Your World Tonight - Election call Sunday, China tariffs, Delta crash questions and answers, and more

Episode Date: March 20, 2025

Prime Minister Mark Carney will call an election on Sunday, CBC News sources have confirmed. The major party leaders have already started campaign style outings. Carney himself made an announcement about a GST break for first-time house buyers. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre pledged today to create pre-approved permits for major resources or energy projects called "shovel ready zones." But they both need something first – to get elected.Also: Canada is facing a 100 per cent tariff on canola oil and canola meal, and a 25 per cent duty on aquatic products and pork. But this time, it's not the U.S. imposing the levies. China has slapped tariffs on $3.7 billion worth of Canadian goods.Also: Hard questions about a hard landing: the Transportation Safety Board has released a preliminary report on a Delta Airlines plane that crashed last month at Pearson Airport in Toronto. The investigation is still ongoing... but a number of lawsuits against the airline have already been filed.Plus: Gaza fighting ramps up, Trump dismantles department of education, and more.

You don't have to face debt alone. We're here to help you regain control of your finances with Trusted Solutions. Visit Canada.ca slash debt dash solutions and take control today. A message from the Government of Canada. This is a CBC Podcast. It's time to build. We need to get housing supply up so we can bring costs down. It's time to bring home our jobs, energy and economic sovereignty. Canada first shovel-ready zones.

From roofs overheads to shovels in the ground, election promises from federal party leaders hoping to build up momentum when timing is everything. The schedule for a snap election coming into focus with the official election call happening this weekend and Canadians heading to the polls later this spring. Welcome to Your World Tonight. It's Thursday, March 20th just before 6 p.m. Eastern. I'm Susan Bonner, also on the podcast.

A few seconds later, the aircraft impacted the ground with that high descent rate. We have to figure out why all that happened to two experienced crew members in a commercial airline. New details about last month's crash landing at Canada's busiest airport, the Delta flight that flipped over on the runway in Toronto, a preliminary report reveals the aircraft's speed and information about the crew, answering some key questions about the crash, with investigators still wondering why it happened. The party leaders are spending more time at podiums and in a matter of weeks, Canadians will be showing up at polling stations.

Sources say on Sunday, Prime Minister Mark Carney plans to trigger the next federal election months ahead of schedule and officially setting in motion a campaign that in many ways has already started. Tom Perry reports. Merck Kearney taking his shot at the big leagues, Canada's new prime minister, lacing up his skates and hitting the ice at an Edmonton Oilers practice, getting ready to hit the trail in a federal election. We're offering a positive vision for the country, a vision of action. Kearney, who has never been elected to public office, still won't say when an election is coming,

though sources tell CBC News it will kick off on Sunday. Kearney says he wants a strong mandate, and today unveiled a policy his liberals will take into the campaign. My new government will eliminate the GST for first time home buyers on all new and substantially renovated homes under a million dollars. Carney's pledge is pretty much a carbon copy of one already made by conservative leader Pierre Poliev. Poliev was in Jean-Claire, Quebec today talking natural resources. He says a conservative government would speed up approval for major resource projects with a new tool. Canada first shovel ready zones. Areas pre-approved for large-scale industrial and resource projects. NDP leader Jagmeet Singh spent the day in Hamilton,

Ontario where he was endorsed by the United Steelworkers Union and where he took aim at his two main rivals. Right now we're focused on the election in front of us and the important choice that people have. You want to choose Mark Carney and Pierre Pauliap who've already shown you they're in it for the billionaires or do you want to choose new Democrats who are going to continue to fight for you and your family?

That's a choice in this election. Not all that long ago, this election looked like a surefire win for the conservatives who enjoyed a wide and seemingly insurmountable lead in the polls. That began to change when Justin Trudeau stepped down as prime minister, when U.S. President Donald Trump began slapping tariffs on Canada and threatening its sovereignty, and when Mark Carney took over as liberal leader. Eric Grenier analyzes polls at therit.ca.

It's one of the most unprecedented shifts in public opinion we've seen in modern history and when it was so unexpected. I think just makes this one of the most unique moments in Canadian political history in terms of just the way people's moods have changed over the last few weeks. Grenier says right now it's the Liberals on track for victory with the NDP fighting for political survival. But as history has shown, polls can change and they can also be wrong. Very soon it will all come down to the campaign.

Tom Perry, CBC News, Ottawa. With an election happening this spring rather than the fall, all of the parties are now in a race to find enough candidates. Trailing the pack is the Liberal Party, still recruiting in more than 150 ridings. But with a new leader now in place, the party has picked up the pace. Rafi Boujikaneen has more. Prime Minister, thank you for coming home to Edmonton today. Mayor of Edmonton, Amarjeet Sohi welcoming Mark Carney

to the city where the prime minister grew up. Thank you, Monsieur le Mayor, Amarjeet. It is great pleasure for me to be here. Carney first launched his bid for the liberal leadership in Alberta's capital too, fueling speculation he may run here as an MP himself. Still unclear whether he's doing that, but he is recruiting some local star

power. He's a public servant and he will continue to serve the Edmontonians, Albertans and I hope Canadians as well. Mayor Sohi is a former MP representing the city under Justin Trudeau, a member of cabinet before losing his seat in 2019. Two sources have told Radio Canada he will attempt a federal comeback. Sohi is not the only familiar face liberals are attracting to the fold. There's also former CTV and CBC television host Evan Solomon. He was fired by the public broadcaster 10 years ago after reports he was paid commissions

for brokering the sale of artwork to guests who appeared on his program. Among those guests was Carney himself, when he was the governor of the Bank of England. Sources tell CBC Solomon will run in the Toronto area for the Liberals. There's also former Quebec finance minister Carlos Letao, who will jump into federal politics, running on Montreal's North Shore,

and former CBC radio host Anthony Germain to run in Newfoundland and Labrador. It would have been much, much harder to recruit the star candidates just a couple of months ago. Daniel Bellin teaches political science at McGill University. He points out the liberals are in a very different place now than they were under Justin Trudeau and the economic threat represented by U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs and musings about annexing Canada. It was probably harder early on to recruit candidates or excellent candidates because of where they were standing in the polls. The Liberals are behind the other parties in finding enough candidates to run in all

343 writings, short by 150. Bellan says it's rare for a party to be this far back as the writs are issued and it wouldn't look good to just focus on the writings where they have more of a chance to win. You say, well, we won't have any candidates in rural Alberta because we won't win any seats there. You know, it might not look that good. So I think they would have to find a balance here. No party has a full slate yet, though the conservatives are in striking distance with

279 candidates recruited. Rafi Boudjikan, YonCBC News, Ottawa. Alberta's premier says no matter who the next prime minister is, they have six months to avoid what she calls an unprecedented national unity crisis. Danielle Smith released a statement after her first meeting with Carney this morning. She says she told him Albertans have been badly treated by liberals in Ottawa for 10 years and things need to change. She says Alberta needs unfettered ability to build pipelines and an end to the proposed greenhouse gas emissions cap. Smith also says the province will not accept an export tax or restriction of sales of its oil and gas to the United States

Coming up on the podcast canola farmers walloped by tariffs from China Donald Trump takes aim at the education department plus a phone hacking story with a twist, the police might be doing it. Tariffs are making waves across Canada again today, but this time it's not coming from the US. China has slapped 3.7 billion dollars worth of leves on Canadian goods including 100 percent tariffs on some canola products. Erin Collins brings us reaction from the farmers caught in the middle. On the still frozen prairie east of Airdrie, Alberta seeding time is just a spring thaw away. That fact has farmers like Ian Chitwood prepping for another season of tight margins and fickle weather. But this year foreign policy is top of mind

on tractors across the country too. With China I mean that's a that's a big big hit, 100% tariff. So that's that's the second biggest market. That Chinese tariff placed on Canadian canola oil and meal stings here on the Chitwood farm. A response to Canada following the U.S.'s lead on trade last fall, slapping tariffs on Chinese EVs, steel and aluminum. These canola tariffs kind of slipped under the radar for a lot of folks. Yeah, absolutely. It's not getting the attention it deserves. The canola industry, I mean it's as big as the auto industry in Ontario.

Across the prairies politicians like Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe are paying attention, pushing Ottawa to cut a deal with Beijing. This is the most urgent and pressing issue to the Canadian economy and to the Western Canadian economy is 100% tariffs on canola oil and canola meal. China imports about $5 billion in canola products from Canada every year. Most of that is seed, for now not impacted by today's tariffs. Getting a deal with China on canola likely means Canada budging on its levies on Chinese EVs. But Dean Roberts of the Saskatchewan Oil Seeds Commission worries that a looming federal

election could hold up negotiations. We need action sooner rather than later. The longer tariffs go on, the greater the risk of them becoming permanent, the greater the economic loss. And some worry the damage could already be done. Ryan Cardwell is an agricultural economist at the University of Manitoba. He says trade trouble with China and the U.S. has changed the game. The uncertainty and the destruction of sort of the trust in these trading rules

has I think done permanent damage, even if tomorrow things went back to sort of the way they were. For its part, the federal government says in a statement to CBC that it's committed to protecting Canadian workers and supporting farmers. But back at the Chitwood farm, those words are cold comfort as this trade war heats up. A feeling here that farmers are taking the hit for Canada protecting its automotive sector. It always seems from an agricultural side that we bear the brunt of retaliation. Canada's canola farms the front line of a trade war now being fought on two fronts. Erin Collins, CBC News, near Airdrie, Alberta.

The US president is one step closer to dismantling the federal department of education. Donald Trump has signed an executive order that will wind down the work of the federal agency, with critics saying the move will hurt some of the most vulnerable students and schools in America. Katie Simpson reports from Washington. Inside the East Room of the White House, surrounded by students, parents, teachers and governors. President Donald Trump signed the executive order to begin the dismantling of the Department of Education. It sounds strange, doesn't it?

Department of Education, we're going to eliminate it and everybody knows it's right. How exactly this will change education in the U.S. remains unclear. It's a small government agency compared to others with a budget of about 260 billion dollars and nearly 4,500 employees. And while the president does not have the power to close it down completely, that requires an act of

Congress, he's paving the way for firings and spending cuts, arguing the money is not well spent. The United States spends more money on education by far than any other country, but yet we rank near the bottom of the list in terms of success. Public schools in the U.S. are run by individual states. They cover roughly 90 percent of school funding and they set the curriculum. The Department of Education runs the federal student loan program and conducts civil rights investigations to ensure there is no discrimination in public schools.

And it helps to close funding gaps for schools in poor areas while also supporting programs to assist students with special needs. The 7.4 million children in the United States that have special needs will be in jeopardy immediately. Carrie Rodriguez is the president of the National Parents Union and is the mother of a child with ADHD and autism. She says she relies on the Department of Education to enforce laws that ensure schools provide equitable learning environments for all kids.

Without these protections and frankly without enforcement, parents have been left to struggle to fight with districts. Reducing the size of the federal government was a key election campaign promise for Trump and specifically dismantling the Department of Education. And the current status quo is failing our students. White House press secretary Caroline Levitt says some of the department's operations will continue, including the student loan program and some civil rights investigations. Any critical functions of the department such as that will remain.

The Trump administration is using the department to pursue its anti-diversity agenda, launching civil rights investigations into more than 50 universities over practices they say discriminate against white and Asian American students. And a recent department investigation found schools in Maine were violating women's and girls' rights for allowing transgender athletes in school sports. This is just some of the work that will continue, at least for now. Katie Simpson, CBC News, Washington. The number of people killed in Gaza continues to rise. After Israel launched another wave of air strikes, Hamas also fired rockets at Tel Aviv. The renewed fighting has sparked protests in Israel,

with many worried the resumption of war is putting both Palestinians and Israeli hostages at risk. Sasha Petrasek reports. Sasha Petrissick reports. Chaos and grief spread across Gaza, from the north where neighbours pulled bodies from houses hit moments earlier by Israeli airstrikes, leaving relatives crying out at the morgue, all my family is gone, to the south where more bodies piled up, including

two-year-old Omar. My only child says his father, Kaseem Abu Sharqia, he was playing with other kids in our home when Israel bombed it. His mother, Umm Omar, had gone through five years of fertility treatment only to lose him in an instant. I wish I hadn't woken him up to play, she says. Hundreds of women and children, mostly hit by shrapnel,

ended up at the Nasser Hospital, where American doctor Feroz Sidwa is volunteering. That's the kind of injuries that we're seeing. Very small but very powerful shrapnel that is penetrating people's bodies, causing injuries to their heart, their lungs, their abdomen, their brain. For other Palestinians, this was a day of renewed displacement. Hundreds of thousands beginning the trek from north to south, east to west.

Fleeing Israel's expanded ground operation with government spokespeople like David Menser warning civilians to get out of the way. Our forces now control central and southern Gaza, expanding the security zone and creating a partial buffer between north and south. Hamas also pulled away from the ceasefire today, firing three rockets toward Tel Aviv. One was shot down, two landed in open fields. At the UN, Israeli Ambassador Danny Danone denounced the militants. It was Hamas that slaughtered our people and for three months it was Hamas who stalled negotiations. Israel blames Hamas for rejecting its latest proposals to

release hostages and extend the ceasefire. Palestinians blame Israel for pulling out of an agreement to do just that, signed in January. Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour. If anyone needed more evidence that Netanyahu could care less about the fate of the hostages, his decision to resume attacks against Gaza is the ultimate proof. against Gaza is the ultimate proof. Many Israelis also condemn Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for abandoning hostages held in Gaza, with increasingly confrontational protests

demanding that Israel's latest defensive stop. Sasha Petrusik, CBC News, Toronto. Kirsty Coventry has become the first woman to be elected president of the International Olympic Committee. The two-time Olympic swimming gold medalist is also the first African in the job and the youngest ever to assume the role. The 41-year-old from Zimbabwe has pledged to expand Olympic participation and ensure the Games remain relevant to future generations. We will not waver from our values

and our values of solidarity and ensuring every athlete that qualifies for the Olympic Games has the possibility to attend the Olympic Games and be safe. Coventry will officially replace outgoing President Thomas Bach on June 23rd for an eight-year term. 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. There are finally some answers into how a Delta plane crashed and overturned at Toronto's

Pearson Airport last month. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has released a preliminary report as one key question remains unanswered. Nicole Williams reports. The unforgettable moment the plane came crashing down, catching fire, skidding along the runway and flipping over. All 76 passengers on board evacuated onto the snowy runway at Toronto's Pearson Airport. Miraculously, everyone survived, but ever since there have been questions swirling about how this could have gone so horribly wrong.

To help recreate the event, investigators conducted several approaches and landings in a CRJ-900 simulator. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has now released some initial findings. Ken Webster is lead investigator. Just before touchdown we know something went wrong. He says the plane was descending at a high rate of speed, which set off an alert in the flight's final seconds. And upon touchdown, the right landing gear fractured and retracted.

Which caused the aircraft to roll over and at that point the wing, the fuel which is stored in the wing ignited, caused a big fireball. It was by all classifications a hard landing. John Gratic is an aviation expert at McGill University. In this case all three wheels came down pretty close to the same moment which puts stress on the aircraft. Clayton Buffard from Dowling, Ontario was on board that day and says none of this is surprising.

As we were coming down there we were definitely coming down fast. A lot faster than what we normally did. That definitely was not an ordinary landing for sure. The TSB says it's still too early to draw any conclusions but one thing Webster does mention, the experience of those at the helm. This flight crew were both qualified for the flight. The captain and first officer flying the plane

had thousands of hours of experience between them. Even still, there are now a number of lawsuits against Delta claiming negligence by the crew. He is significantly injured. Andres Pereira represents one of those passengers from Texas. He has a fractured right knee and several herniated discs in his back as well as bruising from falling from the seat onto the ceiling of the aircraft. Many questions remain unanswered.

The TSB says these are complex investigations and generally take about 600 days to complete. Representatives with Delta Airlines and subsidiary Delta Air say they remain fully engaged in the investigation but won't comment further. Nicole Williams, CBC News, Ottawa. Ontario is seeing another sharp increase in measles cases. The province's public health agency says there are now 470 confirmed cases since the outbreak began in October. That's an increase of 120 new infections in just one week. The outbreak has resulted in over 30

hospitalizations including two in intensive care. Public health says the majority of cases have been among unvaccinated people. It's a controversial surveillance technology developed by an Israeli company and researchers say police in Ontario may be using it to spy on the public. Lisa Shing has more on how the technology works and why some say it could be a violation of rights and freedoms. We've discovered an all too familiar pattern. Kate Robertson, senior researcher at the University of Toronto Citizen Lab,

says she and her colleagues have found links between the Ontario Provincial Police and Paragon Solutions, an Israeli company that sells military-grade spyware to government clients. It essentially led us to the doorstep of an address that is described as the Ontario Provincial Police's general headquarters, which led to our conclusion that the OPP is a possible Paragon customer. The software, called Graphite, can be used to hack into phones. In January, Meta-owned messaging app WhatsApp reported to almost 100 users, their phones may have been compromised by it, including an Italian journalist and activists who supported migrants.

They take advantage of a flaw in the coding of that application. The technology is relatively new and sophisticated, called a zero-click exploit for a reason, according to David Kennedy, founder of Ohio-based cybersecurity firm TrustedSec. You could be through sending one message saying, hey, how are you? Some of them don't require any interaction, no messaging, nothing whatsoever.

So you'd have no early warning advance that your phone has actually been hacked, literally just happened. Likely the most high-profile use of similar technology. Tens of thousands, including activists, journalists and politicians, targeted by the Pegasus software several years ago. In 2022, the RCMP admitted it used spyware to collect data from cell phones, a major concern for Robertson, considering Citizen Lab also found several municipal police forces in the province could be using spyware too. And it calls into question about whether or not governments should be continuing to essentially fuel an industry that is by its own design a hack for hire industry.

And it inherently is trying to identify, develop and even harbor vulnerabilities that infect all of our phones. Ontario Provincial Police did not deny it uses graphite but says it uses tools and techniques in full compliance with laws and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. But that isn't good enough to protect the public, says NIA's Boussier McNichol with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. There's no legislation in Canada governing the use of spywares by law enforcement agencies. And that's why the CCLA has been calling for an immediate moratorium on the use of spywares

by law enforcement for several years because we need a public conversation about this. Public Safety Canada did not respond to a CBC News request for comment. Paragon's executive chairman John Fleming said in a statement, it does its due diligence to vet customers, making sure they operate within democratic systems. Lisa Sheng, CBC News, Toronto. Finally tonight, a Newfoundland figure skating team that's staying in sync and breaking stereotypes.

We're all pretty good friends because we always compete against each other and stuff. And after a competition, the idea of synchro came up. First it was a joke, but then we were like, you know, maybe we could actually make this happen. It's not a joke anymore. That's Blake Faulkner of the Boys on Blades synchronized figure skating team from Conception Bay South, Newfoundland. The first all-male synchro ever registered in the province. James Reese is also on the team. There is no just one gender sport.

Every sport can be played by everyone and I think that's what we need more of. The team is dedicated at the rink early for practice. They won second place at the provincial championships last weekend. Coach Hannah Poole says they're breaking down gender barriers and they're proof the sport is evolving. It was definitely predominantly female all the way up through when I was skating but now you're starting to see more same-sex ice dance pairs and same-sex synchro teams like this one.

Canadian skating officials hope the boys on blades can inspire others. They've been invited to speak on a Skate Canada panel about diversity this week. The boys hope they inspire others too. They say they're looking for more competition. Thank you for joining us. This has been Your World Tonight for Thursday, March 20th. I'm Susan Bonner. Talk to you again. Thank you for joining us. This has been Your World Tonight for Thursday, March 20th. I'm Susan Bonner.

Talk to you again.