Your World Tonight - Backlash to Kimmel’s backlash, Trump in the UK, rice worms, and more

Episode Date: September 18, 2025

Free speech advocates are sounding the alarm over the sudden suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late night talk show. They sayit’s part of a broader attack on dissent by the Trump administration.U.S. President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer sign some major tech and nuclear deals. They also sidestepped several thorny issues that have strained their trans-Atlantic relationship. Warmer weather is driving rice worms further north –  contributing to the destruction of a crop gathered by Indigenous communities for generations. Plus: U.S. cuts affect pediatric tumour research in Canada, Canadian Climate Institute says it's impossible to meet climate change targets by 2030, Blue Jays fans have high hopes, and more.

Hugh is a rock climber, a white supremacist, a Jewish neo-Nazi, a spam king, a crypto-billionaire, and then someone killed him. It is truly a mystery. It is truly a case of who done it. Dirtbag Climber, the story of the murder and the many lives of Jesse James. Available now wherever you get your podcasts. This is a CBC podcast. He didn't end the Ukraine war or saw Gaza within his first week, but he did end freedom of speech within his first year.

Comedy and punishment. Performers, fans, and lawmakers condemn the Trump administration and rally around Jimmy Kimmel amid fears of a spreading crackdown on free speech. His show was suspended indefinitely over comments on the politics around the Charlie Kirk killing. Welcome to Your World Tonight. I'm Susan Bonner. It is Thursday, September 18th,

just before 6 p.m. Eastern, also on the podcast. We're not closer to our 2030 target, any closer relative to last year. It's not going to be easy, but that doesn't mean that Canadians were pretty ambitious people that we can't keep working towards that. Climate target trouble.

A grim new report says Canada's current path leaves it no chance of meeting its 2030 environmental commitments. But the Environment Minister says the fight isn't over. It's a political firestorm sparked by the ouster of a popular American TV personality. From Hollywood to Washington, supporters of late-night host Jimmy Kimmel call his benching blatant censorship,

and the latest in a chilling string of attacks on free speech. Kimmel's critics, and the Trump administration argue the move was long overdue. Warning of more cancellations to come. Paul Hunter begins our coverage tonight from Washington. In case you missed it, late night TV comedy talk show host Jimmy Kimmel in his opening monologue Monday,

commenting on the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk like this. We hit some new lows over the weekend with the Maga Gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Trump. Charlie Kirk is anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it. The accused killer has said nothing publicly about the shooting, but the evidence suggests he is not aligned with the Donald Trump movement known as MAGA, though countless

conservatives took Kimmel's comments as suggesting he was. In short order, yesterday, under apparent immediate pressure from the U.S. broadcast regulator of the FCC, and with word a number of local stations would stop airing the show, Kimmel's network, ABC suspended the program indefinitely. In turn, that brought immediate outrage from free speech advocates and Trump critics throughout the U.S., slamming the move indeed as a threat to free speech. From Mark Merritt, like Kimmel, a comedian who likened it to authoritarianism. This is the U.S. government. Look, if they can come for Kimmel, they can come for anybody. This is happening. It's time to act. To Democrats on Capitol Hill.

How low can they go? Senior Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, who today helped introduce a Democrat bill to protect free speech, called the pressure put on ABC to push out Kimmel, abhorrent, obnoxious, and repulsive. This is an assault on everything this country has stood for since the Constitution's been signed. On all of that, during his state visit to the UK earlier today, Trump himself. Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings more than anything else, and he said a hundred. horrible thing about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk, and Jimmy Kimmel is not a talented person. He had very bad ratings, and they should have fired him a long time ago. So, you know, you can call that free speech or not. He was fired for lack of talent.

Later, on his flight back to the U.S., Trump told reporters, network coverage of his presidency is almost entirely negative, adding, quote, maybe their license should be taken away. While Trump's chair of the FCC, Brendan Carr, said today, Kimmel simply. misled the American public. Our goal and our obligation here is to make sure that broadcasters are serving the public interest. Kimmel himself has yet to comment on any of it. Paul Hunter, CBC News, Washington. Kimmel's suspension may have turned up the intensity on the issue of American free speech, but that fire has been burning for a while. From crackdowns on protests and judges

to lawsuits targeting the media and higher education, critics warn this is the latest example of an intentional attack on democratic institutions. Kayla Hounsel has that angle for us tonight. We hit some new lows over the weekend with the Maga Gang. It may have been these words that got Jimmy Kimmel tossed off the air, but experts say the battle over his right to make that comment is no coincidence, rather part of a larger coordinated effort on the part of President Donald Trump to dismantle his dissenters and the democratic institutions they employ.

The United States government is on the midway point or early midway point towards a dictatorship. Jason Stanley is a professor of American studies at the Monk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto. He notes the U.S. has far more free speech protections than Canada. It's in the Constitution, but says Trump has taken control of what should be independent levers of government and instructed them to target his opponents. You can deliver a hate speech against trans people. You can deliver hate speech against immigrants. You can deliver hate speech against Democrats.

But one thing you can't do is mildly criticize Donald Trump and the movement behind him. It is a statistical fact that most of the lunatics in American politics today are proud members of the far left. Trump and his team say the U.S. is being attacked by the radical left. It is a vast domestic terror movement. Since the start of his second term, Trump has sued CBS and 60 Minutes, which resulted in the network settling in paying $16 million. The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal for news reporting he didn't like, waged war on higher education attacking universities such as Harvard and Columbia.

And today he vowed to designate Antifa a major terrorist organization. Antifa is not a specific organization. It's the kind of mode of radical politics. politics in opposition to fascism in the far right. Mark Bray is a professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey and an expert on the Antifa movement. To me, it seems like a rather transparent effort by Trump and his allies to demonize the left writ large under the rubric of a term that has generated a kind of negative publicity

in the mainstream eye. But Trump says these far-left groups are sick and dangerous. What he thinks about every moment of the day is how do I head off a front of free and fair election in 2026. David Frum is the Canadian-American political commentator and former speechwriter for Republican President George W. Bush. He has this stark warning. Must never lose your ability to be shocked.

That's a resource for dictators when we lose our ability to be shocked. Kayla Hounsel, CBC News, Halifax. Coming right up, the King, the Prime Minister and the President, Donald Trump heads home after a UK state visit long on pageantry and deep in billion-dollar business deals, and cross-border funding fears how a U.S. government's decision on pediatric research could directly impact childhood cancer trials in Canada. Later, we'll have this story. These wriggling worms are destroying wild rice in northern Saskatchewan,

eating away the crop and leaving little behind to harvest. You depend on rice for a lot of things, so it's pretty devastating. I'm Alexander Silberman in Pinehouse Lake Saskatchewan. Later on Your World Tonight, the push to save wild rice from an insect threatening its future. Mexico welcomed Prime Minister Mark Carney this afternoon for a two-day visit. He's expected to sign a strategic partnership agreement with President Claudia Shane Baum. It will cover trade, agriculture, security, and emergency preparedness. Ottawa is starting formal consultations on the North American Trade Pact, Kuzma.

After the U.S. started its own review, questions about the future of trade with the U.S. are encouraging a closer bilateral relationship between Canada and Mexico. Donald Trump has wrapped up his two-day visit to the UK. Before leaving, he and British Prime Minister Kier Starrmer signed some major business deals. They also sidestepped several thorny issues that have strained their transatlantic relationship. Chris Brown reports. The Red Devils parachutists dropped in on Donald Trump and Kier Starrmer at Checkers. minister's country retreat as the U.S. President's state visit turned from royal ceremony to business.

This tech partnership has the power to change life. With the signing of deals on artificial intelligence and nuclear reactors, their joint appearance began with some cringeworthy flattery. He's a tough negotiator. I think it was a better deal for you than us, but these are minor details. It's a very good deal for both. He's a great negotiator. But confronting the media was the big ten. of the visit for two leaders who differ on key issues, notably the war in Gaza. Starmer has condemned Israel's invasion of Gaza City and says he plans to recognize a Palestinian state next week. We absolutely agree on the need for peace and a roadmap because the situation

in Gaza is intolerable. Trump, who says he's the greatest friend Israel has ever had, rejects a Palestinian state, but he did it fairly politely. I have a disagreement with the prime minister on that score. On Ukraine, Trump's friendly relationship with Russia's Vladimir Putin is another contentious point. He's let me down. He's really let me down. But if that's so, why not hit Russia with much harder sanctions? Came the follow-up question. Trump said Europe must stop buying Russian oil first. Finally, if I may, the elephant in the room, Lord Mandelson. That would be Starrmer's recent firing of Lord Peter Mandelson, as the U.S. ambassador because of his historic ties to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who Trump also

associated with and is facing pressure over. But Trump deflected. Thank you very much, sir. I don't know him, actually. I had heard that, and I think maybe the prime minister would be better speaking of that. That was a choice that he made, and I don't know. What is your answer to that? Well, I mean, it's very straightforward. Some information came to light last week, which wasn't available when he was appointed, and I made a decision. But that was about as awkward as things got. Otherwise, First Lady Melania and Princess Catherine

spent time with children doing arts and crafts. And a piper piped the Trump's off with smiles all round. It's very unusual for a leader to receive two state visits and Donald Trump appeared to bask in the royal spectacle that was rolled out for him here. It may also explain why there were no sharp words. For Keir Starrmer, having Trump Leave happy was what this visit was all about.

Chris Brown, CBC News, London. The Trump administration has cut more scientific funding, this time for experimental trials for children fighting brain cancer. And Canadian families are also feeling the hit. Alison Northcott explains. When you have a child with cancer, none of the decisions are easy or straightforward. Keith McIntosh's son was diagnosed with brain cancer at age nine. He had surgery, proton radiation, and chemotherapy.

Now 17, he's getting ready to graduate high school. After treatment, his son also took part in an ongoing clinical trial testing a medication. You make a choice to participate in a trial with the hope that it will work. McIntosh says in some cases, clinical trials are a last hope for children with hard-to-treat cancers. But Canadian researchers say funding and policy changes in the U.S. are limiting access. Losing any option that provides an opportunity for a cure or for a meaningful benefit can be devastating. The U.S. government is not renewing funding for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium. It's a network of experts focused on improving treatments for brain tumors.

Toronto Sick Kids Hospital is its only Canadian site. Dr. Jim Whitlock, head of hematology oncology at Sick Kids, says they had to stop enrolling new patients in three clinical trials. There's some of the most promising therapies for children with those particular diseases, and there are really not studies of equivalent promise that we have access to. The U.S. National Institutes of Health says it's moving the group's work to a broader network to align resources and strengthen pediatric brain tumor research. It says it plans to find ways for Canadian institutions to enroll in clinical trials in the future. This change is worrisome.

But that network has frozen funding for trials outside the U.S., says Dr. Tai Hua Tran, the network's medical director for Canada and a pediatric oncologist at St. Justine Hospital in Montreal. He says because of that, two other trials in Canada have also stopped accepting patients. The message that we have received is that its enrollment has seized for Canadian children. Very often with pediatric brain cancer, we come to a point where it's no longer treatable by standard therapeutic methods. And the only hope for these children is to seek an experimental therapy. Childhood cancer is rare, and these trials are for the hardest to treat cases.

Pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Sheila Singh at McMaster University says while the number of affected children is small, it's still a big loss. We actually had two patients recently who had difficult to treat treatment refractory brain cancers, who could have been eligible for one of those trials, but now those trials have been closed. She and other experts say the Canadian government needs to build capacity to do more clinical trials here. Alison Northcott, CBC News, Montreal. Canada's targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions have always been ambitious. But they came with some hope for helping to slow down the planet's warming. Now the Canadian Climate Institute says with no improvement in emissions last year

and government policy prioritizing economic growth, it's impossible for the country. to meet its climate change targets by 2030. David Thurton reports. It is hard. Dave Sawyer doesn't want to say it, but the environmental economist says the numbers cannot be ignored. I think the data makes it obvious,

and we had to basically call it. Sawyer is with the Canadian Climate Institute. Their new report says it's now impossible for Canada to meet its legally binding 2030 climate target. The year-over-year change. is, about 40 megatons a year, which is a lot, simply can't be achieved with the current policy trajectory, the way the economy is going, more oil and gas production. So yeah, we're not going to hit our targets. The upcoming 2030 goal is an international commitment by Canada

to slash carbon emissions by at least 40% below 2005 levels. But at the rate we're going, we'd be lucky to get more than halfway there. What's stalling progress? Oil sense production and further proposed LNG expansion plus provincial and federal governments repealing or weakening climate policies like carbon pricing, electric vehicle rebates, and the sales mandate. There is still time for the Carney government

to decide to increase its efforts to reduce greenhouse gases. Green Party leader Elizabeth May called today's report a wake-up call. And I urge Mr. Carney to step up and live up to what he told voters he would be. The climate movement domestically is also growing despondent with Carney, a former central banker who has an impressive environmental CV,

according to Climate Action Network's Caroline Bruyette. There is no one better place than Mark Carney to tell us about how being competitive in 2025 means fighting climate change. Environment and climate change minister Julie Dubuette. Brousen wouldn't say if she agrees with the report's harsh conclusions. But she did blame Stephen Harper's government that hasn't been in power for more than a decade. When we started under the previous conservative government, emissions were at a 30-year high.

There was no trajectory to bringing them down. And so we were at a point where we had emissions tracking upwards. We had to turn that ship around and to actually start bringing them down. And we have. DeBruzen says Canada has an economic, moral, and existential. obligation to fight climate change. The minister says liberals remain committed, and they will have more to say when the government releases soon what she's calling a climate competitiveness strategy.

David Thurton, CBC News, Ottawa. One creature taking advantage of climate change, rice worms. Warmer temperatures mean they're spreading rapidly into northern Saskatchewan, and that's contributing to the destruction of the wild rice crop gathered by indigenous. communities for generations. As Alexander Silberman reports, harvesters and scientists are teeming up to search for a solution. On a remote northern lake in Saskatchewan's Boreal Forest,

Tommy Smith is driving a propeller-powered boat to harvest wild rice. A traditional food for Cree communities for generations. But as the rice gets back, they can see rice worms feasting on their harvest. It is a huge lot. Smith and his wife gathered just 20 bags last harvest. The average before the rice worms, 400. You depend on rice for a lot of things, so it's pretty devastating.

Wild rice is a major economic driver in many northern Saskatchewan villages. A good harvest can bring in as much as $100,000 for a family. But at the local rice weighing station, stacked bags of purchased rice waiting to head to the processing plant are crawling with worms. So many, you can hear them wriggling. They're removed during processing, but it takes longer. These worms are getting to be a big problem. Lionel Smith, who works as a local buyer, is also a longtime harvester. This season, the bugs are killing so much of his rice.

He's decided not to harvest at all. 20, 30% of your co-hop is damaged, so we don't even pick that area because we can tell that it's heavily infested by worms. Researchers are now testing a type of trap, using pheromones to attract the insects away from the rice. Experts don't know exactly why the worms are making their way north from Manitoba and the U.S. It's kind of like the perfect storm in many ways, I think,

and we're really trying to find the best way to mitigate them. Tim Sharbell is a professor of plant sciences at the University, of Saskatchewan. He believes forest fires could be one of the causes. You get new growth. It provides an opportunity to the riceworm moths. On Agamic Lake in northern Saskatchewan, Phyllis Smith is starting the fall harvest, using a traditional airboat to scoop the rice off the surface of the shallow water.

Every year it seems to get worse. While hard rice tumbles out of some kernels, others aren't. others are empty. The worms are already hurting the crop. Smith is also considering leaving the industry behind. He almost feel like there's no use for me having a harvesting boat, so I almost want to give up. She says the search for a solution to save her livelihood can't come soon enough. Alexander Silberman, CBC News, near Pinehouse, Saskatchewan. Toronto Blue Jays fans would not have predicted it in the spring. But now, as Major League Baseball's regular season winds down,

playoff hype is ramping up. There's buzz. Canada's only team could be on a path to the World Series. Thomas Daigla has that story. The text line. The line is open, 59590, name and location, please. At a radio call-in show in Toronto called Blue Jay's Talk, the phone lines are lighting up. Man, the Jay's defense is just unreal.

Producer Show Ali is fielding the calls. Unbloody believable. From fans with a much different outlook on the team than at this time last year. I mean, the response from fans is great. They call in all the time, which makes my job a lot easier, actually. Last year, we did a lot of shows where people were questioning should the GM? stay on, should the manager stay on? The club's front office chose this season to keep the same leadership and the same

core roster, from slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to veteran George Springer. And has it ever paid off? So then he hits it high and deep to left and it's gone. The team has been on a tear, leading the American League in hits and batting average, sending the Jays soaring to the top of the standings. feeling really good. I think this team is a team of destiny. It's a relief for long-suffering Toronto

sports fans like Aaron Barbarian, a local restaurant owner who's been to 1800 Jays games. These are Vladis cleats in here. Collecting decades of memorabilia along the way from bobbleheads to signed baseballs. This reminds me of some of the

years like 2015 and this has that kind of sense about it. In 2015, the Jays clinched to the American League East paving the way for Jose Batista's unforgettable October bachelor. Now, Toronto was on track to win the division title again, setting aside a decade of missteps and disappointments. They should be able to finally get that elusive playoff win.

The Jays haven't made it to baseball's biggest stage since 1993. But Sportsnet host Jeff Blair says this could finally be the year. Yeah, I think they have a chance of going to the World Series. Sportsnet has even struck a rare deal with Apple TV, ensuring tomorrow's key matchup in Kansas City is broadcast across Canada and not just on a streaming platform, a sign of the growing hype around the Jays. For many Canadians, fall baseball is about to become must-see TVs.

And the Blue Jays win the ball game. Thomas Dagglet, CBC News, Toronto. Finally tonight. Are you serving that ape a martini? She's a loud one, it'll calm her down. A scene from the movie Congo highlighting the idea sometimes played for laughs, the drunken monkey. But a new study suggests our fellow primates

actually do seek out alcohol in the form of fermented fruits and that perhaps there's an evolution reason, an ancient fight for the calories to survive, to why humans drink. I do drink myself from time to time. Nothing more. It wasn't been a nice beer on the veranda after a day in the field. So one day I just put two and two together. I sort of, why are these monkeys? We know why they're going after the fruit, but why am I drinking alcohol? And was there any possible link? That's the co-author of the New Study, University of California Berkeley, evolutionary physiologist Robert Dudley. And he's been following this hunch for a long

time. A decade ago, he published The Drunken Monkey, Why We Drink Alcohol. His new findings in the latest edition of science advances bolster his early hunches and suggest chimps in Cote d'Ivoire and Uganda consume the equivalent of one to one and a half drinks a day to stay alive. It's very competitive, that's for sure, because you're fighting it out with the microbes, the bacteria and yeast, of course, are trying to consume the sugars in the fruit. They're insect larvae inside these developing fruits and ripe fruits and then a scramble competition amongst all the vertebrates as well. Dudley's team saw the chimps ignoring fresh tree fruit and going for fermented pieces on the ground for the extra sugar and alcohol. But don't judge our fellow apes.

They usually fill up on fruit before they get drunk, Dudley says. He hopes one day he can use his evolutionary understanding to help humans know when they should quit. Thanks for joining us. on your world tonight for Thursday, September 18th. I'm Susan Bonner. Talk to you again.