Your World Tonight - Canadian sovereign wealth fund, attempted assassination charge, P.E.I. oysters dying, and more

Episode Date: April 27, 2026

Prime Minister Carney announces Canada's first sovereign wealth fund. You'll hear what it’s for — and what it will cost.And: The man who authorities say tried to storm the White House Correspondents' Association dinner with guns and knives has been charged with the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump, and more charges are on the way.Also: Growers on Prince Edward Island are throwing out huge piles of dead oysters. Some are reporting a 100 per cent mortality rate when they pull up their cages as the Island grapples with deadly oyster diseases.Plus: King Charles arrives in Washington, the push to lure Canadian tourists back to the U.S., the latest on fighting in the Middle East, and more.

Hi there, Steve Patterson here, host of The Debaters, the show where Canada's funniest comedians compete for your laughter. It's part stand-up, part quiz show, part comedy competition. This week's episode asks, do millennials make the best parents? We're covering from A to Gen Z. So don't miss this week's episode of the debaters, wherever you get, your podcasts. This is a CBC podcast. Many countries that are blessed with natural resources like Norway have sovereign wealth funds. The new Canada Strong Fund will give all Canadians a direct stake in building Canada Strong.

Canada's new sovereign wealth fund comes with some questions. Prime Minister Mark Carney says the initial investment will be $25 billion, but hasn't said where that money will come from, or who exactly can invest? The PM says Canadians can think of it like a savings account for the country. The opposition says it sounds more like a credit card for the liberal government. This is Your World Tonight. I'm Stephanie Skandaris. It's Monday, April 27th coming up on 6 p.m. Eastern. Also on the podcast? This political violence stems from a systemic demonization of him and his supporters. By commentators, yes, by elected members of the Democrat Party and even some in the media. Finger pointing after the shooting at the White House Correspondence dinner, a man has been arrested and charged with attempted assassination of the president.

but the White House says there is plenty of blame to go around. We begin in Ottawa with a plan Mark Carney claims will create investment levels not seen for generations. It's a state-owned fund to help build Canadian projects. Canadians can pay into the fund and earn money from it. Critics argue the scheme has a lot of holes and a hefty price tag that taxpayers can't afford. Ashley Burke reports. The U.S. has changed. That's their right. And we are responding, that is our imperative.

The Prime Minister positioning his latest pitch as a new way to fight back against President Donald Trump. This will be a government of Canada fund. But more importantly, this will be a people's fund. It will be your fund. Mark Carney says Canada's new sovereign wealth fund will be another way for Canadians who boycotted American travel, alcohol and food to get involved. but this time cash in on building Canada up. We will make it easy for individual Canadians to invest in the fund and therefore own a small piece of nation-building projects and share in their returns.

Carney says those financial returns will be in the long term. The fund is designed to partner with the private sector to pay for major Canadian projects. That includes critical minerals, energy and technology. One example expanding the port of Montreal. So does this stand to, benefit richer people. It is not something for, I'm going to use the term from your question, rich people,

it's something for Canadians, for all Canadians, everyday Canadians. The fund will be managed by an independent Crown Corporation, and the government will put forward an initial $25 billion endowment that's expected to grow. But finance minister Francois Filippe Champagne wouldn't directly answer where the money is coming from. The details of the funds, how it's going to be, the liquidity, there's a lot of very relevant questions you have, but I would say this would be for a later time when we have had the chance to have the consultation.

If it's poorly designed, it could be a big risk. McGill University professor Sebastian Betamie says Canada's fund is different compared to other countries because citizens can buy in. That's not common. I'm not saying it cannot work, but that's going to require some very specific governance and marketing message to make sure that Canadians don't misunderstand what this is about.

Chances are this is going to be a long-term fund that invest in long-term illiquid infrastructure projects. Not an easy one to get it and out if you're an individual investor. So how is that exactly going to work? Carney has no surplus. Conservative leader Pierre Pollyev is critical of the cost. He wants to put another $25 billion on the national credit card to gamble on a liberal slush fund

that will enrich liberal insiders at the expense of hardworking Canadians. The fund is expected to be a key feature in the government's spring economic statement that will be released tomorrow, exactly a year after Carney won the election. Ashley Burke, CBC News, Ottawa. The Prime Minister revealed a few more details to CBC News about what will be in that fiscal update. In a wide-ranging interview, Carney also had a lot to say about upcoming Kuzma talks and Canada's trade relationship with the U.S.

Watching it all is Catherine Cullen, host of it. of CBC Radio's the House. So, Catherine, first of all, on dealing with the U.S., what did the Prime Minister have to say? Well, Stephanie, during the election campaign, Mark Carney, told Canadians he would protect this country and try to get a good deal with the United States. Now he is suggesting he's protecting Canada by not signing a bad deal. He argued Canada is ready to make a deal with the U.S., but that some tradeoffs are not worthwhile. We need a good deal in the right time.

And what we don't need is chasing a deal or chasing a small deal that disadvantages us for the bigger deal. We're ready to sit down. We could sit down this afternoon and hammer the whole thing out over the course of the next 10 days. Now he goes on to say that it takes two to negotiate and the U.S. is, quote, not all the way there. What he specifically said there about tradeoffs is interesting. A small deal that could disadvantage us for a bigger deal. Remember, Canada wants to get rid of those sectoral tariffs, the specific ones on steel, aluminum, lumber, and more. But there is also this question of the bigger deal,

the future of free trade with the U.S. and Mexico, with Kuzma up for review. Now, Carney went further on this idea of bad deals, telling chief correspondent Adrian Arsenault that other countries regret their agreements with the U.S. You know, a lot of countries rushed into deals with the U.S. They weren't really worth the paper they were raised. written on. There's a lot of buyers, well, you can, well, I'll put it back to you and tell me which country you've bumped into that's pleased with their deal with the U.S. You don't think there are any? Well, certainly not in private. So he's saying every country

that signed a tariff deal with the U.S. regrets it. Okay, focusing back on this country. Tomorrow we're going to learn more about what Carney's government has planned for Canadian tax dollars in the spring economic statement. We've heard already about. the new sovereign wealth fund, but did he offer any hints about anything else? He did say that there would be something, quote, pretty dramatic in the statement about getting young people into the building trades. There are a lot of questions about what else might be in there about affordability as well, especially because while the deficit is expected to be lower than what was projected a few months ago in the budget, the levels of government spending are still

pretty eye-watering compared to the past. And Carney needs to demonstrate that at least some of this money being spent is helping Canadians now, not just in the longer term. Catherine, thank you. Thank you, Stephanie. Host of CBC Radio's The House, Catherine Cullen in Ottawa. The federal NDP's only Quebec MP is leaving the party. Alexandra Bula Reese says he will sit as an independent until the Quebec election campaign starts, then he will run provincially. Bula Reese says he'll be working on behalf of the same constituents with Sovereignty Party,

Quebec Solidare. Because we saw the destruction of public services and the attacks against the right of the workers by the government in the last eight years and the failure of those policies and right-wing conservative policies. The NDP is down to just five MPs in the House. Leader Avi Lewis says the party would love to keep Boulouillers, but his choice is one of principle. There are serious issues in Quebec and Alexandra wants to put his considerable skills as a politician and as a fighter for progressive values to work in his province, and we respect that decision. Bularis's eventual departure will trigger a by-election in his Montreal riding. Coming right up, the man accused of the Washington Press Dinner attack is charged with attempted

assassination of the U.S. president. Donald Trump's administration blames years of what it calls hateful rhetoric from the media and Democrats. Plus, the security concerns raised by the attack cast at least a partial shadow over another Washington event, a visit from King Charles and Queen Camilla. And while the Royals visit the U.S., new numbers show Canadians are still staying away. Later, we'll have this story. I'm Nancy Russell on Prince Edward Island, where the oyster industry has been hit hard by MSX and dermal. The diseases are not harmful to humans, but attack oysters, killing them in big, numbers. Yesterday and this morning I probably dumped around

close to $100,000 with oysters. There are so many dead oysters, they are dumping them on their driveways. I'll have that story later on your world tonight. Cole Allen made his first court appearance today. He's the man accused of Saturday's shooting at the White House correspondence dinner. The attack has raised questions about security for top officials and sparked fiery rhetoric from the White House. Paul Hunter,

her pieces together what's known about Allen and his motives. Today, the Department of Justice filed three federal charges against Cole Thomas Allen. The first count is attempted assassination of the President of the United States. With word, there are more charges to come for Cole Allen, the California man accused of trying to kill Donald Trump at Saturday's White House Correspondence dinner from Acting Attorney General for the U.S. Todd Blanche today, this rundown of how it all played out. Allen approached a security checkpoint on the terrace level of the hotel, which is again a floor above where the dinner was taking place. He ran through the magnometer holding a long gun. As he did so, U.S. Secret Service personnel assigned to the checkpoint, heard a loud gunshot.

One Secret Service officer was shot in the chest but was wearing a ballistic vest that worked. This heroic officer who was hit fired five times at Allen, who was not shot, but fell to the ground and was promptly arrested. On display next to Blanche at the Justice Department building in Washington, blocks from where Allen had just been arraigned, images of the weaponry found with it. Here's U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Janine Piro. These are the weapons that the defendant had on his person.

You can see that's a 12-gauge pub action, Mossburg shotgun. It's a 38 semi-automatic. He had at least three knives and all kinds of paraphernalia. So any suggestion that he wasn't there to do harm is absurd. Saturday night at the Washington Hilton, it was pandemonium. Just as Trump and a crowd of some 2,500 journalists, senior officials and others sat down for their annual dinner. Today, outside Allen's home in Los Angeles, federal agents began combing through whatever they could find, including electronic devices, looking for clues above it.

beyond an apparent manifesto, Alan is said to have sent to family members before the shooting. In it, calling himself the friendly federal assassin with a list of grievances against the Trump administration, though Trump himself is not named specifically. Good afternoon, everyone. At the White House, Trump's press secretary, Caroline Levitt, said the president is satisfied with his security team's response Saturday night. As for the apparent continuing rise in political violence in this country, she put it this way. Nobody in recent years has faced more bullets and more violence than President Trump.

This political violence stems from a systemic demonization of him and his supporters by commentators, yes, by elected members of the Democrat Party and even some in the media. Trump himself didn't speak today, but summed up his Saturday night on the CBS program 60 minutes last night. We live in a crazy world. Paul Hunter, CBC News, Washington. The shooting prompted a last-minute security review by Buckingham Palace. King Charles and Queen Camilla were given the All-clear to proceed with their four-day U.S. visit as planned. It's supposed to celebrate a special relationship between the U.S. and U.K., but it comes at a time when that relationship is on the rocks.

Katie Nicholson has more from Washington, where the royals landed today in time for tea. A British ode on the very American soil of joint. base Andrews as King Charles and Queen Camilla begin a four-day visit of the U.S., oddly enough, to commemorate 250 years of American independence from the Crown. It comes at a particularly tense time. U.S. President Donald Trump has been sharply critical of the U.K.'s reluctance to get involved in his war with Iran. It's immigration policies, a digital sales tax it imposed on American companies, and he's even had harsh words for the British Prime Minister.

There's been an accumulation of differences, disputes, harsh words, exchanged between Washington and London. And so this visit of the King comes at a perilous moment for the special relationship. Garrett Martin lectures on transatlantic relations at American University in D.C. If we're talking about dealing with those profound differences over trade, over Iran, over other matters, no, I don't think any visit, let alone the visit of the king, could fix that. However, what is important is I think it can change the narrative, it can bring some goodwill. And yet, outside Buckingham Palace, a reminder of how deeply unpopular Trump and this visit are with the British people.

People are really sick and tired of our appeasement of Donald Trump. Jake Atkinson is with the Stop Trump Coalition. The king is head of the Commonwealth, and Donald Trump has actually threatened to annex Canada where the king is head of state. So I think people will be looking at this and laughing at some of the absurdity at how we're basically stroking the ego of a man who is not behaving like a regular ally. The visit could also produce some awkward moments. The Jeffrey Epstein scandal has touched both the White House and the House of Windsor. The King's own brother stripped of his title over his associations with the sexual predator.

Epstein survivors have asked for a private meeting with the King, and many of them are on Capitol Hill this week pushing for new legislation. just as the King will address both chambers of Congress. It's something which is, of course, politically sensitive, domestically in both countries. Paul Hare was a British diplomat for 30 years. It won't be the King's first preference to really get further involved in that in terms of what he sees as his mission in the United States, which are the relations between the two countries.

Union Jacks are hoisted outside the White House's sprawling, Lawn Gates. Paula Wells, a Brit, pauses to consider the visit. Well, you know, it's been quite controversial at home, but, you know, I think it's important that we do keep up relationships. So, yeah, yeah, I hope they get out of it what they hope to. A hope shared no doubt across the Atlantic over at 10 Downing Street. Katie Nicholson, CBC News, Washington. Now let's talk about who is not visiting the US. Lots of Canadians. The grassroots travel boycott that started more than a year ago is still going.

As many in Canada consider their summer travel plans, some American tourism operators are coming here to convince them to book. Sophia Harris tells us how. It's been a great day here in Toronto. I love it. Las Vegas tourism officials are traveling across Canada to meet with local industry reps. Great to see you. Hi, I'm Derek.

Good to see again. In 2025, Canadian trips to Vegas declined. by 18%. Casino owner Derek Stevens says the group's main goal is to spread this one simple message. We're missing our Canadian best friends. We miss you and we want you to come back, come back to Las Vegas. To all Canadian residents, we're going at par. As an incentive, Stevens 3 downtown Las Vegas resorts are offering Canadians at-par deals for accommodation, drinks, and gambling. That means one Canadian dollar equals one U.S. dollar. No exchange rate, all the fun.

But it may take more than pleas and deals to convince some Canadians to end their boycott of U.S. travel. Canadian return trips from the U.S. plummeted 32% last month compared to March 2024 before the boycott started, marking more than a year of steep declines. It shows us very clearly the issue has not waned. It's not passed. Amir Ailon is CEO of a global travel research consultancy. There are those that may have thought that Canadian travelers will, quote, don't quote, get over it, hasn't happened. Well, it just all started with the tariffs.

There are just all these crazy tariffs that seem to change every day. Frederickton artist Bruce Newman used to travel often to the U.S. to paint landscapes. But like many others, he joined the boycott early last year after President Donald Trump started a trade war and suggested Canada become the 51st state. Definitely, while Trump's in office, we're not interested in going to the states at all. Many boycotters are still traveling. They're just going elsewhere. While Canadian trips to the U.S. decline last year, overseas trips rose by 9%. And domestic tourism spending increased by 2.5%.

Abbey Shoe is an economist with RBC. We're seeing more trips to domestic and other international destinations. So the story here is really a rebalancing in where Canadians are choosing to travel. Newman is considering a trip to Gas Bay, Quebec in the fall to paint landscapes. I miss the freedom of going to the United States to paint, but there's plenty to paint here. There's another looming hurdle for the U.S. tourism industry. The war in Iran is driving up jet fuel prices. The result, higher airfares, which could mean even more Canadians choosing to stay home.

Sophia Harris, CBC News, Toronto. Rogers Communications is offering voluntary buyouts to some of its corporate and business employees. The Toronto-based media and sports giant says it needs to, to cut costs. The move is expected to apply to thousands of jobs but doesn't include on-air people or those working at SportsNet at Roger Sports and Media. The White House says it's looking over Iran's latest proposal to end the war with the United States and Israel. But the offer suggests setting aside Donald Trump's main demand, scrapping Iran's nuclear program. And as Sasha Petrissik reports, that could be a stumbling block to get stalled peace talks going again.

In Tabriz, they salute heroes of the Iranian war. Its homemade drones paraded and praised for allowing Iran to stand up to the United States. Helping complicate a war that was supposed to be over weeks ago, helping Iran humiliate the entire U.S., says German Chancellor Friedrich Mers, by revealing Washington's lack of strategy in negotiating an end to the war. Those talks seem stalled after U.S. President Donald Trump stopped his key negotiators from traveling to Pakistan over the weekend. Now Iran has presented Trump with a new proposal offering to unblock the strategic strait of Hormuz in exchange for delaying talks aimed at pressuring Iran to give up its nuclear program. The proposal,

The White House has not responded yet, except to repeat, that Iran won't be allowed to develop nuclear weapons. Iran has since put on a show of international diplomacy, visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg, as well as Omani leaders. Putin praised the Iranian people's courage and desire for independence as they confront the U.S. in meetings with Iranian foreign minister Abbas Arachi. Arachi blamed the U.S. for blocking progress in talks and prolonging the war. Meanwhile, intensifying fighting threatens a related shaky ceasefire in Lebanon, with Israel expanding air strikes into the eastern Bikha Valley and Hezbollah militants continuing rocket and drone attacks into northern Israel.

Ali Hamaday is an editor and columnist at An Nakhar newspaper in Beirut. He says Lebanon is being deliberately pulled further into the U.S.-led conflict with Iran. But the problem is that the interference of Iran and Lebanon is huge and they are pushing Hezbollah to go to war, full-fledged war with Israel. A Hezbollah statement says it doesn't recognize the ceasefire negotiated by the government of Lebanon, while Israel insists it will respond with force. Sasha Petrasek, CBC News, Toronto. You're listening to Your World Tonight from CBC News.

And if you want to make sure you 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. PEI oysters are famous for their taste and quality. And increasingly, they are turning up dead. Cages full of dead oysters are being pulled from the waters this spring. It is devastating, a multi-million dollar industry and threatening the livelihood of hundreds. Nancy Russell explains the diseases behind it and why there's no quick fix.

This is the sound of thousands of dead oysters being dumped on a road in the rural community of East Biddeford on the western end of Prince Edward Island. A total loss for Kyle Hardy. 100% dead. We're going to take them up and put them in the woods. Just try not to think about it, I guess. It's pretty devastating, really. Hardy and his brother Tyler are third-generation oyster growers. Yesterday and this morning I probably dumped around close to $100,000 worth of oysters.

The oyster industry on PEI has been hit hard by a pair of diseases in the past two years. MSX and dermo are caused by parasites. They're not harmful to humans, but kill oysters in big numbers. In an industry worth more than $27 million. Tyler Hardy says the losses are adding up. Last year I probably dumped 300,000. This year probably 3 to 400,000. There's also a concern about MSX spreading,

so the Hardys need to take the dead oysters out of the water and get rid of them, dumping big piles in the woods and even on their driveways. Tough to watch for oyster processor Gordon Jeffrey. He's been in the business for 50 years. This younger generation right here, what are they going to do? That's their future here.

Jeffrey says the entire area is feeling the impact. It's hurting all the little stores, the welding shops, the outboard places, the truck places, the grocery stores. Because what's people going to do when all their livelihoods did? If the government don't help it out, it's not going to be gone. So we've got to get a little bit of help there. The provincial and federal governments have offered some financial supports. The industry is also hoping it will soon be allowed to import MSX resistant oyster seed from the United States. Tyler Hardy has seen what's happening and got his trucker's license to keep him going until the industry rebounds.

I was always on the water and I don't want to leave it. Even if the imported seed arrives this year, it's expected to take years, even up to a decade, for the oyster industry to recover. Nancy Russell, CBC News, East Biddeford, Prince Edward Island. Finally, it might be a bit of a cliche, but chances are some elder in your family has extolled the benefits of a good cup of tea. We even heard earlier that tea might help smooth relations

between the U.S. and UK. Well, a gathering in Montreal is evidence that a cuppa can certainly bridge generations. Students at John Rennie High School hold a high tea where dozens of local seniors are served cakes and little sandwiches and tea with a full helping just sitting and talking to each other.

Beverly Landry is one of the organizers. She says the idea came to her during the pandemic. Everybody was still really in the habit of living their own little separate lives and the teens would only hang out with themselves in the schools and the seniors really were, I heard from the community. quite lonely.

Emerson Mon is one of the students. He says it's not just the caffeine that opens eyes at the event. The only reason why people think that stereotypes exist is because they don't want to take the time to sit down and actually talk with like a senior. Because obviously the seniors are girls to have stereotypes about us. They think that teenagers can't listen. They're rambunctious or crazy.

But if you actually just sit down and we realize that we're all just nice people and we all just want to have a conversation at the end of the day. And the seniors agree. Encarnassion-Dillian, Dorothy Brophy, and Maureen Glover, were all decked out in flowery hats and flowing gowns. You learn something from them,

and you cannot go back to what you have before. They're very inclusive with each other and with the older people. They're wonderful. Everybody here, they're all dressed up and, you know, excited, and that's the best thing it could be. We'll raise a cup of orange pico to that. This has been your world tonight for Monday, April 27th. I'm Stephanie Skanderas. Good night. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca.ca.com.