Your World Tonight - Canada Post strike, Ontario bans speed cameras, German company leaves U.S. over tariffs, and more

Episode Date: September 25, 2025

Cutting door-to-door service, reducing delivery days, and eliminating some rural post offices. Calling it an “existential crisis” the federal government is overhauling how Canada Post can operate. Within hours – the postal workers union declared a walkout. And: Ontario’s premier says the province will soon ban speed cameras. Doug Ford says they are a “cash grab” and ineffective at slowing cars down, despite studies suggesting otherwise.Also: A factory in Nebraska that sells combines to farmers in Western Canada says tariffs are creating too much uncertainty, so it’s moving part of its production to Germany.Plus: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaks to the UNGA via video, residents near the Port of Churchill weigh the pros and cons of the megaproject, the Danish government is considering what to do after the latest drone scare in European skies, and more.

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The corporation is losing $10 million every day. That's a lot of stamps, a lot more than Canadians are buying. With letter mail on the decline and Canada Post bleeding money, Ottawa has an urgent delivery, directives to end door-to-door service and close post offices. Massive restructuring being met with an immediate response. Postal workers announcing a nationwide strike. Welcome to Your World Tonight.

I'm Susan Bonner. It is Wednesday. No. Welcome to Your World Tonight. I'm Susan Bonner. It is Thursday, September 25th, just before 6 p.m. Eastern, also on the program. If it's cheaper to send across an ocean, rather than send it across a heavily tariffed border, that's what they'll do. Going the extra mile to work around tariffs that.

aren't going anywhere. A major supplier of farm equipment to Western Canada is moving production from the United States all the way to Europe to bypass the increasing cost of business at the Canadian U.S. border. Mail carriers across the country are on strike. Their union announced the move just hours after the federal government gave Canada posts the green light to bring in big changes. keeping the struggling Crown Corporation afloat. Kate McKenna takes us through the day. And at present, the corporation is losing $10 million every day.

In short, Canada Post is effectively insolvent, and it is facing an existential crisis. With no money, a labor dispute that's gone on for almost two years, and a sharp decrease in mail being sent, Canada's public works minister Joelle Lightbound says government had no choice but to act. There are limits to our capacity to bail out Canada Post year after year. To make Canada Post more financially stable, Ottawa is overhauling the way the Crown Corporation can operate.

Lightbound wants Canada Post to follow the recommendations of an independent report released earlier this year. It calls for ending door-to-door delivery of mail to homes, relying exclusively on community boxes, shipping non-urgent mail-by-ground instead of air, and shutting down post offices in areas that were once considered rural. but are now more developed. Government officials say this likely means letters will be delivered within seven days instead of the previous standard of two to four. Taken together, these measures will help stabilize Canada Post's financial situation

by generating close to half a billion dollars per year. I would expect there will be some blowback. Shachi Curl is the president of the Angus Reed Institute. She says research shows Canadians are open to seeing reform at Canada Post, But the people who rely on home delivery and rely on that parcel delivery service, whether it's at a community box or at a home box, are going to feel very passionately about the loss of a service like this. For New Brunswick residents Nozar Horalski and Suzanne Peltier, the end of door-to-door delivery is bad news. I think it will make things more complicated. Mail should be mailed. You have your box in your house done. Well, I'd rather have my mail delivered at my house

because I don't have to walk and go at the mailbox and all that. So I wish they would continue. Lightbound says three quarters of Canadians already use community or building mailboxes and seniors or people with limited mobility can apply for a special accommodation to get mail delivered to their door. In a statement, Canada Post says it welcomes this move from the government. This evening, the union representing postal workers, W said they are on strike effective immediately. Jim Gallant broke the news on power and politics

with David Cochran. Are you shutting down the mail service? I believe that's happening. I believe that will happen within the next 24 hours. Kate McKenna, CBC News, Ottawa. Federal documents show the government quietly removed more counter tariffs on U.S. goods than it had previously announced. In August, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Ottawa was removing tariffs on American items covered under the Kuzma Free Trade Agreement. Karni said it would align with U.S. President Donald Trump's 35 percent tariffs on Canadian goods not covered under Kuzma. But the official order shows that even non-compliant products won't be tariffed. That means Canada's policy is not exactly reciprocal. A spokesperson for the finance

minister's office did not respond when asked when the shift occurred. A major farm equipment maker is trying to remove part of its business from the tariff equation. It's based in Germany, but has a factory in the United States that ships machines to Canada. With cross-border trade getting more complicated, the company's decision to move could be a sign of things to come. Alexander Kwan explains. It's a significant investment. Jeremy Welter runs a canola farm in western Saskatchewan. He says the decision to buy new equipment for his operation, like a combine harvester, is never an easy one. For a full harvesting implement, you're probably looking at a ballpark of one and a half to $1.6 million.

You know, when you're talking about that much money for a piece of machinery that you are realistically going to use, you know, six, maybe seven weeks a year. One of the companies that makes combines is Klaus, a German manufacturer. It has typically produced its North American heavy machinery out of a plant in Nebraska and mainly sells to farmers. in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. But this week, Klaus confirmed it's now moving the production of the combines it sells in Canada to Germany. A spokesperson for the company says the decision is a strategic response to the current tariff and trade framework

that will ensure stability for farmers. When we're building combines, it takes a little bit of time. There's a lead time on these types of machines. William Huggins is an assistant professor of finance and business economics at McMaster University. He says companies aren't planning for right now. They're looking at the future. What's basically happening is firms that have operations in both the U.S. and in Europe

are sidestepping the entire issue of tariffs by saying we'll just produce for the Canadian market in a country that doesn't have a tariff dispute. Combines and other heavy machinery are currently exempt from tariffs under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Free Trade Agreement, or Kuzma. With Kuzma up for renegotiation next year, many businesses are growing uneasy over that uncertainty. Mange is a professor of economics at McMaster University. Well, this makes it really difficult to develop international supply chains and to really optimize your production processes if you're a multinational company. Companies like certainty.

The more certain the future is, the more they can plan for the long term, and that actually facilitates investment. Both Meng and Huggins also suggest Kloss won't be the only company looking to move its production facilities to other countries in the face of tariffs. If it's cheaper to send across an ocean, rather than send it across a heavily tariffed border, that's what they'll do. It means tough decisions are ahead for many companies as the trade dispute between Canada and the U.S. continues, with little clarity for what's ahead. Alexander Kwan, CBC News, Regina. U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to transfer ownership of TikTok to U.S. owners.

A U.S. law, which has been put on hold, will ban the social media app. unless its parent company sells most of its U.S. assets to non-Chinese investors. Trump says the president of China has agreed to the deal. Vice President J.D. Vance says it's worth $14 billion U.S. dollars. And he says one of the major sticking points, control of the platform's algorithm has been solved. The U.S. company will have control over how the algorithm pushes content to users. And that was a very important part of it. We thought it was necessary for the national security element of the law.

we also just think it's important to protect American users. Again, we want users to use this platform the way they want to. We want the business to make decisions about content based on the interest of the business and based on the interest of the users. And that's what we think will happen with this new arrangement. Canada has also expressed national security concerns about TikTok. It's banned from the devices of public servants. Coming right up, Palestinian statehood has more recognition,

but the Palestinian president is still barred from entering the U.S. and addressed the U.N. remotely. And unidentified drones forced Danish airports to briefly shut down. Russia says it wasn't involved. Experts aren't so sure. Later, we'll have this story. I'm Karen Pauls in Churchill, Manitoba, where hope and worry lives side by side as residents are watching national discussions about the expansion of their needs. nearly 100-year-old port.

Economically, it would be great, but environmentally it could turn into a pretty big disaster. Is this going to be rammed down our throats? Weighing the economic payoff and the potential cost to wildlife and tourism. That's coming up on your world tonight. The Palestinian President Makmoud Abbas spoke to the UN General Assembly today. He said he is committed to working with

the UN on a peace plan. In Washington, the White House said it's renewing its efforts to solve the Middle East crisis with a roadmap to end the war in Gaza and support from several Arab and Muslim nations. Sasha Petrasek has the details. With Gaza City's bodies under rubble and its living buried in misery, it's hard to imagine. Proposals and pleas at the UN making much difference. After all, Israel's tanks and troops keep steadily advancing on the downtown core. The speeches have no value, says Mohamed Yusuf. They don't change Gaza's disaster. Or, as Mahmur Abbas called it, at the United Nations, one of the most horrific chapters of human tragedy.

Blocked from coming in person by the U.S., the Palestinian Authority President appeared in a video recording. He had the ear of many in the room who'd just recognized a Palestinian state. October 7th does not represent the Palestinian people, Abbas said, adding he rejects Hamas's attacks that killed and kids. kidnapped Israelis. But he also condemned Israel's assault as a war crime. He said he'd work with the U.S., Saudi Arabia and France on a UN-backed peace plan for Gaza, offering his much maligned administration to help run things after fighting ended. Hamas would be gone.

Abbas ended by insisting Israel stopped. taking Palestinian land, leaving his people hostages to the occupiers' politics. Meeting with Arab leaders, though bypassing Abbas, U.S. President Donald Trump promised annexation is off the table. It could be today, yeah, could be today. He now says he's on the verge of ending the Gaza war after presenting them with his own 21-point peace plan this week. It would see hostages released and Israeli troops. gradually withdrawn, while Hamas disarms and leaves.

International peacekeepers would step in to help a new administration. And I have to meet with Israel, and I have to do that also. They know what I want. And I think we can get that one done. I hope we can get it done. A lot of people are dying. Sasha, Donald Trump makes it sound like Israel is on board, is it? Not likely.

Well, not yet anyway. Susan. First of all, this Trump plan seems to be based on principles, not specific. And that's exactly where previous agreements with Israel have broken down. And it has a number of elements that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected. For instance, the total withdrawal of Israeli troops and the disarmament of Hamas only after the war ends. Besides, Netanyahu still has a lot of pressure from his political allies here, fighting until a so-called total victory. So then what happens next? Well, Netanyahu gives his speech to the UN tomorrow. Expect that to be fiery and

unyielding. But he's also meeting with two of Trump's mid-east fixers, envoy Steve Whitkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who are reportedly putting even more pressure on Netanyahu to accept this Trump deal, as the president suggested he would. That's before meeting with Trump himself. Susan? Thank you, Sasha. My pleasure. The CBC, Sasha Petrasek in Jerusalem. Israel will reopen the major crossing between Jordan and the occupied West Bank

to passenger traffic tomorrow morning. The crossing has been closed twice in the past week. The first time was last Friday, after a truck driver bringing aid from Georgia, to Gaza killed two Israeli soldiers at the border. It reopened, but closed again on Tuesday, without explanation. The gateway is the main thoroughfare for Palestinians in the West Bank to travel abroad. It's also a major pathway for aid going from Jordan to Gaza. Denmark is considering bringing together NATO to discuss the latest scare in European skies.

There were multiple unidentified drones spotted above Danish. airports overnight. Russia says it had nothing to do with it, but it comes after airspace violations in other parts of Europe and with the continent on heightened alert. Senior international correspondent Margaret Evans has the latest from London. Copenhagen's airport up and running is normal after being forced to temporarily close earlier in the week by an unknown drone incursion. There were more overnight. At first, five other Danish airports and a military base, spooking governments across Europe. The goal of this kind of hybrid attack is to create fear, said the Danish justice minister,

Peter Hummelgarde, at a press conference. The defense minister, Trolzlund Poulson, said there was no evidence of Russian involvement, but he also said a professional actor was clearly responsible, given the simultaneous and systematic nature of the latest incursions. Natasha Lindstadt, a professor specializing in authoritarian governments at the University of Essex, thinks the incursions clearly point to Russia. This really fits into what Russia has typically engaged in, hybrid forms of warfare, with the main aim to incur some kind of economic or psychological pain.

But earlier this month, 19 suspected Russian drones were shot down, Poland and Russian fighter jets expelled from Estonian airspace. Critics say it exposes NATO's vulnerability to emerging threats. The military alliance has been testing new drone technology in military exercises in Portugal and the Netherlands this month, Ukrainian special forces sharing lessons from the battlefield during the Dutch exercise. Up to 70% of Ukrainian casualties are now from drones, according to Lindstadt. They intercept somewhere between 80 to 90% of the drones that the Russians are launching on Ukraine.

But because there are so many of them, they're able to do a lot of damage. On Wednesday, the Ukrainian president, Vladimir Zelensky, told UN delegates meeting in New York that the world is moving too slowly to protect itself from an arms race, given new life by artificial intelligence. Now there are tens of thousands of people who know how to professionally kill using drones. Stopping that kind of attack is harder than stopping any gun, knife or bomb. There is now new impetus to European calls for a drone defense system of some sort

on the European Union's eastern flank. Responding to the latest drone incursions, Germany's foreign minister, Boris Pistorius, said his suspicions lie with Moscow. We are not at war, he said, but we are no longer at complete peace. Hybrid warfare, he said, is a new reality. Margaret Evans, CBC News, London. A Paris court found former French president Nicola Sarkozy guilty of criminal conspiracy. It involves a scheme to finance his two thousand and

seven campaign with funds from the late Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi. The court sentenced the 70-year-old to five years in prison. Sarkozy called the decision a scandal and said he would challenge it. The court ruled the incarceration would be enforced in the coming weeks, regardless of an appeal. 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 button and lock us in. Some say they save lives. To others, they're a cash grab. Speed cameras have been both praised and cursed across Canada. Now they're about to be scrapped on some of the busiest roads in the country. Philip Lee Shannock has more on Ontario's plan and the last minute push to stop it. Enough is enough.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he will introduce legislation to ban speed cameras. The automated enforcement cameras photograph license plates then vehicle owners get a ticket in the mail. Municipalities have seen how easy it is to make a quick buck more and more cameras have been set up across Ontario. They don't need speed cameras.

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow says the cameras save lives. Trontonians, especially those most vulnerable, need to be safe. And we know speed camera works. Myron Demkew is Toronto's chief of police. The roadways are statistically becoming safer because of all the different things we are doing. And speed cameras happens to be one of those things. A large-scale study by Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto Metropolitan University found the cameras reduced incidence of speeding by 45.

percent. Average speeds, they say, were reduced by 11 kilometers per hour. And while the city of Vaughan, north of Toronto has canceled its speed camera program, cities like Windsor, Brampton, and London have recently signed contracts with camera providers. Sean Lewis's London's deputy mayor. The Premier didn't consult municipalities. It's pretty hard to call it a tax or a cash grab when all you have to do to avoid it is drive the speed limit. Some Ontario municipalities are now asking if the province will cover the cost of broken contracts with camera providers. Meyer Simeatiki is a municipal politics expert. He says just as with the demand that Toronto remove its bike lanes,

the Premier appears to be imposing his will. The province seems to have a very big appetite for interfering and taking over municipal responsibilities, especially when such a move plays to a constituency that he wants to build on. Alberta has also placed restrictions on speed enforcement cameras. They can only be deployed in school and construction zones. Calgary Police Deputy Chief Cliff O'Brien says there's been an increase in fatalities. So we've had 25 fatals. We have to do something.

It's a patchwork across the country. BC got rid of speed cameras decades ago while Quebec strongly supports it. Ontario will give municipalities a year to get rid of their cameras and implement alternative traffic calming measures, such as speed bumps. Fultishanak, CBC News, Toronto. For a decade, the port of Churchill, Manitoba has sat dormant, which is great if you're a polar bear or a beluga whale. Now the only deep water port in North America with access to the Arctic Ocean

is being eyed for major upgrades, part of the federal government's plan for nation-building infrastructure. But there are concerns about the impact on wildlife and the tourism operators who rely on it. Karen Pauls takes us to Churchill. Chris Avery talks to port workers as they unpack pallets of supplies from the morning train. He's feeling optimistic.

So there has been some activity. We want more. Avery heads the group that owns the port and the railway made up of 29 First Nations and 12 northern Manitoba and Nunavut communities. The economic benefits of what we do will go back to the communities. It doesn't go back to Bay Street or Wall Street. The Churchill Plus proposal, worth billions, would upgrade Canada's only deep-water Arctic port.

And the rail line connecting it to the rest of the country, maybe even include an icebreaker and oil and LNG pipelines, aiming to become a vital link between Canada and emerging Arctic shipping routes. We're proud to be able to be part of our national solutions for our national goals, which is to diversify our trade, particularly away from the U.S., to become a global energy superpower, and also to assert our sovereignty in the North. So the opportunities for social, economic, industrial development is just absolutely unprecedented. But the challenges are enormous.

Faye Wang heads the Churchill Marine Observatory, the University of Manitoba researcher, is studying the potential impacts of more commercial shipping, such as an oil spill. There will be risk, there will be impact, and that's why we need to develop this knowledge to make sure we reduce that impact to the minimum. Talk to almost anyone here, and you'll hear concerns the port expansion would jeopardize a way of life,

tourism, and the animals that live here. David Daly takes tourists on sled dog rides all year round. He says Churchill has been reinventing itself ever since the Danes arrived in 1619, looking for the Northwest Passage. Come on, Rhea. Come on, Comet. He remembers a time when Churchill had 6,000 residents, some with the military, others working at the port. Now, maybe 800 people live here year-round.

Most work in tourism, but those who don't have few options. Yeah, we hope better jobs for our kids, better jobs for our grandkids in the future. But he also worries more commercial shows. shipping could impact tourism, and he hopes there will be more consultation. Tourism has saved Churchill. I think the people that have the tourism relationship here in town, I think that they're a little apprehensive about, like, is this going to be rammed down our throats? The balance is pretty critical here.

Churchill's mayor, Mike Spence, says this proposal could generate up to $1 billion in economic activity. But he knows that brings risks and responsibilities. You know, as indigenous people, we're stewards of the land. You know, we need to respect what a creator has asked us to watch over. A delicate balance between the economic payoff and the potential cost to wildlife and tourism. Karen Paul's, CBC News, Churchill, Manitoba. We end tonight with a British Columbia sushi chef pushing back on the old saying, the customer is always right.

When it comes to soy sauce, Philip Kim has plans. plenty of it, but he's running out of patience. I want to serve my food to them in the right way. So that's why I care about the amount of the soy sauce. Kim is the owner of Sushi J in Kitamat. The reasonably priced restaurant has always attracted customers, but recently it's been getting attention because of a new policy. No extra soy sauce.

Even if a customer wants to pay for it, sorry. After spending years trying to explain soy sauce, sauce philosophy to individual diners, Kim announced a new blanket rule in a Facebook post last week. Now there's a big sign on the front window. He's serious and standing firm. Nothing for you. The policy quickly drew comparisons to the famous soup Nazi character from the 90s sitcom Seinfeld. Kim says the reason he's being so strict isn't about money. Soy sauce doesn't cost him that much. He's more concerned about health.

and the integrity of his food. Soy sauce is high in sodium, and Kim was getting tired of seeing his carefully crafted sushi smothered in it. I don't want to feel guilty to destroy their health. I train hard 20 hours in the kitchen. To make a perfect sushi, it's very long time. They don't care about my food, and they just want to eat more soy sauce.

What do you think? Kim says customers have complained, even vowed not to come back. But he's also getting plenty of support from his regulars and others in the food industry. Kim says lots of chefs worry about their sushi getting drowned out by salty soy sauce. Few of them are willing to take a stand like he did.

Thank you for joining us. This has been your world tonight for Thursday, September 25th. I'm Susan Bonner. Talk to you again. For more CBC podcasts, go to CBC.ca.com slash podcasts.