Your World Tonight - Auto and pipeline politics, Comey plea, crypto ATM fraud, and more

Episode Date: October 8, 2025

The American ambassador tells a conference in Toronto the U.S. has to be first when it comes to the auto sector. That’s leaving the opposition and the industry asking — what about Canada? Trade was a hot topic in Question Period today, as Prime Minister Carney returned from Washington with no specific tariff relief, and news he offered to revisit Keystone XL — a project U.S. Donald Trump has campaigned on reviving.And: Former FBI director James Comey pleads not guilty — the first of U.S. President Trump’s perceived enemies to be charged. Comey is not the only one Trump has threatened with criminal prosecution. We look at whether the administration is weaponizing the Department of Justice.Also: They make it easy to convert cash into cryptocurrency. But police say crypto ATMs are too often used for something else — ripping you off. Federal authorities say the machines are the number one tool fraudsters are using to get your money.Plus: VIA forks out millions for travel delays, the fate of Marineland’s whales still up in the air, French parliament in turmoil, and more.

At Desjardin, we speak business. We speak equipment modernization. We're fluent in data digitization and expansion into foreign markets. And we can talk all day about streamlining manufacturing processes. Because at Desjardin business, we speak the same language you do. Business. So join the more than 400,000 Canadian entrepreneurs who already count on us. And contact Desjardin today.

We'd love to talk, business. This is a CBC podcast. Well, Mr. Speaker, we'll go soft on him today because I know he's still recovering from surgery to have his elbows removed. We haven't seen those elbows since the election. The trip to the White House was supposed to be the hard part, but it's the House of Commons where Mark Carney was feeling the heat. returning from Washington empty-handed and finding the opposition full of questions about cross-border trade, the economy, the Prime Minister's promises, and his lack of a deal. Welcome to Your World Tonight. I'm Susan Bonner. It is Wednesday, October 8th, just before 6 p.m. Eastern, also on the podcast. What has taken place since January 20, 2025, would make even President Nixon recoil.

In eight short months, you have fundamentally transformed the Justice Department and left an enormous stain in American history. Accusations in Washington about the weaponization of the American justice system, with the Trump administration facing harsh criticism for using the law to target political opponents and the president's personal enemies. are suggestions from the Prime Minister that a deal on steel and aluminum tariffs could be in the works with the United States. There's discussion about reviving a key cross-border oil pipeline. But after a one-on-one meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, the opposition was demanding something more concrete. Tom Perry reports. If Mark Carney's meeting with Donald Trump in the Oval Office was friendly, the Prime Minister

returned to the House of Commons and question period was anything but. Well, Mr. Speaker, we'll go soft on him today because I know he's still recovering from surgery to have his elbows removed. Remember that promise, Mr. Speaker, dancing around with his elbows in the air? Opposition leader Pierre Pauliev mocking Carney mercilessly over a meeting he says delivered nothing but which Carney says made progress. The president of the United States and myself Had a meeting of minds yesterday with respect to the future of the steel sector, the aluminum sector, the energy sector and cooperation, which is why our teams are negotiating the terms of those deals. Carney told the House the two sides are also working out a deal on autos, but as the Prime Minister and opposition leader were squaring off, news was emerging from a summit on Canada-US trade taking place in Toronto. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik addressed the summit behind closed doors via video link

and reportedly told his audience there could be no trade deal between Canada and the U.S. that did not include tariffs and that on autos, Canada would have to accept it would always place second to the U.S. Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who was at the summit, laid out how he would respond to any attempt by the U.S. to shut down Ontario's auto sector. be one ounce of energy coming from Ontario. Because you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to use that cheap energy that we're selling to our American friends to be competitive to sell products around the world. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith was at that same summit. To her, Mark Carney's efforts to establish a friendly rapport with Donald Trump is the better way to go. Smith weighed in as well

on another matter. Sources tell CBC News, the Prime Minister raised the possibility of reviving the Keystone XL pipeline with Trump during their discussions. The pipeline would run from Alberta to oil refineries in the U.S. Smith says, while she'd be happy to see that project built, she'll continue to push for a pipeline from Alberta to BC's northern coast. Should it really be easier for us to deal with Donald Trump and get Keystone XL restarted and build down to the Gulf Coast? Should that be easier than building a new bitumen pipeline to British Columbia? For now, a lot of this is just talk. There are no plans for any new pipeline, and while negotiations continue between the U.S. and Canada, U.S. tariffs remain in place. The Prime Minister has told Canadians he will deliver

results, but the opposition keeps hammering him again and again with one question. When? Tom Perry, CBC News, Ottawa. Former FBI Director James Comey has pleaded not guilty in U.S. federal Court to charges of making false statements to Congress and obstruction of justice. Comey's indictment has sparked a fierce political debate with Democrats and some legal experts accusing the U.S. President of using the Department of Justice as a political weapon. Katie Nicholson has more. Outside an Alexandria, Virginia courthouse, a handful of protesters clutched signs. Trumped up charges read one, show trial, said another.

Inside, former FBI director James Comey pleaded not guilty. His legal team asked for more information about the two charges. The September indictment leaned on details. Comey's team also made it clear it intends to file motions to dismiss the case, including one alleging the prosecution is vindictive. He's a leaker. We fired Comey that fraud. U.S. President Donald Trump's animosity toward Comey goes back to his first term

and his frustrations with an ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. That phony crooked Comey. One of the best things is, it's firing James Comey's ass out of him. Comey is hardly the only person the president has wanted to see behind bars. Hillary Clinton has to go to jail, okay? She has to go to jail. For what she's done, they should lock her up. But these days, he's more focused on other perceived foes.

In a now deleted post on social media, he asked his Attorney General, Pam Bondi, what was being done about not just Comey, but New York Attorney General Letitia James and Democratic Senator Adam Schiff. All, he said, were guilty as hell. Both are currently under investigation by the Justice Department. What has taken place since January 20, 2025 would make even President Nixon recoil. In a combative congressional hearing yesterday, Bondi faced accusations from Senate Democrats like Dick Durbin.

This is your legacy, Attorney General Bondi. In eight short months, you have fundamentally transformed the Justice Department and left an enormous stain in American history. I took office with two main goals to end the weaponization of justice and return the department to its core mission of fighting violent crime. The president has made it clear that he wants to use the Department of Justice to go after his enemies and nothing the Department of Justice has done suggests that they are resisting that in any way. David Sklansky is a law professor at Stanford University. He warns that politicization

potentially undermines the credibility of the DOJ and democracy itself. The first and most immediate danger is the danger of authoritarian excess of an overpowerful executive who uses prosecutorial power to silence the president's foes. We haven't seen it historically in the United States, certainly not in the last half century, and that's very frightening. Comey's brief trial is set to begin January 5th. By then, he may not be the only Trump foe in court.

Katie Nicholson, CBC News, Toronto. Trump says a deal to end the war in Gaza is very close. Senior U.S. officials are in Egypt to take part in talks, top officials, from Qatar and Israel are also there. Answering questions in Washington today, Trump said that he may travel there this weekend if a deal is reached.

Negotiations are going along very well. We're dealing with Hamas and many of the countries. As you know, we have Muslim. All of the Muslim countries are included. All of the Arab countries are included. Very rich countries and some that are not so rich, but just about everybody's included. It's never happened before.

that's happened before in our final negotiation, as you know, is with Hamas. The plan calls for the immediate release of the hostages being held in Gaza and for Israel to release Palestinian prisoners. It lays out a withdrawal plan for Israel's military. Hamas says it's seeking guarantees Israel will not resume its military campaign after the hostage release. France may be reaching a political boiling point after more than a year of turmoil and a divided parliament, unable to pass a budget,

last-ditch negotiations to save President Emmanuel Macron's coalition government did not work, and he could be forced to call snap elections. Breyer Stewart reports. French President Emmanuel Macron seemed relaxed and confident as he greeted the crown prince of Jordan in Paris, but beyond the walls of the Elysee Palace, the political pressure on him is growing. On Monday, Macron's hand-picked Prime Minister, Sebastian Le Corneux resigned just hours after appointing a cabinet.

He was France's fifth prime minister in two years, a clear consequence of a parliament deadlocked by division. We have reached the end of this joke. The farce has gone on long enough, said Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right national rally, who's calling on Macron to dissolve. Parliament. The sharp words aren't just coming from his opponents, but also from some of his long-time allies. His very first Prime Minister, Eduardo Philippe, says that Macron should resign and call an early election. But only after the parliament manages to pass a budget. France is engulfed in not only a political crisis, but also an economic one. The country is saddled with rising, crippling debt, and there's no consent.

on how to cut spending. Plans to raise the retirement age to 64 have been deeply unpopular. It's like the last roll of dice. They will try one last time. Renaud Foucair is a senior lecturer at the Department of Economics at Lancaster University.

Macron's office said he will appoint a new prime minister in the next 48 hours. And Foucar believes it could be someone who is more closely aligned with the left in order to build a work coalition. He says, while Macron's popularity has sunk at home, he's done a lot on the world stage, especially when it comes to building up European security and supporting Ukraine. But now Foucair says

that influence is likely waning. I think in Europe, it starts now to be perceived as a lame duck, also because it doesn't have a political party on his own that will survive his legacy. So no one is positioning themselves to be the next Macron. Macron has repeatedly said that he plans, to serve out the rest of his term, which is slated to end in 2027. Breyer Stewart, CBC News, London. Coming right up as passenger complaints keep chugging along, via rail is paying millions of dollars in compensation for delayed travel. And staffing emergency in the ER,

a shortage of doctors has some BC hospitals at the breaking point. Later, we'll have this story. I'm Farah Morali in Toronto, where cryptocurrency ATMs are a common site in cafes or convenience stores. But a new report we obtained shows they're now one of the main ways fraudsters are getting money from their victims in Canada. The challenges of crypto ATMs and the challenges of cryptocurrency is as soon as it's sent away, that money is across the globe. It's easy. It's fast. It's irreversible. How crypto ATMs are feeding Canada's fraud problem coming up. on your role tonight.

Delayed and slow trains are creating expensive trips for Via Rail. As complaints surge, the Crown Corporation has been forced to pay tens of millions of dollars to compensate passengers, as Via blames new speed regulations for throwing its schedule off the rails. Danielle LeBlanc has the story. Second time traveling, and I'm hoping it's on time. I was a little late coming in. Delays are a regular part of life for train passengers

on the busy stretch between Windsor and Quebec City. New figures obtained by CBC News show via rail paid out $31 million in compensation to travelers over the last year. The travel vouchers are worth 50% of the ticket price for an hour-long delay and 100% for delays that stretch out four hours or more. Still, many travelers at the Ottawa train station would prefer on-time arrivals to travel vouchers.

That's very bad news. Why not just make the trains on time? They're on time in Japan. It's a shame that they have to pay so much. The number of delays has reached record highs in the last year. That's when CN imposed new restrictions at hundreds of rail crossings for VIA's new venture trains. Engineers have been slowing down their trains

and making sure security barriers and warning lights are in operation at rail crossings before they go back to normal speed. Via says 15% of its trains have been more than an hour late in the key corridor that includes Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal. Federal Transport Minister Stephen McKinnon says that via rail's performance is unacceptable. What's troubling is that passengers, customers

are not getting to their destination on time, and via rail we have to work with them to make sure that that performance improves. Transport expert and former university professor Jacques Croix agrees this is a poor showing for via rail. $31 million is a significant amount. It means that there were quite a few travelers using via rail that didn't get there on time. It also means that the taxpayers

do not actually receive the level of service they would expect. Officials from both CN and via rail refused to give interviews on the matter today. Still, they have a partial solution in sight. Since late August, Cien is allowing via rail trains to go through all rail crossings at a steady year, albeit reduced speed. But CN and via rail rail are nonetheless continuing to face off at the Quebec Superior Court over restrictions at rail crossings, and there is no clear deadline for the legal wrangling to stop. Danielle LeBlanc, CBC News, Arroy.

There are new warnings tonight about some BC hospitals in need of critical care. Staffing shortages are forcing emergency room closing. with health care providers across the province scrambling to recruit doctors. Yasmin Renéya has that story. My family for many, many years, have been very involved with this hospital. Standing outside the Delta Hospital, BC Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly, Ian Payton, says the recent ER closures are personal.

My mom and dad, going back into the 70s, were some of the original people that got together with community members to say, we need a hospital here in Delta. Delta is a city in British Columbia's lower mainland with more than 100,000 residents. Earlier this month, it's only ER shut down for more than 12 hours because of a shortage of doctors. It's the fourth time the ER has closed this year. We're here in Delta, part of Metro Vancouver. It's just totally unacceptable.

The closures, prompting city councillor Dylan Kruger to table a motion to declare a public health emergency. The status quo isn't good enough. It's not working. People have lost faith in the fundamentals of our health care system. Mayor of Delta, George Harvey, ruled the motion out of order, saying only the province can declare an emergency. But he acknowledges there is a problem, made worse by the fact that many residents don't have family doctors. Not even him. You don't have any option other than to go to an emergency department. Delta does not have any urgent primary care centers.

ER closures are not just affecting Delta. In recent months, there have been temporary shutdowns in the Okanagan, interior, and on Vancouver Island, largely due to staffing challenges. Charlene Louie, President of Doctors of BC, says recruiting and retaining ER staff can be especially difficult. The ERs, I'm sure, you can recognize, is a very stressful place, and it is very intense. It takes a lot of dedication for our physicians to work in the emergency department.

things can go from good to bad very quickly. The BC government is taking steps to address these challenges with efforts to better prevent stress and burnout of health care workers and launching an international recruiting drive. Since March, the province has been working to recruit health care workers from the U.S. Health Minister Josie Osborne says more than 140 workers have already accepted positions. This is a long-term issue that we've got to really build out the health care workforce so that we don't see

these kinds of disruptions. A long-term strategy that could mean more ER closures in the meantime. Yesem Ganea, CBC News, Delta, British Columbia. The fate of marine lands 30 beluga whales is looking bleak tonight.

The Niagara Falls Amusement Park is threatening to euthanize the animals after the federal government denied an overseas transfer. The park is now closed and looking for emergency funding. But Ottawa says it won't help with that either. Lisa Xing has more on the whales' limited options.

Once a major tourist attraction, Marinelands Balooca whales now at risk of being euthanized after the federal government blocked the park from sending them to an aquarium in China, fisheries minister Joanne Thompson. I have been just slightly back and forth with a counterpart in Ontario and certainly support their

work on solutions. The Ontario government, responsible for animal welfare, also grappling with what to do, Premier Doug Ford. If you've got a big enough, you know, swimming pool, I'll stick the whales there, but the feds need to step in and help us out. The theme park in Niagara Falls,

Ontario, which closed to the public last year, was subject to controversy with animal rights activists. And a 2019 federal ban undermined its business model of using captive whales for entertainment. These belugas underscores the need. Now, finding a solution isn't so easy.

Some want them sent to a proposed sanctuary off the coast of Nova Scotia. Charles Vinnick is the CEO of the Whale Sanctuary Project. This is a bay that really can sustain a long-term engagement of these whales and can sustain having a sanctuary in that environment that we can main, safely. But that $15 million effort is stalled, property owners beside the proposed location aren't in favor of the project. And there are other challenges. At a similar preserve in Iceland, two belugas named Little White and Little Gray have struggled to adjust, spending more than 90% of their time indoors in a tank, according to marine biologist Javier Almunia.

Everything is different. The weather conditions are changing. the temperature is changing. I will not be sure that we can guarantee the welfare of the animals in a sanctuary. Maybe with more research in the future, we will be able to do that, but that will be an option for animals in maybe 10 or 20 years. It's not an option for animals tomorrow. And if adapting to a sanctuary setting is complicated, some scientists say a future fully in the wild would be devastating.

Andrew Trites is the director of the Marine Mammal Research Unit at the University of British Columbia. Something they've never adapted to. They get rejected by other animals. And they're really looking at a life of starvation, loneliness. Even though there's currently no clear solution, some experts say their best chance is to somehow keep the belugas in a tank with human interaction, since that's the only life they've ever known. Lisa Shing, CBC News, Toronto. Authorities in California charged a 29-year-old man with starting a fire earlier this year that became the most destructive in Los Angeles history.

They say the man intentionally lit the fire on New Year's Day. It was mostly extinguished by firefighters but smoldered underground and reignited in high winds a week later. That fire destroyed much of the Pacific Palisades neighborhood and killed a dozen people. Acting U.S. Attorney Bill S.A. Lee says, evidence that Jonathan Rindernecht was fascinated by wildfires and lied about where he was when the fire started. As the world watched in horror as the Palisades fire burned, victims perished in the smoke and flames. Homes were cherished family memories and belongings were turned to rubble in ash. The iconic Pacific Coast Highway along Malibu looked like a war zone. Thousands of people

are forced to evacuate. Though homes and businesses cannot be rebuilt, this arrest, we hope, will provide a measure of justice to all those who were impacted. Authorities say the fire was likely started by a lighter. This is Your World Tonight from CBC News. If you want to make sure you stay up to date

and never miss one of our episodes, follow us on Spotify, Apple, wherever you get your podcasts. Just find the follow by. and lock us in. Cryptocurrency ATMs are becoming a more common sight in convenience stores and cafes. Canada reportedly has the most per capita in the world,

and some of the biggest customers are fraudsters, using the machines to get your money. Farah Morale has the story. They look and sound like regular cash machines, but crypto ATMs let you deposit cash. and convert it to a form of cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin. The funds can be sent anywhere instantly to anyone with a digital wallet. You don't need a bank account or, in some cases, even an ID to use one.

But according to a report we obtained from Canada's financial watchdog, FinTrack, crypto-ATMs are the number one way fraudsters are getting money out of victims in this country. I was just so upset after all this happened. Brenda Smith, one of those victims. The Calgary Senior was the target of an elaborate scam a few months after she had a The 76-year-old lost $12,000. When you're a senior on pensions, that's a lot of money. CBC News spoke to multiple fraud victims like Smith.

The common thread, the scam begins with a phone call, text or email, from someone claiming to be an official authority, like the CRA or police, claiming cash is owed urgently. They're given step-by-step instructions on how to deposit the funds into one of these machines, which lands in the digital wallet of the fraud. They really, really prey upon vulnerable communities who don't really understand what cryptocurrency is. Detective David Coffey with Toronto Police's fraud unit says they get calls about these scams daily. The Canadian Anti-Fraud Center says last year Canadians lost more than $14 million through frauds involving crypto ATMs.

But Coffey says that doesn't even include police reports. So any number like that, you can multiply by 10 or 20 to get a true grasp of the police. problem that we're facing. CBC News spoke with nearly a dozen former employees of crypto ATM companies. All said fraud is a known problem with these machines. Sam Mukbul, president of the crypto company, Hodel, denies they profit from fraud. We're not in this business to facilitate fraud, and none of the operators are. Crypto ATM companies are classified as money services businesses, meaning they follow

rules like registering with FinTrack and reporting large transactions. but there are no regulations specific to these machines. Meanwhile, many U.S. states in Australia have introduced daily machine transaction limits and the UK has effectively banned them. Minister of Finance, Francois-Philippe Champagne, told CBC News his government is reviewing options. Listen, we're looking very much at all the matters that we strengthen our laws in Canada. FinTrack denied a request for an interview and didn't answer questions about what, if anything, it's doing to address the conclusions. in its own report.

Farah Morale, CBC News, Toronto. We close tonight with a very good boy coming to the rescue like a real-life lassie. Lassie, where's Timmy, girl? Where's Timmy? Mom! Graham! The old TV series always seemed a bit far-fetched, but a dog in Florida recently proved it can happen.

She never takes more than 10 or 15 minutes. It's over a hour now. It's over a hour now. Okay. Do you know what... That's officer body cam footage released by police in Okalusa County in the Florida Panhandle. An 86-year-old man called 911 after his wife didn't return from walking the family dog, Eeyore. The officer started searching the empty streets. It was late, dark, and suddenly there was Eeyore. There's the dog.

Hi, baby. Hi, baby, where's your mama? Just like Lassie, scratching at the door to tell Gramps that Timmy was in trouble, the dog ran up to the officer's patrol car and started leading her to the woman who had fallen on a sidewalk and couldn't get up. Shawnee. Ma'am? Oh, can you tell me what happened?

You okay? The dog brought you? He wouldn't believe he kept coming back to me. He ran up to my car, and I said, Bring me to your mommy, and he ran back here. He came up to your car. Good boy. Oh, sweetheart.

Good boy. Police say paramedics arrived to assist the woman who was expected to recover from her fall. Thank you for joining us on your world tonight for Wednesday, October 8th. I'm Susan Bonner. Talk to you again. For more CBC podcasts, go to CBC.ca slash podcasts.