Your World Tonight - Jays heading to World Series, groceries push up inflation, GM closing EV van plant, and more

Episode Date: October 21, 2025

Canada’s only Major League Baseball team is heading to the World Series. After a full seven-game playoff, the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Seattle Mariners to secure their spot.Also: Food prices are helping drive inflation up. We’ll look at the rising cost of living, and what it means for Canada’s economy.And: Canada’s automotive manufacturing sector takes another hit. GM won’t reopen its EV van plant in Ingersoll, Ontario. It’s a blow to the industry, but also to the town that relies so heavily on the plant.Plus: Homeowners in Richmond B.C. fear their land titles are at risk, Auditor General blasts Canada Revenue Agency, pressure on Prince Andrew, and more.

This ascent isn't for everyone. You need grit to climb this high this often. You've got to be an underdog that always over-delivers. You've got to be 6,500 hospital staff, 1,000 doctors, all doing so much with so little. You've got to be Scarborough. Defined by our uphill battle and always striving towards new heights. And you can help us keep climbing.

Donate at lovescarbro.cairbo. This is a CBC podcast. It's a horrible situation. It's obviously the worst case scenario. The climate that we're in with the uncertainty, it's not a good business environment. And my only hope is that this is the bottom and that we can have brighter days ahead.

An Ontario community feeling powerless after General Motors pulls the plug on an electric vehicle plant, another blow to a Canadian industry struggling with tariffs trying to retool as more companies retreat. Welcome to Your World Tonight. I'm Susan Bonner. It is Tuesday, October 21st, just before 6 p.m. Eastern, also on the podcast. There comes the 3-2. He got him!

I've been a fan of the Blue Jays since I've known what baseball is. This group is something truly special. We got a couple of the T-shirts. I'm waiting for a hat. We'll grab a couple of those. They are Canada's team trying to win all in America's game. The Toronto Blue Jays are heading for the World Series and fans can't get enough. From tickets to merchandise, businesses across the country are cashing in on the team's incredible run. It was the hit heard round the country and Canadian baseball fans are hoping for more.

Millions watched last night. as a game-winning home run blasted the Toronto Blue Jays into the World Series. Now they will face the mighty L.A. Dodgers on baseball's biggest stage. Thomas DeGla has more on the expectations and the opportunities. At the Blue Jays shop in downtown Toronto, fans lined up all the way out the door for merchandise with that familiar bird logo and the words, American League champions. So we got a couple of the T-shirts. I'm waiting for a hat. So we'll grab a couple of those and take them home.

Christmas is coming. Right across the country, stores are doing brisk business selling Jay's gear. Like at Royal Sports in Winnipeg, Matea Sokino is the general manager. We get phone calls, people coming in all the time, buying hats, jerseys, shirts, hoodies, the whole lot pretty much. And for the first time in 32 years, the Blue Jays have won the pennies. Just hours after Toronto's come from behind game seven win last night, knocking out Seattle, the club put World Series tickets on sale.

Fans logged on to find a virtual queue with tens of thousands of other would-be buyers ahead of them. Within minutes, tickets sold out and started showing up on resale sites, with prices reaching five figures. I've been a fan of the Blue Jays since I've known what baseball is, and this group is something truly special. It wasn't long before fans started comparing George Springer's clutch three-run homer last night. To Joe Carter's World Series walk-off blast in 1993. Carter himself sees similarities between that Jay's roster and this one.

We pull for one another's, one another, and it was a different person almost every single game. And that's what these guys have. These guys have chemistry. and they don't strike out. Impromptu parties downtown lasted well into the night, and there could be more celebrations to come. The city of New York estimated last year each additional Yankees' playoff game injected at least another $20 million

into the local economy, and the financial data services firm Monaris estimates the Jays' playoff push could create a bigger economic spinoff than from the Raptors 2019 championship run. Sean McCormick speaks for Monaris. The Blue Jays have been around for longer and Major League

Baseball, on the whole, is more popular than the NBA. Toronto hasn't hosted the World Series since 1993. This time game one goes Friday with the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers coming to town. Not bad for

a Jay's team that finished in last place, just last season. Thomas Dagg, CBC News, Toronto. Now to another sign Canada's auto sector is facing a rough road. General Motors is ending production of its electric delivery van at a southern Ontario plant. The automaker says the decision is about demand, not Donald Trump, but with the U.S. President's tariffs upending the North American auto industry, companies and workers just keep struggling.

Sheehan Desjardin reports. This is the worst-case scenario. So my heart goes out to every single one of those workers. For the small town of Ingersoll Ontario, a massive automotive assembly facility on the outskirts, powers its economy. But production at the cami plant has stopped, some 1,200 people, potentially without a job. And Ingersoll Mayor Brian Petrie says the ripple effect will be devastating. The grocery stores and the coffee shops, everybody can feel when that plant's not running. General Motors Canada President Christian Aquilina says the electric delivery vans built there aren't selling.

It was a fraction of what it was originally anticipated. That's despite a taxpayer injection of hundreds of millions of dollars into the plant in 2021, a cutting-edge move to switch away from creating gas-powered vehicles and keep up with the booming EV industry at the time. Frankly, the world has changed and evolved since that time. This has nothing to do with tariffs or trade. It's simply a demand and a market-driven response. But Unifor National President Atlanta Payne is skeptical that GM's reason

The reality is when you're usually in these circumstances where a product isn't working, you're in a place where you negotiate a new product. It's not just about EV sales. We're also dealing with the other impact here, and that's a Trump trade war. It's just the latest hit to an industry on shaky ground, forced to navigate the uncertainty of American tariffs on vehicles entering the U.S. GM previously said it's planning to cut jobs in Oshawa, while adding more workers south of the border. Then last week, Stalantis said it's investing billions to expand manufacturing in the U.S., flipping plans to build the Jeep Compass in Ontario. Christopher Worswick is an economics professor at Carlton University. My sense is it's the instability and the threat of the tariffs that's perhaps causing these production decisions,

which does suggest that if the tariffs, you know, if the USMCA isn't renewed or is drastically changed, we may see much of the Canadian auto sector winding down. Companies are responding with different strategies, but there are no signs of a trade deal coming soon, adding to the pressure for Ottawa to find a solution. Melanie Jolie is the Minister of Industry. We need to make sure that we fight for these jobs, that there are new models coming back to Ingersoll

and that GM has a bright future here in Canada. Back in Ingersoll, Mayor Petrie says the town is bracing for the employees. We're certainly going to feel it in this community and others around not only Ontario, but around the world. General Motors says the CAME employees will get six months pay, and the company is trying to figure out what to do with the facility now. It maintains that EVs are still the future, just not the bright drop in Ingersoll. Shia and Adjaldane, CBC News, Toronto. It's not the kind of economic data you want to see in a sputtering economy. The cost of living is going up with the price.

price of food driving inflation. New numbers tonight show Canadians are spending more on things like beef, veggies, and sweets, and that might curb the central bank's appetite to cut interest rates. Senior business correspondent Peter Armstrong explains why. No, it's not your imagination. Everything really is getting more expensive. Just to ask Tony Giuliano, a Toronto resident, frustrated outside a local grocery store. How are you feeling about food prices these days? It's absolutely ridiculous, considering the rent prices too, just to be able to live. Down the street, Bob Kellery seems more resigned than angry. Well, they're too high.

Obviously too high, and many people are suffering because of that. And the fact that people are lined up in front of food banks makes it obvious. Grocery prices were up 4%. Rents were up 4.8%. Those two categories squeeze Canadian households, households already struggling with a downturn in the economy, and those higher prices hit the most vulnerable Canadians the hardest. It's preventing people being able to make rent once a month. That's Shannon Franzen, a housing advocate in Montreal.

In Quebec, rent surged way beyond the national average, increasing nearly 10%. Franzen says the pressure on Canadians has been tough and steady. People are making choices, you know, they're having to choose between paying their rent or buying their groceries. Rising inflation isn't just a problem for those of us trying to keep up with costs. It also poses something of a riddle for policymakers. You see, the main concern had shifted away from inflation and toward economic growth. As tariffs and the trade war bit deeper into the Canadian economy, the Bank of Canada started cutting interest rates to give things a boost. Bank Governor Tiff Macklam says,

it looks like the Canadian economy has dodged an outright recession so far. We do expect growth to resume in the second half of the year, but with weakness in business investment and exports and uncertainty about jobs, GDP growth is likely to be soft. The central bank was widely expected to cut interest rates again next week, but today's inflation numbers make that a slightly more complicated calculation. Nathan Jansen, assistant Chief Economist at RBC, says the bank has to look at a whole suite of solutions. Part of that could be lower interest rates, like we do expect another bank of Canada cut next week. But a big part of it can also be fiscal stimulus.

And by fiscal stimulus, Susan Janssen's referring, of course, to the federal budget now slated for November 4th. Peter, a theme of the GM story, the inflation story, is pain, layoffs, a weakening economy. What can actually be done to help Canadians? Look, it's important to be wide-eyed and open about this. The challenge is big. The risks the Canadian economy are enormous. And the problem is the solution to, say, higher prices is different than the solution to a weakening economy.

Higher interest rates would help with inflation, but slow the economy. Is there a way to slow the rising cost of living and not stifle growth? The bank can't do that alone, right? These next few months are going to require a pretty deft hand. Economists still believe the bank Canada can and will cut interest rates next week. least in part, because it's still at what they call a neutral level. It's not really stimulating the economy that gives it some wiggle room here. Does that buy it some time also, Peter, to see the federal budget and its possible impact?

I think so, right? Ottawa has piles of stimulus lined up, support for steelworkers, industries impacted by the tariffs. Time to see if maybe there really is something to these rumors of a partial trade deal that could be close because, of course, it has another interest rate decision looming all the way in December. Thank you, Peter. You bet. Peter Armstrong here in Toronto. Coming right up, a First Nation land claim in British Columbia

has homeowners worried about the future of their property and press one for service that isn't timely or accurate. The Auditor General takes aim at CRA call centers. Later, we'll have this story. I'm Chris Brown. Prince Andrew is facing renewed scrutiny After Virginia, Joufrey's memoirs were published today, six months after she died by suicide. Very powerful in that it's from the grave with so many damaging allegations about Andrew.

The royal scandal that King Charles can't seem to contain coming up on your world tonight. A land claim that dates back centuries has some British Columbia homeowners worried about the next few years. A BC court has given a First Nation the right to about 800 acres of land, an area that includes homes, farms, and a golf course. As Yasmin Renaya explains, ownership is now in question and the legal battle is far from over. We want to live here as long as possible. Anna Wojdewich and her husband Paul have lived in their Richmond, BC home just outside of Vancouver for nearly 40 years. She inherited it from her father, who bought it almost a century ago, but now fears she won't be able to pass it on to her children.

I said to Paul the other morning I got up and I was just, I don't know who I am even anymore. The city has told the couple and about 150 other property owners that a landmark court decision could compromise their ownership status and invited them to an information session next week. If 150 properties are grabbed here, we have to get together. and protest against them. In August, after an 11-year legal battle, the BC Supreme Court ruled the Cowichin Nation has the right to about 800 acres of land,

land that includes multi-million dollar mansions and blueberry farms. The Cowichin Nation on Vancouver Island argues its ancestors use the land in the summers for fishing and hunting. Critics say the court decision could dismantle the modern system of property ownership in BC

and potentially across Canada. I don't think that they need to be in a position of fear. Robert Morales, a member of the Cowichin and its chief negotiator, says the nation does not want to displace private landowners. He says its dispute is with corporations and governments. It is the responsibility of government to deal with this issue. The BC government and the city of Richmond are among those who plan to appeal, BC Premier David E.B. We are arguing to defend those private property rights of those homeowners. The court decision wouldn't come into.

effect until February 2027 to give the party's time to, quote, make the necessary arrangements. In her ruling, Justice Barbara Young says the Cowchin are seeking a mechanism to negotiate the reconciliation of their Aboriginal title. But what exactly that mechanism is, is unclear. The Cowichin are also appealing, arguing a bigger chunk of land in the area belongs to the First Nation. These issues are complex. Merrill Alexander is an indigenous resource lawyer who doesn't think further litigation is the solution. There already are negotiated models that have worked, and those same models, I think, can exist here. We're not going to get pushed out.

Meant, Anna Wojdewich is adamant. She's going to stay in her home as long as she can. Yasim Ganea, CBC News, Vancouver. Canada's Auditor General says the CRA needs to overhaul the way it takes calls from Canadians. In a new report, the AG found call center agents repeatedly failed to answer on time, and when they did, the info provided was often wrong. Marina von Staclberg has details. Thank you for calling the Canada Revenue Agency's individual tax inquiry service.

Roxanne Bois has been trying to get a hold of the Canada Revenue Agency for months. You know, you had no option to hold. It was, please try again later. All of our representatives are busy, and you couldn't wait it out. This spring, the Sudbury-Ontario mom made an error on her tax return. CRA froze her benefits and told her she owed $20,000. Since then, she's been trying to get it fixed. I called and I called and I called and I didn't get through for months.

I would call different times. Turns out her experience is what many Canadians deal with when they try to call CRA. A damning report out today from the country's auditor general has found widespread problems with the contact center. The watchdog found the CRA failed to answer calls on time. On average, Canadians waited more than half an hour. They should expect to reach CRA and get accurate information. Auditor General Karen Hogan also found when agents eventually do pick up,

they often give wrong information. Canadians calling about personal income tax only received a correct answer 17% of the time. When you call to ask general questions, so for example, a member of my family passed away in December, when should I file their tax return? That kind of information was inaccurate. The call center also deflected 8.6 million calls last year. That means many customers never got to speak with an agent at all. Complaints have soared. Certainly not the employee's fault. Mark Breyer is with the union for CRA employees. He says thousands of jobs have been cut in the call center. The ongoing training is almost non-existent.

This is a big problem. The working conditions and the call centers at the CERI are terrible. There's a lot of pressure, undue pressure on the employees, to reduce the call handling time to ensure calls as fast as possible, but that has an effect on the quality of the service. Last month, Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne directed the CRA to come up with a plan to improve in 100 days. He says more staff have been hired.

Our tools are outdated, that's what we're pushing, is that adopting technology remove, you know, there's processes that needs to be improved. The auditor general recommends the CRA figure out a better system to triage calls so the more people like Roxanne Bois can get through. I just can't imagine how many other people are facing such frustrating situations. I'm selecting one of the following option. Hua says she'll keep calling CRA, hoping to find out if she owes the government tens of thousands

of dollars, or if the government. Ours her. Marina von Stackleberg, CBC News, Ottawa. The Auditor General also issued a report on recruitment and housing for military members, saying neither is adequate. Hogan says there isn't enough housing and some of what there is isn't fit to be lived in. Hogan cited some places without running water or working toilets. The Defense Department says it has started building housing for military members,

but Hogan says that may not be enough. While National Defense has lots of plans, a lot of it is based on outdated information. And so if you need an accurate idea of how much you need to spend, whether it be to build or renovate buildings, or how much you need to spend to recruit more members, you should be using up-to-date information, and you should be updating that on a regular basis. Hogan also gave Indigenous Services Canada a failing grade on several fronts. She says many First Nations face persistent barriers to health and dental care, safe drinking water, and emergency services.

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. Japan has a new prime minister. The Japanese Parliament has formerly elected Sanai Takaichi.

Takaichi is the first female Prime Minister in the country's history. She took the leadership of the Liberal Democratic Party after former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba stepped down last month. The 64-year-old is a self-described ultra-conservative who considers Margaret Thatcher a role model. Takaichi's government is tasked with tackling Japan's cost-of-living crisis, and a declining birth rate. The embattled Prince Andrew is under even more intense scrutiny.

The memoir of his accuser went on sale today. Virginia Joufrey took her own life six months ago after spending years trying to convince authorities on both sides of the Atlantic to hold the Prince and others accountable. Chris Brown has more from London. With Prince Andrew's days as a working royal over, British media review, today how he can still afford a 30-room white-walled mansion near Windsor. It's because his rent is tiny.

He paid millions up front for the lease on the property years ago. And while there's nothing illegal about that, his lavish lifestyle is an ongoing embarrassment to the royal family. And it's in stark contrast to the hardships revealed by his accuser, Virginia Joufrey, in her memoir. Her book, Nobody's Girl, was published today, six months after she died by suicide. Author Amy Wallace co-wrote it and she spoke to the BBC.

You know, Virginia wanted all the men who she'd been trafficked to against her will to be held to account. Joufrey, who says she met Andrew when she was 17, alleges she had sex with him three times, including unconvicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's Island, and she said she feared she would die a sex slave. I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady. In his infamous BBC Newsnight interview in 2019, Andrew denied the accusations.

Royal correspondent Katie Nichols says Joufrey hoped her book would compel Andrew to share everything he knows about Epstein. I think the greatest disappointment in all of this is that Andrew had showed no remorse, no empathy for the victims. Virginia Jufre made it clear that she wanted him to own this story, to own the narrative and to be upfront about it, and of course he hasn't been. Andrew had always said he cut ties with Epstein after his conviction on sex crimes. But later, emails emerged indicating Andrew continued to keep in touch.

On Friday, the prince announced he would voluntarily no longer use royal titles, such as the Duke of York. But royal historian Andrew Launy says he believes King Charles should have been more decisive. Charles should have made the statement. He should have shown some contrition for the victims. He should have actually deeply distanced himself from his younger brother and all his actions, and he should have been far more ruthless about the whole thing. The disgraced prince is also facing renewed scrutiny from British police,

who are probing reports he asked as bodyguard to dig up dirt on Joufrey just before a now infamous photograph of them together was published in 2011. All of this, as King Charles is set to be. meet the Pope this week. The pair will pray at the Sistine Chapel. It's the first time a reigning monarch has done that in 500 years. But now, the focus is on his disgraced brother and not his historic visit. Chris Brown, CBC News, London. Finally tonight, back to those Toronto Blue Jays, bound for the world series after some incredible moments last night, at the plate, on the field. But the best catch of the night happened in Section 1.45, Blue J. George Springer, was at bat,

hitting the ball far out of reach of any Seattle Mariners, and coming straight at Michael Angeletti. And I went to the game solo, and I always have a lot of thoughts about the game and everything. And I sort of ribbed my neighbor and said, hey, seventh inning, be ready. And then I heard the crack of the bat. A swing and a volleyball to left field. It was the first time I'd ever brought a glove to a sporting event or baseball game. And I didn't put it on fully. Only three fingers were in the glove.

I couldn't squeeze the glove. So it ricocheted out of my glove and I offhanded the rebound with my bare hand. She's gone! Spilling everybody's bow. beer in the row, except my own. What turned out to be the game-winning home run and a piece of Blue Day's history right there in the palm of his hand. After the game, Angeletti waited on the field to personally give the ball back to Springer,

usually a fan who does so get something back in return. But as he waited, Angeletti says his friends tried to convince him he had something pretty valuable. They were sending in these ridiculous demands. you deserve a private jet to L.A. for game three. I won't say fear of the unknown. The opportunity of the unknown is why I actually walked off the field before George came out because a signed jersey or a signed bat doesn't really cut the mustard.

So even if it's just a wild ride, I'm happy with it. Angeletti isn't sure what he will do with the ball. There's been no offer of a private jet, but he is flying high after catching one of the biggest Blue Jay hits of all time. Thank you for joining us. This has been your world tonight for Tuesday, October 21st. I'm Susan Bonner. Talk to you again.