Your World Tonight - Deal or no deal, Keystone revival possible, cancer vaccine breakthrough, and more

Episode Date: August 19, 2026

Trade secrets: There may be a deal between Ottawa and Washington, but it’s still not clear what’s in it. The U.S. president says American farmers and manufacturers are going to be thrilled with the deal. The prime minister says it secures the best terms for Canada’s important sectors. And: As part of talks with Ottawa, U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing for a revival of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. The plan was to take oil from Alberta -- south to Nebraska. Also: A potential vaccine for skin cancer has positive trial resultsPlus: settler violence in the West Bank, calls for Ukrainian elections, and more.

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They called yesterday and they gave us the points that we had to have. Very fair deal for both. We're doing certain things. They were paying a high number. We're reducing it a little bit. It's good for everybody. Tentative deal. Canada and the United States

pieced together a trade agreement that if finalized, could halt or reduce tariffs on a range of goods. But little is known about its terms, like what this country is getting and what it's giving up. This is your world tonight.

I'm Kimberly Gale. It is Wednesday, August 19th, coming up on 6 p.m. Eastern. Also on the podcast. It's sort of like the zombie pipeline project that will never die. As part of those trade discussions, a possible revival for Keystone XL. The U.S. President teases the possible return of a cross-border pipeline project,

but many questions remain as to whether this will happen. Canadian trade negotiators have returned to Ottawa, as both the U.S. and Canada say they're working to finalize a new agreement. It's a step for Canadian businesses hoping to dodge 50% tariffs on billions of dollars of exports. But as Kate McKenna reports, details are thin. Thank you. Thank you. Now see, Jameson.

A handshake between Canada and the U.S.'s top trade emissaries on the front step of the U.S. trade representative's office, where for weeks, Jameson, Greer, and U.S. Canada trade minister, Dominic LeBlanc, have been meeting looking for a deal. Now it seems they may have one that Greer says they're happy with. We feel confident that we've reached an agreement that will not only continue to protect American workers, American jobs, American supply chains.

but really strengthen the North American economy. LeBlanc left Washington early in the afternoon, meeting the Prime Minister Premiers and Cabinet in Ottawa. In a statement, Prime Minister Mark Carney congratulated negotiators, saying Canada is moving towards an agreement that reinforces the Canadian advantage, including by securing the best terms in each of Canada's most important strategic sectors. But he didn't say what those terms are. Though a source with knowledge of the deal says it includes reducing steel and aluminum tariffs

from 50% to 25%. So subject to the finalization of documents, we have a deal with Canada, and I think it's a very good deal for both parties. U.S. President Donald Trump lauded the negotiations implying that the U.S. made some concessions. We're going to give something, and we're doing certain things.

They were paying a high number. We're reducing it a little bit. But that Canada also agreed to make changes. But our farmers are going to be thrilled, our manufacturers are going to be thrilled, hinting that they may have found an agreement on a long-time irritant, Canada's dairy quota system. But LeBlanc says the system remains intact.

Yeah, we had a very good conversation with the Prime Minister last night. Trump announced the news Tuesday night on True Social. Looming 50% tariffs are postponed until Friday at midnight pending a final deal. Trump also claimed that cooperation on the Keystone XL pipeline, transporting oil from Alberta to the U.S. Gulf Coast refineries, is part of the agreement. No Canadian has confirmed this, but increased cooperation on energy. was an ask from the U.S.

And Canada reportedly raised reviving the pipeline in talks last October. Former conservative leader Aaron O'Toole is on the federal U.S.-Canada Advisory Committee. Keystone and energy security I think will be a good thing if it's in it because the biggest thing North America has to maintain is energy security and food security. As of right now, there's no timeline for when details will become public, but still more than enough time for things to fall apart. Kate McKenna, CBC News, Washington. Neither Canada nor the U.S. have released details about what's in the proposed agreement.

Prime Minister Mark Carney met with his cabinet today before calling provincial and territorial leaders to brief them on the deal. Industry groups and the Prime Minister's own advisors have so far been cautious in their reaction. All of them, wanting to know more about what Canada has gained and what it's given up. Tom Perry has that story from my story. Ottawa. Back in Ottawa, after a marathon negotiating session in Washington, D.C., Dominic LeBlanc was saying little as he arrived at the office of Prime Minister Mark Carney to meet with his cabinet colleagues. Just a few hours earlier, in Washington,

LeBlanc offered only the briefest glimpse of what's in the deal he helped negotiate with the U.S., assuring Canadians it would protect the country's dairy sector. The Prime Minister was very clear. We needed to protect supply management. We needed to ensure that the supply management regime remained entirely intact. And I'm confident that that's the case. How that stacks up with U.S. President Donald Trump's boast, his new deal with Canada will be great for American farmers is unclear. And will remain so until the contents of the agreement are revealed. Vernik Prue is president of the Quebec Federation of Chambers of Commerce. She's waiting to find out more about what the deal could mean for the province's dairy farmers. This is an important sector for Quebec, and we've been pushing the federal government very hard to say, you know, we can't make more concessions on this sector.

But there's been very little information, what we've heard so far. Pru isn't the only one seeking clarity. Valerie Baudoin is a member of the government's advisory panel on Canada, U.S. trade. She's curious to hear more about the give and take that led to this potential deal, but understands why, for the moment at least, the prime minister is keeping a lid on things. So he's going to be careful with the words because it's not sign, it's not a final. Mark Carney's political opponents may not be as understanding. Opposition leader Pierre Pahliev says the prime minister has made big promises to Canadians on cross-border trade and now has to

deliver. We want him to keep his promise and get an even better deal for Canada than we had before. And conservatives are willing to do anything we can to help him keep that promise. After briefing his cabinet, the prime minister held a virtual meeting with provincial and territorial leaders. Karnie will need buy-in from the premiers on at least one issue. The U.S. has been demanding an end to a ban on American alcohol in place in most provinces. Premiers may need to decide whether this proposed deal goes far enough for them to do that. Tom Perry, CBC News, Ottawa. As we mentioned earlier, Donald Trump is putting the Keystone XL pipeline back on the table

as trade negotiations heat up. The controversial project would carry crude oil from Alberta into the U.S. And as Brian Labby reports, that's reigniting a debate nearly two decades in the making. It's sort of like the zombie pipeline project. that will never die. Donald Trump is raising the prospect of reviving the ill-fated Keystone XL pipeline. And Jatine De Silva, the former CEO of the Canada Energy Regulator, says with the U.S. President backing it, the zombie pipeline could have a new life.

If the U.S. president puts his weight in the weight of his office behind it, it is possible to see this project move forward. Trump posted on Truth Social, the great Keystone XL pipeline, long ago killed by Sleepy Joe Biden, may be awoken. from the grave. I thought it was actually a welcome comment because it actually adds potentially some leverage to Mr. Carney that he might not otherwise have had. Dennis McConaughey is a former Canadian energy executive. He says the long dead pipeline could help the prime minister secure a new trade deal with the U.S.

The value to Canada of producing more heavy oil over the next decades is the driving force economically behind us. And when Trump signaled it last night, again, it, it understands. scores the fact that the Americans recognize the value of that trade and would want more of it if they could get it. Obama stopped the pipeline. The pipeline has a long history that included fierce and sometimes violent

protests in the U.S. First proposed nearly 20 years ago when Barack Obama was in the White House. Keep your promise. Obama rejected it twice. Trump tried to revive it during his first term. The courts blocked it, upholding

concerns about the pipeline crossing through ecologically sensitive areas in Nebraska. Jane Cleb spearheaded opposition against the pipeline in that state. She says the Bold Alliance group she founded is ready for another fight. We have stopped this pipeline three times, and we would absolutely stop it for the fourth time if he tried to cross an inch of Nebraska's land. The new company behind the pipeline South Bow has yet to comment. It's working on something called the Prairie Connector, the same route as Keystone, on the Canadian side of the border.

It would carry nearly half a million barrels of oil a day and connect with another pipeline on the U.S. side to Wyoming. De Silva says there are options for Trump, even if the Republicans suffer losses in November's midterm elections. The U.S. also has the ability, of course, to declare something to be in the national security interest or a critical project. I mean, you could foresee a scenario even where the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would step in and build this project if directed by the president.

But for now, all of this, just the... the latest chapter in the story of a pipeline project that seemingly can't be killed. Brian Labby, CBC News, Calgary. Coming right up, calls grow within Ukraine to hold an election. There hasn't been one since the war began four and a half years ago. Plus, the major breakthrough for treating skin cancer with a vaccine. This is another step in the right direction to help things along for patients. The cautious optimism and potential for.

for treatment. That story coming up on your world tonight. As Russia's war on Ukraine drags on its fifth year, Ukrainian president Volodemir Zelensky is increasingly under fire from inside the country as well, criticized for his handling of a series of corruption scandals and high-profile cabinet dismissals. Now, his former defense minister, ousted last month in a cabinet reshuffle, is adding to the onslaught, challenging Zelen's and calling for wartime elections. Karen Paul's has more. A rare wartime protest Wednesday on the streets of Kiev.

Ukrainians chanting, people are the power, in support of recently ousted defense minister Mahalo Federov, who's calling for wartime elections. The government is lost touch with reality. It needs to be renewed, says Lassia Kaslova. Ukraine has been under martial law since Russia invaded in 2022. It means elections are legally suspended. Last year, President Volodymyr Zelensky said he's open to holding one.

Yes, of course. We are open for election, yes. But in a video posted online Tuesday, Federov said democracy can't be held hostage by Russia and calling for elections, quote, to restore a fully functioning democratic process. The bomb shall be. address from a former Zelensky ally and the man that helped him win the presidency is described as the biggest internal challenge to Zelensky since Russia's invasion. As defense minister, 35-year-old Federov was a technology-focused reformer, orchestrating Ukraine's move to drone warfare. But he also clashed with senior generals over strategy. Federov was fired last month. After only six months,

he rejected an alternative government role and has emerged as a potential opposition figure. He's cast his challenge in terms that really sort of defined this end of struggle for democracy. Bodan Kordan is a professor of political studies and international relations at the University of Saskatchewan. The crisis is serious and it's based around questions that really go to the heart of the matter about whether in effect the Zelensky government has the legitimacy to continue with the war. Others, though, don't see Federer. is a direct or immediate threat to Zelensky. Lubimer Lechuk is a professor of political geography

at the Royal Military College of Canada. Mr. Federov is a diligent, remarkable young man. I think he's positioning himself for that post-Zolensky future. Amidst constant attacks by Russia, Lechuk says it underscores why free and fair elections are pretty much impossible during war. You don't hold an election under bombardment. millions of your citizens are internally displaced.

Millions of Ukrainians are abroad. But it does raise the question. How long can Ukraine postpone democratic elections because of the war without undermining the democratic legitimacy it's fighting to defend? Karen Paul's, CBC News, Winnipeg. A Ukrainian man has been arrested over the 22 bombings of two Russian Nord Stream gas pipelines. Croatian police took him into custody on German charges. Prosecutors described the suspect as a trained scuba diver.

This is the second arrests in the blasts, which happened seven months into Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The siege of Palestinian homes by Israeli settlers in the West Bank village of Kusra is now in its 10th day. Israeli settlers have surrounded three homes in the village, blocking access to water, food, and other essential support. flies. The Israeli army is still on the ground, but has not removed the settlers or ended the siege. CBC's senior international correspondent Margaret Evans reports. That's my property line. They belong to me. Louis Ridi stands just inside his property line on the outskirts of the Palestinian village of Kusra in the occupied West Bank. The gate lying on its side, destroyed by heartline Israeli settlers who besieged it and other near.

by homes for days. Closed. That's my property. Reedy has just had a confrontation with a settler on his property. And Israeli soldiers are telling him his house is now in a closed military zone. What is he doing here? He's illegal here.

He's the one came to me. I didn't go to him. I was walking peacefully. I came here last night. I was in America. Ridi is a Palestinian-American who arrived back from the states this week to help his brother and nephew who are living in the house. I do feel for my family's life.

I mean, walking in my own property, and then someone coming out of nowhere telling me to leave and basically threaten me. Violence aimed at taking Palestinian land, hard-line Jewish settlers claim is theirs by biblical right has increased dramatically in recent years. Fueled, say critics, by a sense of impunity on offer from Prime Minister.

Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu and his pro-settler coalition partners. Analysts say the hard-line settlers are increasing efforts to grab as much land as they can ahead of elections in October. Dora Etkis is an Israeli activist who monitors settlement activity. What we see happening in the last month is that this violent is targeted more and more to the outskirts of public. Palestinian built up areas, villages, in other words. And Kusa, this is, you know, one of the best example.

Louis Reedy's U.S. passport and a request for help from the U.S. Embassy has brought a lot of media attention with it. The U.S. ambassador, Mick Huckabee, who is generally supportive of Israel's settlement enterprise, called the settlers involved terrorists. But he also said they were a very small minority. Edka says that risks masking the larger issue. The problem is the system which produces this type of violence. The idea that Israel can rule 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank, you know, through its military,

while more and more land is being grabbed and given to Israeli settlers. That's what Reedy fears will happen to his home if he leaves. If I want to listen to the soldiers and leave, that means, I'm giving a green life to that settler. Yes, you can take over next day. Even if Israeli soldiers do remove the settlers, he's quite sure they'll come right back again. Margaret Evans, CBC News, London.

Israel's top military legal body is opening criminal investigations into two incidents during the war in Gaza. One involved the killing of six-year-old Hind Rajab and her family in January 2024. They were in a vehicle in Gaza City that was hit by Israeli fire. She spent hours on the phone pleading for help from paramedics. When they arrived, the ambulance was blown up and the girl was killed.

The second investigation involves the deaths of 15 Palestinian rescue workers in Rafah in March of last year. Palestinian officials say their convoy was ambushed by Israeli soldiers. UN Secretary General Antonio Gutierrez is concerned by the U.S. decision to impose sanctions on two international criminal court officials. Washington slap sanctions on ICC President Tomoko Akane of Japan and trial lawyer Abdullah Sayy of Senegal on Tuesday. It's the latest escalation in the Trump administration's campaign against what it calls a corrupt and fatally politicized body.

Stefan Dujerich is the spokesperson for the UN. I can tell you that the Secretary General expressed a serious concern about this designation, as well as the ongoing designation of other international criminal court employees. While the United Nations and the International Criminal Court are separate institution, the United Nations considers the ICC a key pillar of international criminal justice, and the Secretary General very much respects its work. The Trump administration has now imposed a slew of sanctions against ICC officials for attempts to investigate countries such as Israel and the United States.

Since neither of those countries is a member of the ICC, they are not subject to its authority. The Halifax man who allegedly made a bomb threat against the U.S. consulate is now facing a terrorism-related charge. Ali Asakira was arrested last week. Police say the 54-year-old placed a propane tank and flammable liquids in his car before parking it near the consulate. The discovery of the vehicle on August 10th led to the evacuation of several buildings in downtown Halifax. Asakirae was originally charged with uttering threats and public mischief. Today, RCMP added the charge of making a threat against an internationally protected person, an offense that carries a maximum penalty of 14 years imprisonment.

It's being hailed as a landmark moment in treating skin cancer before the clinical trial is even finished. U.S. Pharmaceutical giants Moderna and Merck say they've developed an MRNA vaccine for melanoma. It's the same technology used to make some COVID vaccines and can be customized to individual patients. And they say the treatment is preventing recurrence. Megan Fitzpatrick has more on this story. Megan, what can you tell us about this clinical trial and what it found? So it's in a phase three clinical trial. And what they've been doing is testing the use of combination therapy. So the combination of this MRNA vaccine they've developed plus using a drug that's already approved and used in cancer treatment versus using that drug just on its own.

This trial involved more than 1,000 patients and some of them are Canadian. And this vaccine, the way it works is it's individualized for a patient. So once their tumor is surgically removed, a sample of that tumor is taken and it's analyzed to determine its unique mutations or what's called its fingerprint. And then a synthetic MRNA vaccine is produced based on that fingerprint. So when a patient takes the vaccine, the immune system can better identify the exact cancer cells that may be still in the body and attack them. So it's a personalized cancer treatment, which is what makes it really unique. And in this trial, the company said today that the results are showing that this combination therapy can reduce the risk of reoccurrence of melanoma

by how much they didn't say. But now it's a waiting game until the final results are released. least and can really be scrutinized. And I just want to emphasize this is not a vaccine to prevent getting melanoma. It's for patients who already have it. And the patients in this clinical trial were a specific set of people with melanoma, patients who were deemed at high risk of reoccurrence and who had had surgery to remove the tumors. So this all sounds really promising, but what are you hearing from cancer specialists about this news? We're hearing cautious optimism from experts in the field. We spoke to multiple medical specialists and to the head of melanoma Canada, which advocates for melanoma cancer patients. And they're saying this is encouraging news, but there's still a long way to go.

This is FallenCats from Melanoma Canada. This is another step in the right direction to help things along for patients. But really, treatment type totally depends on whether you are diagnosed early or late. But we are still losing three people every day in Canada to melanoma. So if this can help with that, then that's a big win. She said melanoma is the seventh most commonly diagnosed cancer in Canada. About 30 people a day are diagnosed with it. So anything that can be done to help alleviate their fears is welcome. So where do things go from here?

What are the next steps in making this treatment available? Well, the clinical trial has to finish. It's not done yet. Phase three, though, is the final phase of a clinical trial. And the companies didn't say when it will be done if they apply for approval in Canada, which they may or may not do. So if they do, it could then take quite some time. before this kind of therapy would be approved.

Dr. Remy Salle is a cancer specialist in Montreal. There is a hope coming, but we are not there yet. Unfortunately, having a news by itself is not enough. We have to pass through the whole regulatory pathway with Health Canada, as well as the insurers of each province to get access. This is not a one-month situation. This will definitely take between eight months to even a year and a half before this gets approved.

And that's a very right. rough estimate of a timeline. Again, if it's approved in Canada, the provinces and territories would then have to decide whether to fund it or not. And we don't have a price tag for this kind of treatment. We don't know how much this will cost. So there's still a lot of ifs and a lot of unknowns. All right. Thanks for this, Megan. You're welcome. The CBC's Megan Fitzpatrick in Toronto. And finally, you're hearing an autonomous robot at work pulling plastic out of the water with the help of magnetic nanoparticles and artificial intelligence. It's the creation of St. John's high school student Moroti Adebuge,

who later this month will demonstrate his invention in Sweden for the Stockholm Junior Water Prize. He says he thought of the idea after seeing a new story on a much less efficient method of plastic removal used by another student. I saw that how he was doing it was batch testing. He'd pour water, he'd pour plastics, then he'd pour ferroflu in it. And I thought that was a silly method. I thought that wasn't scalable. So I decided I would build an autonomous solution, a robotic solution,

that would skim the surface of water and pick plastics out of it. The soon-to-be grade 12 student created his own AI model for the robot and trained it using hundreds of photos of plastic in water. It locates the center of the mass of the plastic and sends it to the microcontrollers on board, which follow the AI's guide on how to move towards the plastic. And then, once it moves towards the plastic, the plastic comes on contact with the drum in the floor.

fronts. This drum is coated in ferrofluid. All it takes is a simple magnet to pull it out of the water. Atabuego won first place at a national science competition. He says automation technology like his is important as more plastic enters oceans and waterways. These are projects where swamps and wetlands, they've been destroyed. They've been damaged beyond belief. Plastic pollution is all inside of them. Right now in the world, a team of people have to go through the wetland and have to pick up each plastic piece by hand or use nets. It's cost a lot of energy for them to do this. Energy they could be doing organizing resources or, you know, deploying robots like these. As the young inventor heads to Sweden, he says he's excited to meet the other entrance from

around the world and represent Canada on the global stage. The idea of representing Canada is so amazing to me because, in all honesty, I moved here when I was younger and this country has given me a lot. And with the support of this country is the only way I could build a machine like this. Thanks for being with us. This has been your world tonight for Wednesday, August 19th. I'm Kimberly Gale. Good night.

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