Your World Tonight - Iran official sent home, new pipeline to U.S., AI in the ER, and more

Episode Date: April 30, 2026

The FIFA Congress opens in Vancouver — without representatives from Iran. The country’s delegation flew back home after the President of the Iranian Football Federation was denied entry into Canada. He was identified as being a former IRGC commander.And: U.S. President ‌Donald ​Trump has ​signed an order ​for a new pipeline ⁠to transport around a million barrels Canadian ‌crude a day ⁠to ⁠Wyoming.Also: New research suggests AI can help out in the ER. The study found diagnoses from AI were on par with those of human doctors.Plus: Furniture manufacturing in Quebec takes a hit, voter lists potentially misused, Strait of Hormuz closure has humanitarian implications, and more.

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This is a CBC podcast. The Revolutionary Guard has been listed as a terrorist organization for several years. The members are prohibited from coming. We have a series of screenings and we take action. The head of Iran's soccer delegation is denied entry into Canada. He's a former commander in the Revolutionary Guard and was on his way to Vancouver, which is hosting the World Soccer Federation's Congress just weeks before the World Cup kicks off.

Prime Minister Mark Carney calls the decision appropriate, but there are still questions about how he was granted a visa. This is your world tonight. I'm Stephanie Skanderas. It's Thursday, April 30th, coming up on 6 p.m. Eastern. Also on the podcast? Open the strait. Let all ships pass. Let the global economy breathe again.

A plea from the United Nations. to allow the flow of oil for humanitarian reasons, despite a shaky ceasefire in the war between Iran and the United States and an increase in angry words from both countries. And speaking of oil, domestic this time, U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order approving a pipeline to bring Canadian crude to U.S. markets. Soccer officials from around the world are in Vancouver,

but not the delegation from Iran. One of its members was refused entry into Canada after landing at Toronto's Pearson Airport, leaving many asking, how was he even allowed to get that far? Kate McKenna reports. We can review the facts available to us continuously throughout somebody's voyage and absolutely less, this shouldn't happen again. Deputy Immigration Minister Ted Gallivan admitted to a parliamentary committee this afternoon that Canada should not have allowed a former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, commander to fly to Canada. And so leading up to the FIFA games themselves, it's absolutely my accountability to make sure that we don't find ourselves in this situation again. For days, opposition MPs like conservative Michelle Remple Garner have questioned why the IRGC affiliated head of the Iranian

Football Federation Meditaj was given the green light to fly to Canada. There's no situation, there's no, there's no planet on which a high-ranking member, a member of a listed terrorist organization should be given a permit to come to this country. Crazy. Taj was part of the Iranian delegation traveling to a FIFA Congress in Vancouver. Iranian state-affiliated media reported after landing in Toronto Tuesday, Taj was denied entry into Canada. Another Iranian outlet reported that sources in the Canadian government said Taj had been issued

a temporary resident permit allowing him to fly to Canada. The assurance, the core assurance to Canadians is members of the Revolution. Guard rightly have been prohibited from entering this country and they will not enter this country. Prime Minister Mark Carney defended Canada's immigration system but says he can't speak about individual cases. Look, there are multiple hurdles in order to get into the country and I think the important thing is that those hurdles are effective and we continue to see that. Joshua Slehan is an immigration lawyer in Vancouver. He says this kind of case should not be approved. But this is a serious, serious security concern for Canadians. And when you look at the balance,

of factors, I think the Canadians have more of an interest in not having this person in Canada than they would have having this person in Canada. He says the Immigration Department can be inconsistent about who is allowed to have a permit to come to Canada. We see that all the time where we get approvals that shock us and we get refusals that are just plain unreasonable and unfair. Immigration Minister Lena Diab said she didn't know about the decision. The individual had no status to come into Canada.

that by the time they landed, they left, they are back in their own country. We are very much looking forward to learning what happened in this case. She says they'll look at what happened to make sure it doesn't happen again during the FIFA games happening in June and July. Kate McKenna, CBC News, Ottawa. Donald Trump has signed an order authorizing a pipeline project to send Canadian crude to Wyoming. The Bridger pipeline is seen by many as a sort of Keystone XL2. It could eventually transport about a million barrels of oil per day from the border to Wyoming and cost about $2 billion U.S. dollars to build.

But is it a breakthrough in Canada-U.S. relations? Well, let's bring in the CBC's Peter Armstrong. Peter, first of all, was this announcement expected today? Certainly not by many people. There has been talk that this might come, and really there's been talk since the original Keystone was killed off. Mark Carney brought it up very briefly when he met with Donald Trump at the White House a year ago. But to say this was a surprise to people not deeply embedded in this process is a bit of an understatement.

I do want to ask about the specifics of this pipeline. But before we get there, what does this tell us about Canada-U.S. talks? Look, I think that's important. And I had the same question. So I tried to ask around a little bit. And, you know, as big as this is, and it's big, Stephanie, don't get me wrong. it might not tell us much about Canada-U.S. relations in the state of Canada-U.S. talks. One senior government source told me this was a unilateral decision by Washington.

There have been telephone conversations, for sure. But it doesn't seem to be part of a broader Kuzma or tariff negotiation or discussion. All that said, we are talking about a multi-billion dollar piece of infrastructure that would carry millions of barrels of Canadian oil to American refiners. whether it's part of Kuzma talks or not, it's hugely important. And one last thing on that, it sort of flies in the face of the notion that Donald Trump keeps saying that the Americans don't need anything from Canada. Okay. Now back to the pipeline itself. What do we actually know about it? Yeah. So it really is basically Keystone XL 2.0, the one the Biden administration canceled. It has a slightly different route on the U.S. side, one presumably less likely to come up on the same obstacles political and otherwise that,

The original one did. And work had already started on the Canadian side, right? It had. Like 100 kilometers or so, a pipe was already laid. Is underground now. The approvals are in place. The engineering is done. The company that owns the rights, Southbow, it had started what it calls an open season

where they gauge industry interest in shipping via this pipeline. And that proposal would see about four or 500,000 barrels a day, but ramp its way up to a million barrels a day into U.S. refiner's. So you mentioned how this seems in the face of Donald Trump saying he doesn't need much from us. The other way, how does this fit into the Canadian government's plan to diversify away from the U.S.? I think that's hugely important as well. I ask that to Heather Exner-Piro, an energy analyst with the Business Council of Canada. Here's how she reacted.

I am annoyed that the one that we should be doing for our foreign policy, for our own national security, is the trickiest, the most expensive. And the Americans, wily as they are, have made, you know, sending more Canadian oil as easy as it can possibly be to keep going on that route. So this is a good step forward. More Canadian oil to world markets, or at least to U.S. markets, but still an awful lot of questions, Stephanie. Peter, thank you. You bet.

CBC Senior Business Correspondent Peter Armstrong in Toronto. Coming right up, the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed. Calls to open it and to allow the flow of oil to resume for humanitarian reason. are growing. Also, Quebec was once a giant in the world of furniture making, but the legs of the industry are being taken out from underneath by a combination of tariffs and cheap imports. Later, we'll have this story. I'm Christine Birak with the story of artificial intelligence versus an emergency room doctor and whether the latest AI can nail down the diagnosis with messy medical records. A new study suggests it can.

AI is not going to be a replacement. It might be another tool for us, a great tool for us. What this could mean for the future of health care. That's coming up on your world tonight. The war in Iran is stuck. Blockades and the price of oil have the world's economy over a barrel. And despite a truce, neither side is seriously talking about peace. Now the U.S. President is reportedly mulling new military plans as a crucial deadline nears. Katie Simpson has more from Washington. The problem with your statements, Mr. Secretary, is they are dangerously exaggerated. The credibility of U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth under scrutiny as he faced more intense questions at a hearing on Capitol Hill, attacks largely on partisan lines, sparking heated

exchanges with Democrats, including Senator Kristen Gillibrand. Because they believe in it as well, but they can't have it. You don't care whether the American people support this war. The American people are quite smart. They understand and see through spin. They know that a regime that says death to America that seeks nuclear weapons and the ability to deliver us, did they lie about the range of their missiles? Hague Seth argued that criticism is harmful to U.S. troops, launching counterattacks against anyone who has publicly questioned the war. Defeatists from the cheap seats who two months in seek to unlawful.

undermine the incredible efforts that have been undertaken. The hearing comes the same day, President Donald Trump was reportedly briefed on new military options in Iran. So, I don't know that we needed. Trump declined to say directly. One asked whether he's antsy to break the ceasefire, though he continued to make broad threats. We had Iran right from the first day. It was over.

It was over. And now it's even more so. We're so locked and loaded. if we want to do. Resuming strikes on Iran is something Israel is open to, according to the defense minister. It is possible that we may soon have to act again, he said. A ceasefire has stopped the fighting, but Iran continues to block the Strait of Hormuz, and the U.S. is blockading Iranian ports.

On Iranian state TV, a message purportedly from the Supreme Leader was read, stating U.S. military action in the strait is doomed to fail. The closure of the vital shipping route continues to have a massive impact on global energy prices. The price of gasoline, of course, is very, very high. We expect that that's a temporary phenomenon. Kevin Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council, repeating a familiar line from the White House. Attempting to reassure Americans, relief is coming despite no public plan for an exit strategy. Friday marks 60 days since the war began. By law, the White House needs to seek congratulations. congressional approval if it wants to continue the war past 60 days.

But Secretary Hegeseth doesn't see it that way. However, we are in a ceasefire right now, which our understanding means the 60-day clock pauses or stops in a ceasefire. His answer suggests there's no plan at this point to seek authorization from lawmakers in a war that has faced very little oversight. Katie Simpson, CBC News, Washington. Costs are going up for nearly everything because of the Iran war and those blockades in the strait. Humanitarian groups warn there may be another price to pay.

Widespread starvation. Sasha Petrusik reports. A white jet from the World Food Program flies over the barren fields of South Sudan, dropping bags of rice for the starving. That's almost 8 million people here, increasing every day. Also in East Africa, crowds wait for medical aid in front of a clinic in some Malia, Halima Jalani, carrying her young daughter. She has malnutrition, Jalani says, and a fever for three months. That weight for food and medicine is getting longer and more uncertain, as followed from the U.S.-led war in Iran,

hits those least able to survive it. You know, fuel costs here in Somalia have doubled in just a couple of weeks. Tom Fletcher is the humanitarian aid chief. for the UN inspecting a hospital in Mogadishu. And then they have to make even more tough choices about which lives to save and who to turn away. Today, UN Secretary General Antonio Gutierrez pleaded for the Strait of Hormuz to reopen. And the longer this vital artery is choked, the artery it will be to reverse the damage. And the higher the cost to humanity.

Higher fuel prices are a big part of the problem. The NGO Save the Children estimates every $5 per barrel increase in the price of oil keeps them from feeding 40,000 children, a month's worth of their food distribution, gone, says William Zidema, the group's global supply chain director. Yeah, and I think important to recognize the direct, but also in particular the indirect effects of this global crisis, because it's not a regional crisis. And that means less medication, less nutrition for children that need it. There are other challenges too. Some $200 million worth of the world's humanitarian aid

is stored in massive warehouses in Dubai, impossible to move out through a blocked straight of Hormuz. Some NGOs are using alternate routes, for instance a truck delivery. to Afghanistan that takes five weeks instead of one and goes through eight countries instead of two. Sam Vigerski is a former U.S. humanitarian aid negotiator at the U.N. He says opening up a humanitarian corridor through the strait is possible. But neither the combatants nor the U.N. has made it enough of a priority.

One area of agreement that both the U.S. and Iran have signaled is around humanitarian aid. And that means they should start their negotiation thinking about in the Strait of Pormuz having a humanitarian corridor. A much-needed corridor to deliver aid to those who can't afford to wait. Sasha Petrusik, CBC News, Toronto. The UK has raised its terror threat level from substantial to severe. Security officials say there is an elevated threat to Jewish and Israeli individuals and institutions. Prime Minister Kirstarmer said his government will. do everything in its power to stamp out hatred after two Jewish men were seriously injured

in a stabbing in London on Wednesday. Elections, Alberta is warning about the potential misuse of voters' information. A pro-separatism group has posted a searchable database online. The matter ended up in court this morning. Sam Samson is in Edmonton with more. Sam, tell us about the list and how it came to be published online. Well, this list contains personal information. of millions of voters in Alberta, including full names, addresses, phone numbers, and voting areas.

Our colleagues have viewed the database online, posted by a group whose purpose is to push for Alberta separation. So court heard early this morning that the list was legitimately obtained by the Republican Party of Alberta. That is a registered provincial party formed in 2022, and it supports separation. So Elections Alberta was actually able to trace that through what they call salted names. So Court heard each voter list released contains unique fake names planted to specifically trace that list to the legitimate party who received it. And that's how they were confident it originated with the Republican Party. So court then heard that the list was somehow accessed by the Centurion Project, another organization that supports independence. The leader of the Republican Party of Alberta told the Canadian press it had not received official communications from elections, Alberta.

but it would fully comply with the office. He added it issued a notice to the Centurion project that any information to the group that may have been allegedly received is not to be used. So the Centurion Group released a statement this afternoon. They say the Centurion app was strictly used by volunteers to find people they knew in a database.

They add that the data set was supplied by a third party and are aware of allegations regarding that data and plan to fully comply with the elections outper. investigation. And a court of King's bench judge has granted an injunction ordering the database be pulled down. That order, by the way, also requires both separatist groups to tell elections Alberta within four days everybody who's had access to the list. So we know that there are two campaigns in Alberta to have a separation referendum question. One is to stay in Canada, one to leave. How does this, if at all, play into the push for separation? We asked a political

scientist about this. So Fio Snagovsky, an assistant professor at the University of Alberta, says if the separatist group that posted the database is actively campaigning for the separation referendum question, having a list like this gives them a leg up. Access to the voter rule is super powerful. You know, being able to have a list of all of the registered electors and reaching out to them, making sure they go to vote, is a huge advantage to a third-party organization that I'll note that other third-party organizations in Alberta don't enjoy. You know, it's not like the pro-federalist side has access to that data. Elections Alberta says someone found guilty of breaking rules around voter lists

could be charged more than $100,000 or, if convicted by a court, could go to prison for more than a year or both. Sam, thank you. Thank you. The CBC's Sam Sam Samson in Edmonton. Canada's gross domestic product was up in February by 0.2% with manufacturing leading the way. There was growth in the making of goods like machinery and transportation equipment. But the country's furniture manufacturing industry is hurting.

Just this week, two Quebec cornerstones of the sector shut down. Kubino Oduro reports. Nadez Kutu has been an industrial designer at Quebec-based furniture maker, Best Star, for three years. On Thursday morning, the company shut down operations. People are very sad, she says. She is among 175 employees losing their jobs at the Lackmagantic location. Bestar filed for bankruptcy and says it struggled economically since 2021. After the pandemic, sales dropped significantly,

and recent U.S. tariffs made business unsustainable. It's the pride of Quebec, says Bestar VP Martin Tardif. It's the second time this week of furniture manufacturer, has closed its doors in the province. On Monday, South Shore Furniture in Quaterka, Quebec, seized operations. Between 2022 and 2025, the company says sales dropped by 77%. Daniel Cloutier is with Unifor, the union representing all these workers. He says companies already face a challenging economic environment.

And with China and Vietnam flooding the Canadian market with cheaper products, it's getting even harder. It's what we can call dumping. They deliver their goods in Canada lower than the... their production costs in a way that we cannot compete. Cloutier says South Shore and Bestar were considered two big players in the Canadian furniture industry. Bestar was founded 75 years ago and South Shore has been around for 86 years. It's also an expertise that have been developed since almost a century.

So when you lose that kind of expertise, it's pretty hard to get it back after. So it's very disastrous. The fear is with an unpredictable administration in the White House, more companies could be forced to close their doors for good. Partika Joshi is an assistant professor at McGill University. She says businesses are stuck in limbo. Companies are not willing to invest a lot in, say, manufacturing or updating because they just don't know how things are going to be one or two years down the road.

I do believe we will be seeing more of this. I hope not a lot more, but we will be seeing more of this. Last week, the federal government launched an inquiry into manufactured wood products. The goal is to protect Canadian producers from foreign competition. Although these two companies didn't survive, The hope in the industry is to be more protected and receive more financial support as they continue to be hit by tariffs. Kubino Duro, CBC News, Montreal. You're listening to Your World Tonight from CBC News.

And if you want to make sure you never miss one of our episodes, follow us on Spotify, Apple, wherever you get your podcasts. Just find the follow button and lock us in. Manitoba has decommissioned a search site at a Winnipeg area landfill. That's where the remains of two First Nations women were found last year. The previous progressive conservative government refused to search the prairie green landfill, citing safety concerns and a prohibitive price tag. Manitoba Premier Wob Canoe says the search ended up costing $18 million, a fraction of the PC's estimated cost.

All of the various arguments that the PCs tried to make their last election campaign about have been disproven. which leads me to conclude that this was never about cost, this was never about safety, this was never about feasibility, this was always about racism. Morgan Harris and Mercedes Myron were among four indigenous women murdered by a serial killer in 2022. The search for the remains of another victim, Ashley Shingoose, continues in Winnipeg's Brady Road landfill.

Doctors are increasingly using artificial intelligence in the ER, and a new study suggests the AI is doing well. In fact, it found diagnoses from AI were on par with those of human ER doctors. Christine Birak takes us inside a working ER to see what's at stake. So tell me what happened here. A man comes in after a fall to Oak Valley Hospital in Markham, Ontario. Something is off with his heart. Standing at the nurse's station, ER doctor Nur Katib goes over his chart with a waiting

room full of patients, the clock is ticking to find the cause. You're going to cardiovert him now? Okay, let's go. In the ER, everything's higher stakes. Cases can be complex and decisions come fast. Researchers wanted to know if artificial intelligence could reason like an ER doc and come up with a proper diagnosis. Now, newly published American research in the journal Science suggests, yes, it can.

Using the newest AI model, five observational test studies found that AI outperformed physician baselines. On complicated cases, it was correct roughly eight out of 10 times. It doesn't mean that computers can do medicine. Adam Rodman is one of the lead authors of the study. He's a doctor and AI researcher in Boston. It means that within this narrow task, it can solve diagnoses better than humans, which is exciting, but is only the beginning of the conversation. AI is not going to be a replacement. It might be another tool for us, a great tool for us. Back at Oak Valley, Dr. Katim is part of a pilot project. So when the AI tool starts, I click on transcribe.

Streamlining her patient notes. So then the patient's story, which is unique to the patient, is captured. Basically, help me spend more time with the patient. Less time on the screen. Less time with the papers. The American Medical Association says more than 80% of U.S. doctors are now using AI in their work, including platforms like open evidence. But there are limits.

The study evaluated the quality of the AI's reasoning in ERs. It did not look at safety or. effectiveness. The author's stress it would make sense as a second opinion. But experts say there can be downsides. The gastroenterologists that got used to using AI actually started performing worse when they stopped using the AI. So there can be a dependence and there can be a skill erosion over time. Dr. Nmole Verma is a professor of AI research and education in medicine at the University of Toronto. He says doctors still need experience to judge whether AI is offering sound advice. But he doesn't dispute its potential. I think if we're looking at AI, clear-eyed and straight in the face,

we should feel both scared and excited. I'll ask you to take a deep breath. Dr. Ketib sees the value. With the right guardrails, she hopes AI can safely be used as a tool in ERs to help quality care reach more people. Christine Burak, CBC News, Markham, Ontario. Finally, For years, kids ranging from toddler to teenager have met at the train station in Pemberton, BC, to welcome the train known as the Rocky Mountaineer. The kids call themselves the Pemberton Welcome Committee. Coco and Ride in Kawashima have been coming out since they could walk. When I come, I see how happy everybody is, and when I miss a day, I just feel like I should have been there.

Since I was like trains. I mean, it's a little early. It can be cold sometimes, but it's fun to be with your friends doing all this. The kids don't just wave. They put out a welcome mat. If it's raining, they hold umbrellas, so passengers walk to the station without getting wet. They've become a huge part of the experience for the train's crew

who often pass out pins and hats to the kids. But the tradition is in danger. C.N. Rail says it's cutting a section of the line that passes. passes through Pemberton. Sabrina McDermott says the group helped her son, Ethan, overcome his social anxiety. It's really disappointing. I hope somehow it can come back again in the future, and I know how important it is to the kids, so it's sad that this will be their last year.

Coco and Ryden agree. Yeah, I really want them to keep running it. I think it's such a great part of our, like, journey in their lives and stuff. We've been doing this for, like, a lot of years. so it's just going to feel so weird that it's not going to be here anymore. The welcome committee also says goodbye when the train leaves. The last Rocky Mountaineer to come through Pemberton is scheduled for this October. This has been your world tonight for Thursday, April 30th.

I'm Stephanie Skendaris. Thank you for being with us. Good night. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca.ca slash podcasts.