Your World Tonight - Hantavirus cruise, Nova Scotia's digital health record system, Elton John honoured in Toronto, and more

Episode Date: May 9, 2026

In less than 24 hours, passengers aboard the cruise ship at the centre of a hantavirus outbreak will finally be back on terra firma. But their confinement has yet to end as health officials race to contain further spread of the respiratory virus. You'll hear how health officials are preparing, and how the four Canadians still onboard will be brought home.Also: Nova Scotia is rolling out a new digital health records system this weekend. The goal is to give all providers treating a patient access to the same information. But for weeks, critics have called for the launch to be delayed. They the system has already led to patient harms in one Halifax hospital.And: Elton John is being celebrated tonight in Toronto with an award that bears the name of another legendary pianist. John will receive The Glen Gould Prize tonight - for both his long music career and his humanitarian activism. Plus: Political turmoil for the U.K. Labour party, Job losses for Indians working in the Persian Gulf, and more.

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All passengers on board will disembark Sunday, including four Canadians. This is Your World Tonight. I'm Gina Louise Phillips. Also on the podcast, Kier-Starmor is up against the ropes. After a disappointing result in local elections, the British Prime Minister is facing a rebellion from inside his own party. And... Don't let the sun go down on me.

So many great songs, candle in the wind. And him and Bernie wrote these songs that will live longer than anyone. Grammys, Oscars, Golden Globes. There's hardly an award Elton John hasn't won. And tonight he's being honored with the Glenn Gould Prize in Toronto. In less than 24 hours, passengers aboard the cruise ship at the center of a hantavirus outbreak will finally be back on TerraFerma. But their confinement has yet to end as health officials race to contain further spread of the respiratory virus.

The four Canadians on board will be transported on sealed, guarded vehicles before being repatriated home. Alexander Silberman has the latest. In the port of Tenerife in Spain's Canary Islands, crews are building barriers and tents, preparing to carefully control the flow of passengers, with the hantavirus-stricken M.V. Hondias and some 140 people on board expected to arrive in the coming hours. And it will be done in a very choreographed, coordinated way, in a very protected way.

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhov, the lead expert on outbreaks for the World Health Organization, is promising a strict protocol. So the risk to the general public is low. The risk to the people in the Canary Islands is low. Everyone disembarking will first be medically checked to ensure they're not showing symptoms. And people will only be taken off the ship if a flight is already waiting to take them off the island. There are more than 20 nationalities of passengers on board, including four Canadians. As of now, no one is showing any symptoms.

Spanish health minister Monica Garcia says those disembarking will not take any luggage with them. Only a small bag with essential items. And all Spanish passengers will be transferred to a medical facility and quarantined. Officials are trying to ease fears from residents. With some in the Canary Islands upset, the ship will anchor there. Tannariff, the Canary Islands, it is tourism headquarters, right? This is not good for them.

Carrie Bowman is a professor of bioethics at the University of Toronto. He says there needs to be tighter maritime protocols on what happens with an outbreak at sea and where a ship should go. You know, if the carrier's Dutch, why aren't they heading for the Netherlands? I don't know the answer to that. I guess it's a lot further. The haundias first set sail on April 1st, but it wasn't until a month later that hantavirus was confirmed in a passenger. Health authorities have since been scrambling to track down the dozens of people who disembarked before. Six Canadians who were exposed are currently self-isolating at home in Ontario, Quebec and Alberta.

The illness causes flu-like symptoms and can be life-threatening. Dr. Lisa Barrett is an infectious disease specialist in Halifax. She says the precautions in place mean the risk of spread is low. That means that you have to really be close to someone for an extended period of time in order for it to move from human to human. It doesn't do that easily. Canadian consular officials will be in Tenerife to assist the four citizens evacuating. A Canadian public health officer will also monitor the process to ensure all health protocols are followed. Alexander Sliberman, CBC News, Montreal.

Mark Carney says it's time for Canada to make bolder decisions, both at home and abroad. The Prime Minister addressed international policy experts and political leaders at the Global Progress Action Summit. The conference focuses on the world's most pressing economic and security challenges. For more on this, I'm joined by the CBC's Shee's Cheyenne Desjardin. Shee, what was the main takeaway from the Prime Minister's speech today? Yeah, so at the crux, it's really all about Canada's future, but also making it clear he wants to work with other nations too. So there was dozens of current and former world leaders at the summit.

And this comes at a time of economic instability. You look at the conflict in the Middle East, how that's impact. things like affordability, then there's the trade uncertainty with the U.S. because of tariffs, evolving technology on top of all of it. So it's all leading to similar challenges for different countries. And today was really about hearing from one another to learn how everyone is navigating those obstacles differently. And one thing Prime Minister Mark Carney said in his remarks is working together is what's really important. All of that demands partnership. And there's no one-stop shop for that partnership. We need a variable geometry, a dense web of partnerships across those

core strategic capabilities and issues drawing on common values and interests because it's those common values and interests that will assure alignment and respect to those agreements. And from what we saw today, people from other countries are also on board with this idea of needing partnerships, whether that's in trade or in defense. And Kearney's goal at the end, obviously, to build Canada up, making it prosperous, strong and overall a good place for the people who live here. Well, it's one thing to strategize on global trade and cooperation, but here at home, people are feeling the pinch. So what has Carney said about turning these goals into actual

concrete relief for Canadians? Yeah, he listed off several examples of what government is doing. So if we look, for example, at work being done to address housing costs by building affordable homes quickly, then there's this plan to train up to 100,000 new tradespeople. And in his speech, Carlyne really emphasized looking to the future and building towards that. And at the same time, he said, you can't do today's job with yesterday's tools. So that means it's time for new approaches. We have to take risk, big risk. We have to take risks again.

Because in a crisis, fortune favors the bold. And so what we're doing is to motivate that risk taking, taking risks as government, but also drawing on Canada's history. And you did say as well that Canada's AI strategy is going to be released soon. It's important to remember there were lots of discussions today that included several Canadian ministers. For example, the minister of finance, the minister of AI, minister of foreign affairs. So it'll be interesting to see what they took away from those talks. And if anything changes in Canada going forward. Thanks for joining us, Sheehan.

Thank you. That's Shee and Desjardin in Toronto. Still ahead. If you're looking to show Mom a little love this Mother's Day, It's going to cost you. It's one of the busiest days of the year for florists. But bouquet sales are down, as the rising cost of fuel is making fresh-cut flowers even more expensive. And you'll likely have to pay more to get them delivered, too.

That's later on your roll tonight. Nova Scotia is rolling out a new digital health records system this weekend. The goal is to give all providers treating a patient access to the same information. But for weeks, critics have caused. called for the launch to be delayed. They say the system has already led to patient harms in one Halifax Hospital. And as Carolyn Ray tells us, one woman worries it may have contributed to the death of her unborn baby. It's not been easy at all. Cassidy Horn looks at a small box, filled with a baby's hat and sympathy notes. She was in the final weeks of her pregnancy

when her doctor started having concerns about the baby's growth. Ultrasounds were ordered, but didn't happen. Horn says hospital staff told her the digital requisitions were lost during the switch over to a new electronic record system. By the time she went in for an ultrasound, Horn's daughter had died. She says her daughter's death was preventable. They say that they're trying to take preventative measures, but I have yet to see actual fiscal proof of them trying to prevent it. The IWK, Halifax's Women's and Children's Hospital, was the first in Nova Scotia to launch the one-person one-record system in December. Lab work, schedules, operating rooms, even food services will be linked to it. Staff aren't allowed to speak publicly about the rollout, but more than 10 hospital workers told CBC News it was a disaster.

They say training was virtual and lacked job-specific instructions. And they allege the program is still being built. that documents can go missing. The head of the IWK, Dr. Krista Janguard, wouldn't answer questions about the specific concerns citing patient confidentiality, but says care always comes first. We have heard from the beginning that this has been stressful

and it has been a struggle. What we haven't heard is people saying that they don't want the system to work. My dad used to say, if you're not nervous, you're not ready. Meanwhile, provincial leaders are emphasizing OPR's potential. Gone will be the days of relaunch. buying on fax machines, patient histories will finally be gathered in one place. Premier Tim Houston says thousands of hours have gone into the planning.

The system's ready and the system will be better than it is right now. The issue has been polarizing. Last week, one of the biggest health care unions in the province called for a delay of the system's launch, while the nurses union defended it, saying it has seen progress at the IWK. Provincial NDP leader Claudia Chender says her party has been swamped with messages from concerned frontline workers. Everyone knows we need electronic medical records. It should have happened 10 years ago.

It should have happened 15 years ago. It's time for it to happen now, but it has to happen right. I really shouldn't have put my trust in the system to actually give me the adequate care. Cassidy Horn worries most people aren't paying attention because it's a computer program. The IWK says it's investigating her daughter's death. Horn says with no answers yet, the province should have never allowed OPR to expand. Carolyn Ray, CBC News, Halifax. For Britain's ruling Labor Party, there's really no other way to describe it.

The results of local and regional elections have been a disaster. Labor suffered a loss of more than 1,000 local council seats across England, while the Anti-immigration Party, Reform UK, has gained more than 1,300 seats. As Philip Lee-Shanock reports, the elections are being seen as an unofficial referendum on the leadership of Prime Minister Kier-Starmer. Voters in Edinburgh, Scotland, where Labour suffered a stinging defeat, reflect in how the party's leader factored in their ballot decision. Keir Stammer is a good man.

I think you just need to go back to the drawing board. He's really oblivious to what's going on, because I would potentially go back to voting Labour, depending on who took over. I think he's in the way out now. I think he's got to go. Although many blame his leadership for Labor's plunge and popularity since forming government less than two years ago, Kier Starmor refuses to resign. These results are tough, and I'm not going to walk away from this

that would plunge the country into chaos. Labor is blamed for an affordability crisis in a sluggish economy against the backdrop of war in Ukraine in Iran. I think we have to set out the path ahead, and that's what I intend to do in coming days, how we convince people about hope for the future. While Starmor spoke about hope, renewal and the future, he announced the return of two figures from past Labor governments,

including former Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Starmor is set to reveal his plan in a speech from the throne on Monday, but a growing number of his party would rather he set a timetable to step down this year. Labor backbencher Catherine West says hopefuls should step forward. Then Monday morning, I will put my name forward to stand for the leader of the Labour Party. Welsh Labour MP Nick Thomas Simmons says a leadership contest would be a mistake. We've seen what happens when a party in government just starts chopping and changing leaders. Kieran Pedley, political analyst at Ipsos, says the election results should be put into context.

It should be stressed that are local elections. Voters often behave differently to how they do at general elections. Still the main benefactor of Labor's collapse has been the hard-right reform UK party led by nationalist Nigel Farage, who said he was happy with results as he boarded a helicopter in London. A massive change in the political map of the United Kingdom, labour being annihilated in areas that they've dominated for a hundred years, and the Conservative Party ceasing to be a national political party. But an end to the UK's two-party system may not be a guarantee that Farage will be

headed to Downing Street. Labor also lost votes on the left to the Greens, so a minority government or coalitions may be the result after the next general election, which is still three years away. Philip Lyshenock, CBC News, Toronto. An airplane struck and killed a person at Denver International Airport on Friday night. It happened as a frontier airline's flight was accelerating for takeoff. The U.S. Transportation Secretary says the individual was a trespasser that jumped a perimeter fence. This passenger describes what he saw.

We were going pretty fast, and I felt like the plane started to tilt up. When out of nowhere, we felt like a thud and heard her like an explosion. And I was right on the wing, so I looked to my right, and I just see like the right wing just on fire. And then they stopped, shut it off right away. And then the cabin starts to fill up with smoke. And that's when they started evacuating everybody. At least 12 people suffered minor injuries in the scramble to get out. Five of them were taken to hospital. The United States will host the governments of Israel and Lebanon next week for what it calls two days of intensive talks.

The goal is to reach a comprehensive peace agreement between the two sides. The U.S. State Department says peace will depend on the complete disarmament of Hezbollah. Chris Brown now on how Lebanon's government says it plans to make that happen. Lebanon is at a breaking point. A brutal Israeli military campaign is demolishing and depotting. populating communities across the country south, while Hezbollah militants, controlled by Iran, vow to destroy the Jewish state.

Whether Lebanon can survive the stress test of this ongoing war may depend on shifting the loyalties of Shia women, such as 48-year-old Diyadhya Skafi. There are Israeli warplanes and drones all the time, she says. Only the resistance forces, Hezbollah are helping us. Lebanon's government needs Scafi to turn her back on Hezbollah and to let Lebanon's national army take over the job of protecting the country. That's the number one priority of the government of President Joseph Aoun.

But it's an immense task. Behind Scafi was a funeral procession in the village of Khafar Sir, led by a flatbed truck with 14 coffins carrying the remains of Hezbollah fighters and civilians. Lebanon's government, Israel and the United States, all say they're on the same page about disarming Hezbollah, but that involves a lot more than just taking away its guns and rocket launchers. Asbalah is also a political party and a social services provider that's deeply entrenched in Lebanon's Shia communities, about a third of the country's population. The strategy is very clear.

Lebanese cabinet minister Kamal Shahadi says his government is trying to show people, like Scafi, that Hezbollah is causing wars, not protecting them. Hezbollah is not only unable to protect the community. It claims to protect nor the south of Lebanon, but that, in fact, it's doing quite the opposite. But Lebanon's national army is weak and has historically been reluctant to confront the militants directly. That will soon change, says Shahadi, the cabinet minister. The strategy now is to start imposing our control as a government over. the capital and then we're going to start moving south again.

He says once Hezbollah's political influence is weakened, its military strength will soon follow. Makram Rabah is a Beirut analyst and he believes Hezbollah may already be on its last legs. People simply will not stay on a sinking ship. If people start saying that this ship is sinking, people will leave it. But even as it kills Hezbollah's leaders, Israel's military, may be making the job harder. It's also laid waste to much of southern Lebanon, which is giving Hezbollah a good reason to stay engaged.

If you look at Hezbollah, that's where everybody seems to be united against them. U.S. President Donald Trump appears to be angling for a photo op, proclaiming peace between Israel and Lebanon. He's nowhere close, but the Lebanese do have an opening to help their country reassert a strong, independent state. Now they have to see if they can survive the process of taking it back. Chris Brown, CBC News, London. The economic aftershocks of the U.S. war on Iran are rattling India.

Millions of Indians who live and work in Persian Gulf countries are losing their jobs and returning home with no job prospects. Freelance reporter Merli Krishnan brings us this story tonight. When Nisha Pelle left Dubai this month, it wasn't by choice. After years working in hospitality, she was let go as tourists stopped coming and hotels emptied. In the whole chain, everybody is affected. So smaller type of businesses which have closed down, they have let people go. Construction is affected. There's no industry I can say which is not affected. Pillay is now back in Coochie, a hometown where jobs are scarce. And like many others in her

position, she's waiting. There is a war. This is all a little, difficult for people and these things have affected jobs. So these things are scary. What she describes is playing out across the Gulf. Nearly 9 million Indians live and work in countries like the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. But since the start of the U.S.-Israel war with Iran, many now face unpaid leave or layoffs. According to government briefings, an estimated 1 million Indians have returned from Gulf countries. And those numbers are still rising. Asim Mahajan, with India's foreign ministry, says it is closely monitoring the situation. We are according to the highest priority to ensure the safety, security and well-being

of the large Indian community in the region. The war's impact is also beginning to show in India's economy. Remittances from the Gulf support millions of families. A slowdown there quickly creates ripples back home. And Kerala is particularly exposed. Nearly 90% of its overseas workers are in the Gulf. Of course, there is a feel that the impact of war on the economy is going to be a permanent scar. Economist Leka Chakraborti warns if the war drags on, the consequences will deepen. If this prolongs, the impact will be substantial, especially in terms of the household consumption. In terms of the indebtedness of the household, it's going to be,

A prolonged period of instability that could reshape how and where Indians work abroad. And many Indians, still in Gulf countries, now face a stark choice. Stay in wait or leave everything behind. Mudley-Kristin for CBC News, Kochi, India. Here in Canada, prices for fresh-cut flowers are sprouting up just in time for Mother's Day. Sabrina Fabian reports. At flower trends in Halifax, staff are working long hours preparing bouquets for Mother's Day. Even though it's a busy time, owner Lisa Bugden says orders are down about 5% to 7% compared to last year.

She says it's because her prices have gone up. The prices are slightly elevated. The big difference is the fuel surcharge. At this time of year, her flowers are imported from the U.S. and South America. So whether they arrive by land, air, or sea, the high cost of fuel makes transporting them here more expensive. And it's not just the cost to bring them in, but back out again to mom's front door.

It also contributes to a higher delivery cost for us. We use a third-party delivery service, and they in turn have, because of the overall cost of gas, had to institute a temporary price increase. On the opposite coast in British Columbia, flower shop owner Tammy Candela is able to source local products. But the flowers have to move from the farm to her shop in downtown Victoria, and that's costing her more. We do see it, and we're trying very hard not to raise our prices

for our customers, but there's only so far that you can hold the line. Moshe Lander is a senior lecturer of economics at Concordia University in Montreal. He says perishable goods like flowers are more vulnerable to price increases. So because you're constantly having to replace what's on the shelf, then when gas prices go sky high like they have in the last couple of months, you're probably going to see that show up on the label much faster than say something that can sit there for the next six months or a year. Lander adds that kids shouldn't feel pressured to buy something for mom if they're having a hard time making ends meet.

If you said, hey, do you mind if we just take a pass this year? I don't think there's any pushback. $70 and $40. 40. 40 cents. Okay. That's what I got there. All right.

Back at the Halifax flower shop, customers like Jacques. Van Wick say it's a steep price to pay. Definitely a big price jump in terms of everything. But you know what? Willing to shell out that extra few bucks for mom. So still going to go big with a decent size bouquet. But he says it's worth it for mom. Sabrina Fabian, CBC News, Halifax.

Elton John is being celebrated tonight in Toronto with an award that bears the name of another legendary pianist. The Glenn Gold Prize, sometimes called the Nobel Prize for the Art, is handed out every two years. It's being awarded to John for both his long music career and his humanitarian activism. Christine Pagulian is at tonight's gala. So, Christine, what makes this prize so special?

Well, the Glenn Gould Prize honors a living artist of any nationality with a lifetime contribution of enrichment through the arts. Someone who, like legendary Canadian pianist, Glenn Gould, is innovative and pushes boundaries. It's awarded once every two years, and Sir Elton John is joining a who's who of laureates, including Yo-Yo Ma, Leonard Cohen, Oscar Peterson, and Alainis Obam Sahuin. And in addition to the main award going to Elton John, which offers a $100,000 cash prize, he also personally selected a young artist to receive the $25,000 Glenn Gould Protégé Prize,

and that is Canadian mezzo-soprano and rising opera star Emily DiAngelo. I spoke to Brian Levine, the CEO of the Glenn Gould Foundation earlier, and here's what he had to say. Well, of course, he's a hitmaker par excellence. His influences reach from recorded music to theater to film, television. He's an egot. And someone who has nurtured and cherished young artists and helped them on the road to great careers, he is in every way what we look for in a Glenn Gould Prize laureate. Now, Christine Elton John was chosen by an international.

jury for this prestigious honor. So tell us more about why he's getting this award. Well, he's a music legend whose career spends decades with such hits as I'm still standing, don't let the sun go down on me, tiny dancer, to name a few. I spoke to Canadian tribute artist Jeff Scott earlier. He has been performing as epic Elton John for more than 20 years. We're like custodians of these songs now, especially for artists like Elton John, who don't do shows anymore, or don't tour at least. And we have a lot of younger fans, older fans, fans of the 70s, of the 80 songs, of the 90 songs, and of the more recent ones with Duolipa and Brittany Spears. So we get generations of families coming out. Elton John is lots of

Canadian connections. He's married to Canadian David Furnish and often spotted at local record stores during his visits in Toronto. Beyond the music, Elton John also has a humanitarian legacy. Several people here have noted that the Elton John AIDS Foundation was one of the first celebrity charities to fund research for HIV AIDS as far back as the 1980s when there was still a lot of stigma associated with AIDS. Well, and I hear it's a star-studded event. Who is at the event tonight? Tonight's gala is star-studded, as you said. It's a celebration of Sir Elton John's lifetime music career and activism. Some of Canada's top artists, including Diana Krawl, Sarah McLaughlin, the beaches, Ron Sacksmith, Jeremy Dutcher, and more were handpicked by Elton John himself to perform his

hits. Some of the songs in tonight's lineup include your song, Rocket Man, Benny and the Jets, and one of my favorite songs, Candle in the Wind. Sounds like quite the event. Thanks for bringing this to us, Christine. No problem. That's Christine Pagoo Lion at tonight's gala event for Eldon John. And finally, we lean into the Canadiana that will accompany the Rocket Man's Big Night in the Six. As Christine told us, a Canadian jazz singer will help honor the legend, adding her unmistakable sultry tone to the evening. That's Diana Kral, with a soulful rendition of Sory seems to be the hardest word. The song belongs to Elton John. The two artists have been in each other's orbit for years. She's described him as her hero and a musical influence as a girl growing up.

up in Nanaimo, BC. But it's Kral who caught Sir Elton's attention with her lauded talents and the two became friends. And now she joins an exclusive group handpicked by John himself to perform at the ceremony.

Kral and acts like the beaches and Ron Sexsmith will take their own spin on Elton John's classics, guaranteeing that he will, in fact, be feeling the love tonight. This has been your world tonight for May 9th. I'm Gina Louise Phillips. Good night.

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