his money was at risk, and he needed to pull it all out of the bank and handed over to a courier who'd collect it for safekeeping. I assume they were telling me the truth. As he repeatedly pulled out thousands, C-IBC warned him activity on his account was unusual, but let him keep withdrawing. Ray's son, Leanne Holt, says it was worse at RBC. They're not asking for ID. They're not asking any questions.

They're shoveling his money out the door, and I can't believe that nobody raised any red flags. Bank accountability advocate Duff Conacher says it's problematic. It's a horribly negligent pattern at both CIBC and RBC. Conacher says Canada needs protections like Australia and the UK. They've introduced laws that could hold banks liable for failing to prevent fraud. But there was no mention of similar protections when the federal government announced new anti-fraud measures last week. Meantime, CIBC said its investigation is ongoing. RBC said it has now resolved the issue with Ray Anhold, but didn't say how.

Both banks told go public they have robust policies in place to deal with fraud. Erica Johnson, CBC News, Vancouver. Beneath it's snowy, metal, cold, and pain. Anne Murray has a signature sound, and tonight she's being celebrated in Nashville. It's an all-star tribute in a historic location, the Opry House. Tricia Yearwood, Natalie Grant, Katie Lang, and Martina McBride will all perform, and Anne Murray herself will be there. She's 80 years old now and still the most decorated Juneau Honorary.

24 wins. She's also a four-time Grammy winner. And that's World Report. I'm Marcia Young.