Your World Tonight - High-level trade talks, Churchill Falls energy deal, olive oil fraud, and more

Episode Date: August 17, 2026

High level meetings are happening, but CBC News sources suggest Ottawa and Washington are still far apart in trade talks, as businesses brace for impact ahead of the arrival of those 50 per cent tariffs to be imposed by the U.S. on Wednesday. And: They’re calling it the biggest clean energy investment in North American history. But the new Churchill Falls deal between Newfoundland and Labrador, Ottawa, and Quebec faces a potential stumbling block: Quebec’s provincial election in October. Also: The olive oil in your kitchen may not be the real deal. Canadian food inspectors found one in three samples was fake or at least mislabelled. But local producers and importers say there are still ways to get high-quality food oil. Plus: Worst-ever Ebola outbreak in Congo, inflation breakdown, Kushner talks with Netanyahu, and more.

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The Minister for Canada-U.S. Trade has more meetings with his American counterpart. Whether there are any closer to a deal is unclear, as the Prime Minister says, he'll likely speak to the U.S. president before the Wednesday deadline. This is your world tonight. I'm Helen Mann. It is Monday, August 17th, coming up on 6 p.m. Eastern, also on the podcast. These projects represent the single largest clean energy investment in North American history. Electrifying agreement. Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador and the federal government sign a multi-billion dollar plan.

It would generate more power in the Atlantic province and boost supply to Quebec. Newfoundland and Labrador's premier calls it a wind. win-win, but that could change with the upcoming Quebec election. There's a last-ditch effort to try to stave off new tariffs being contemplated by U.S. President Donald Trump. Canadian trade negotiators were back in Washington today for what is being billed as the last ministerial meeting before Wednesday's deadline. Tom Perry brings us the latest.

Last minute talks in Washington, D.C., between U.S. trade representative Jameson Greer and Dominic LeBlanc, Canada's minister responsible for cross-border trade. LeBlanc and his negotiating team trying to reach a deal before Wednesday when U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened another round of punishing tariffs on Canadian exports. We're going to continue working. Our job is not yet done. Canada is trying to push back Trump's new tariffs and ease existing ones on Canadian steel, aluminum, autos and lumber.

The U.S. is demanding Canadian provinces lift bans on American alcohol for Canada to open up more of its dairy market to American producers and make other concessions. Prime Minister Mark Carney says he'll speak with the U.S. President before the Wednesday deadline, but is saying little about what his message will be. Frankly, we'll have opportunities over the next 48 hours to discuss in more detail as the negotiations go forward, and I think that's the best forum. Carney describes the current state of talks as delicate and intense, but says Canada is in a strong position. Erin O'Toole is former leader of the Federal Conservative Party and now serves on the government's advisory panel on trade. He says Canadian negotiators have made progress, but a deal is still uncertain. Because we're not just going to take what they throw at us. We have to forge a deal that is fair for Canadian workers, good for our economy, and respect some of the issues the U.S.

is raising. O'Toole says if there is no deal and Trump follows through with new tariffs, Canada will need to respond. The U.S. Trade Representative says Washington won't tolerate any retaliation for new levies, while Trump has referred to Canadian leadership as nasty. Karen Kaluowitz is a former U.S. trade negotiator. She says a deal can still be reached despite Trump's rhetoric. You know, it is easy to be distracted sometimes by what he says publicly, but I think he wouldn't not be having his top trade negotiator engaging with his counterpart for this long in such a serious capacity if he didn't believe an outcome could be found. Still, this is Donald Trump, which means literally anything is possible. Canadians, again, can only watch and wait. Tom Perry, CBC News,

Ottawa. Many small business owners across the country are scratching their heads, trying to figure out how a 50% U.S. tariff will affect them. The uncertainty alone is creating, major disruptions. And as Colin Butler explains, for Canadian companies built around American customers, there may be nowhere else to go. At online retailer hockey stick man, the sticks are stacking up. So is the uncertainty. We spent a whole lot of money. So it was kind of a kick when the tariff were started to come along. Joey Walsh has been selling hockey sticks for 15 years. He just had his greatest year in U.S. sales. He built this Vaughn-Ontario warehouse to better serve customers

on both sides of the border. Now a 50% tariff threatens the plan. The fact that they pointed hockey sticks out by name makes it difficult. Hockey sticks are probably the most Canadian item on a much larger list, one that runs from the rink to the kitchen table. Wine and cheese, honey, furniture, clothing, fishing rods, even cement and machinery. Starting Wednesday, U.S. importers would pay an extra 50% to bring those goods across the border, even if they qualify for duty-free under Kuzma.

If those tariffs are implemented, it's going to add a layer of cost, a layer of uncertainty. Jasmine Gannette is the Vice President of National Affairs for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. He says four in ten Canadian small exporters would be hit. Of those, roughly one in three, expects to lose half its revenue. For many small businesses, it means finding new customers fast. These efforts take time. You cannot just find new clients or supplier in Europe overnight. Cindy Baldassi doesn't have time to wait.

Well, as of this morning, I've shipped out my last U.S. orders. Last year, nine out of ten sales from her Calgary jewelry business went to Americans. She's still working out what pieces will be covered and how much she'd have to charge American customers. I have now shut down U.S. shipping on my website and my Etsy shop to make sure that nothing gets charged incorrect. Canadian exporters are running out of options. The clock is ticking and some aren't waiting for Wednesday. I have heard that there are producers shipping direct from extraction to the United States. Lauren Prins runs Gull Lake Honey near Lecombe, Alberta. He sells his crop to an Alberta buyer. But because the U.S. is Canada's largest foreign market for honey,

Prins could feel it without dealing directly with an American buyer. It will strand an enormous amount of honey on the prairies. And it could be really, really damaging to our price this year. The tariffs might land at the border, but the pain could spread far beyond it. Colin Butler, CBC News, London, Ontario. The tariff threat looms as new inflation numbers show prices. surged again last month. Higher gasoline prices are almost entirely to blame as the war between the U.S. and Iran drags on. For more on where things stand, I'm joined by the CBC's Peter Armstrong.

Peter, let's start with inflation. It rose to 3% last month year over year. What did today's numbers tell us? You know, the good news here is that the increase in prices has remained largely, at least, contained energy-sensitive sectors. That comes obviously. He has no surprise to anybody filled up their gas tank last month. Energy, prices moderated a bit in the spring as the U.S. kind of repletedly floated that idea that it was close to a deal to end the war in Iran. That deal never emerged. So lo and behold, oil prices went back up and we all started paying more at the pump again. The concern, though, was that inflation would spill over into other sectors. Has that been avoided? For now it has. But the longer the war drags on, the bigger the energy shock

becomes, the more likely it is that producers are going to pass on those extra costs. If you strip out gasoline, inflation rose just 2.2 percent, which is about where you'd like. it. Food prices are up, but we saw some progress there as well, right? Yeah, so grocery prices, they were up 3.9% in June. And today's numbers show that in July, they grew at 3.1%. So that's good, it's progress. But they also confirm how all of us feel at the checkout counter that even though the pace of increases is slowing, prices are up and they're up. 3.1% from last month, 3.9% the month before, and that steady increase that consumers are feeling and it just feels so relentless. All right, I want to pivot to the trade talks.

We could see new tariffs this week and new counterteriffs on U.S. goods. What will that mean for Canadian consumers? So the thing to remember here is that the American tariffs mean American businesses and American consumers pay more for Canadian goods. Conversely, if those go through and the Canadian government makes good on its threat to impose counter tariffs, those will be paid by Canadians and will squeeze Canadian businesses and Canadian households. The bigger thing, though, of course, that comes from all this is uncertainty, and that really does weigh on the economy. How heavy is that weight on the economy, then? You know, it's been a rough year.

Of course it has. The economy was weak before the trade war, is made weaker still by the tariffs and the uncertainty. But while the Canadian economy has been more resilient than I think a lot of us had expected, we have had very little economic growth in a year. We've only had meager job growth in that year. And where those tariffs have hit, they've hit hard. and it's important to remember if these next round of tariffs come in, where they hit, they'll hit hard too. Peter, thank you. You bet.

Senior business correspondent Peter Armstrong in Toronto. Coming right up, a deal described as a win-win-win by Newfoundland and Labrador's premier, what it means for the province's bottom line and Quebec's electricity grid. Plus the Ebola outbreak in Congo grows even deadlier. And later, we'll have this story. A new report says one in three bottles of olive oil attested is not authentic. That's why Canadian producers of other oils are making the argument that buying Canadian isn't just about economics. It's about trust.

Our products are quality, authentic, and very nutritious also. In fact, we're looking at olive oil. Olive oil is taking so much of the market. And now people are realizing that there's a big issue with olive oil quality, but there's other alternatives. I'm Gloria Enriquez in Montreal, Quebec. Later on Your World Tonight, how you can protect yourself from reaching for that fake olive oil. The federal and two provincial governments have agreed to what they call

the biggest hydroelectricity deal ever in North America. Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador signing a $70 billion agreement. It would see more renewable energy built in Labrador with support from the federal government. But this isn't the first agreement between the provinces, and as Peter Cowan tells us, this deal may also still get sidelined. These projects represent the single largest clean energy investment in North American history. After decades of complaints that Quebec is ripping off Newfoundland and Labrador,

Premier Tony Wakeham says today's deal is now win-win-win. The province gets paid more for the power generated on rivers in Labrador, and Quebec gets new power from $50 billion spent to triple the power. on the Churchill River. Prime Minister, none of us would be standing here today if it wasn't for your leadership. The federal government is guaranteeing the loans for these projects and putting in billions of dollars. Prime Minister Mark Carney says the federal government will help pay for new transmission lines to help bring this power to future mining projects in Western Labrador and Quebec.

So clean power to run sustainable modern mines. Transmission lines to bring power to where it's needed. ports to move graphite and iron ore to market. Each investment unlocks the others. This isn't the first time the provinces have announced a deal. In 2024, the previous liberal government had a deal with Quebec. Wakeham wanted a new deal to give more power for industrial development. But even this deal may not last long.

With Quebec Premier Christine Frasette's governing Coalition Avenier Quebec, trailing in the polls, it's now a campaign issue ahead of October's election. I see the party Quebec-wise is interested in tearing up. this agreement. Where will they find the 10,000 megawatts we are bringing to Quebec with that agreement? There's nothing stopping either side from walking away, but Francois Bufar, the McGill Professor of Electrical Engineering, says Labrador still represents the cheapest option for Quebec to find new renewable power. It's the low-hanging fruit. And I think when they're going to see the numbers, they're going to realize that, well, I guess we're going to suck it up.

Excuse my language and go with this deal. The deal also includes plans for 2,000 megawatts of new wind power. The Innu Nation will need to weigh in on that plan and maybe even be a part owner. Grand Chief Jodi Ashini wants to see the details. We can work together with the province and the federal government in Quebec to ensure that this is a deal that's going to be prosperous for the Innu and for future generations. During the last election, Wakeham promised a referendum on a new deal. But today, he says that'll take too long.

Instead, provincial politicians will weigh in in a special sitting of the legislature. Peter Cowan, CBC News, St. John's. Work started today to dismantle Tumblr Ridge Secondary School in BC. The school was the site of a mass shooting in February. Five children and one educational assistant were killed. BC's Premier says the plan is to build a new school in a new location, but the details have not yet been announced. The process to remove the old building and restore the site to grass

is expected to take several weeks. The defense lawyer for the man on trial in the murder of Tupac Shakur says police should know not to take his client's statements as truth. Arguments got underway today in the trial of Dwayne Davis, who was arrested in 2023 for Shakur's murder in 1996. Prosecutor Benu Palal says Davis orchestrated the shooting and bragged about it in a book.

You will learn that Dwayne Davis got the gun. You will learn that he got into a white Cadillac, you will learn when the opportunity presented itself for retribution, Dwayne Davis made sure that the shooters were armed

and ready to execute their revenge. Defense attorney Michael Sampt says Davis may have talked about the shooting of Shakur in 1996, but he wasn't involved. He says statements Davis made in a memoir were for entertainment purposes only. Really at the end of the day, you have to ask yourself if what they're saying is really truth or fiction, fact or fiction.

What they are telling you, they're representing it to be a fact when it really is fiction. Three other people suspected in Shakur's death have all died. American actress Hayden Panettier has died. Panichere was known for playing a cheerleader with superpowers in the TV show Heroes and a country music star on Nashville. She was sound unresponsive at an apartment in Greenville, South Carolina. Panetteer's death comes just a few months after the release of her memoir. She recounted the challenges of childhood stardom and her struggles with substance abuse. Hayden Panetteer was 36.

An American push to salvage a Gaza peace plan is bringing the U.S. Middle East envoy to Israel. Jared Kushner met with the Israeli Prime Minister today. Senior international correspondent Margaret Evans explains the latest effort to strike a deal and why landing one remains so elusive. The Israeli Gaza border last week, heavy trucks hauling supplies and military equipment into a large area closed off by barbed wire. It's a staging area under construction for an international stabilization force to oversee key elements of U.S. President Donald Trump's peace plan, the latest version of which was shot down by Israel's Prime Minister,

Benjamin Netanyahu last week. Saying Israeli troops won't withdraw from Gaza until Hamas fully disarms. Something Hamas says can only happen if Israeli soldiers pull out. Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has been sent into the region in a bid to break the deadlock, meeting with Hamas leaders in Cairo yesterday. Chatham House analyst Zizet Darkazali says the timing of the time. trip is significant. Keep in mind that President Trump does need a win, i.e. a concrete progress on the plan before the midterms, and given that all the other wars are not going as per the plan.

On Monday, Netanyahu voted in election primaries for his governing Lukud Party. He'll face a national election in October, along with his coalition partners, some of whom want him to re-establish Israeli settlements in Gaza. Veteran conflict negotiator Oliver McTurnon, with experience in Northern Ireland, insists it is still possible to salvage a peace between Israel and Hamas, even from a position of zero trust. We had the signing of the Good Friday Agreement when in principle the IRA agreed to disarm and to move from what they would say the armed resistance into political engagement, but it took seven years or more to reach a verifiable disarmament. Netanyahu's office released a statement after his meeting with Jared Kushner,

saying Israel and Trump's Board of Peace had agreed to set up two working groups on Gaza, one on disarmament and demilitarization, and another on sanitation and health issues. It also said they'd agreed that disarmament would happen before any reconstruction in Gaza. Markert Evans, CBC News, London. The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has surpassed a grim milestone. It is now the deadliest in the country's history. As CBC health reporter Lauren Pelley reports, officials worry just how far the virus will spread.

A brief moment of hope in Kisagani in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where Ebola is spreading faster than aid workers can contain it. The World Health Organization's Maria Van Kerkhov shared the footage over the weekend, showing one of the many teams working to combat the country's deadliest outbreak yet. We can stop this outbreak. The virus is now reported in six of Congo's provinces. Van Kerkhov says the goal is to scale up the response to all, Ebola hotspots.

But we urgently need resources to be able to support all of these activities to protect the Congolese people. More than 2,300 people have died to date, surpassing the country's previous deadliest outbreak from 2018 to 2020. Congo has recorded over 5,000 confirmed cases. It demonstrates, in fact, probably much more the true caseality rate of this very lethal pathogen. Dr. Esther Sturk is with Doctors Without Borders.

She says there's still very intense transmission alongside the high rate of death. People have bad access to treatment centers for different reasons. So either if they're sick, there's no treatment center available or they cannot reach it due to security issues. It's been clear from the very beginning that the outbreak has been outrunning the response. Johns Hopkins University Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Amesh Adalja says the crisis remains out of control. in part because of ongoing unrest in Congo and a lack of awareness of Ebola in remote communities. You can't really do anything if people aren't participating in contact tracing, if they're not going to Ebola treatment units, if they're still violence.

There's also no vaccine or treatment for the Bundibudjo strain of the virus, though multiple shots targeting this form of Ebola are now in early clinical trials, including here in Canada. But with so little protection available, the fear now as the outbreak could spread beyond, Congo's borders. I definitely think that there are more provinces in the DRC that are at risk and more neighboring countries that are at risk as well. Earlier this summer, there were 20 cases of Ebola and two deaths in nearby Uganda, but no new infections have been reported since late June. That country declared an end to its outbreak on July 28th. Yet Adalja said even regions that

are Ebola-free need to stay vigilant. Because this is a real possibility that it spreads to, for example, South Sudan or back into Uganda or to new provinces. Experts say the outbreak could stretch on for months or even years. Lauren Pelley, CBC News, Toronto. It's found in most kitchens. Olive oil is a household staple, but the labeling of this popular product might be deceiving. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says

one third of all containers of olive oil might not be authentic. Now an association of oil producers in Quebec is making the argument that buying Canadian isn't just about economics, it's about trust. Gloria Enriquez tells us more. We're proud of this because we know we're nourishing well the soul. We also know that we're nourishing well the humans. Chantal Van Wendin walks by her Camelina fields in St. Eduardo, Quebec, a 45-minute drive from Montreal. When in bloom, its delicate yellow flowers are propped up by thin and tall stems,

which hold small pods containing tiny 2-millimeter seeds. The field looks barren brown now after harvest. To produce oil, Van Wendon says, can be trusted and traced from the field to the bottle, unlike some olive oil out in the Canadian market. People are realizing that there's a big issue with olive oil quality. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency found that in about one out of three bottles it tested, the oil was either tampered with lower value oils or misrepresented claims such as extra virgin, cold pressed and unrefined. In fact, the CFIA says that out of all of the food it tested, olive oil had the lowest compliance rate for authenticity testing.

It's why Van Wendin and other oil producers in Quebec wrote an open letter to customers. We have to say to the world to people to Canadians that we do have other alternative. Olive oil fraud is a big problem around the world. Pascal Terrio, an agricultural economist with McGill University, says cases of fraud and mislabeling hit a record high in Europe in 2023. It is through Europol, which is a network of 29 European countries, that we already have 11 criminal network that were dismantled, that were committing olive oil fraud.

Here in Canada, the CFIA says in 2024 to 2025, it took action to prevent more than 7,000 liters of adulterated olive oil from being sold in the country. Michel Fabutsi imports olive oil. He says he takes measures to ensure the oils he brings into the country are high quality. He says he has visited all the producers and as an olive oil Somalier, he tastes every batch that comes into his warehouse. Michel says Canadians can protect themselves by learning, more about the oil they buy. He recommends tasting the product before using it.

It just smell grassy, not like walnuts. So the higher the quality, usually, the more peppery and bitterness it has because it has more polyphenols, which are antioxidants. Fabucci says the more information is offered in the labels such as harvest date, olive oil variety and place of origin, the better. Gloria Enriquez, CBC News, Montreal. And finally. Acadian blues rap group Choumeseer about a year ago, New Brunswick singer and guitarist Alexis Belivou was preparing a social media post for an upcoming performance for National Acadian Day and made a realization. There was no flag emoji to represent Acadians.

The people descended from French settlers who in the 17th, and 18th centuries, lived in the area now known as the Maritimes. So he got to work with a friend to launch a petition just ahead of this year's National Day this past Saturday. For us, you know, there's a lot of pride in the Acadian flag, and we think in a digital world, it would be nice to be able to express that through an emoji, really. So Bellevaux did his research and learned a non-profit organization named Unicode, is responsible for reviewing and approving

proposals for those little icons. The online campaign is intended to bolster their application and has already garnered thousands of signatures. It can be Acadians. It can be people that just support the culture or if you have a relative that's Acadian, you are welcome to sign and kind of push the movement. In the absence of an official emoji, some people have turned to sequencing the available options to assemble the flag, which looks like that of France with a yellow star, at the upper left corner. Believo believes having a real flag will help expose young people to their cultural roots.

A lot of kids have phones these days and I think we're just a lot more on our phones, on social media. And a way for Acadians to express themselves, I think it would be very important. And I think it also gets kind of the kids more involved in the Acadian culture, you know, some that maybe have been a little bit less exposed to it. Bellevots Chou Miserre played several performances over the weekend to mark National Acadian Day, the hope next year to post photos and videos from his shows alongside the Acadian flag. Thank you for being with us. This has been your world tonight for Monday, August 17.

I'm Helen Mann. Good night. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca.ca slash podcasts.