Your World Tonight - Labour union protests, Intense cold in the Prairies, Exodus of Apple executives, and more

Episode Date: December 20, 2025

Labour unions to to the streets across Canada today. They're protesting the repeated use of the Canada Labour Code to end labour disruptions in favour of binding arbitration. Unionized workers argue that federal use of that section of the code is unconstitutional.Also: Winter doesn't officially begin until Sunday morning - but decidedly winter weather is plowing into parts of the prairies. Deep cold is a regular part of life in the region, but this year's weather has been a bit much - even for Canada's most hardened winter cities.And: Several high profile Apple executives have left the company in the last few months. Some experts say the departures could have something to do with Apple's failure to take a bite out of AI competition. Plus: Growing demand at pet food banks, Young people gravitating to religion, A Scottish castle in need of millions of dollars worth of repairs, and more.

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Donate at lovescarbro.cairbo. This is a CBC podcast. They have ordered folks back to work before they've even had a chance to really do any kind of collective bargaining. Workers across the country were out protesting today. They say that government interference in strikes is ramping up and it's putting profits ahead of their rights. This is your world tonight. I'm Kate McGilvery. Also on the podcast, Friday's release of incomplete and heavily redacted Epstein documents

has some U.S. lawmakers fuming. And when it's this cold and the air is kind of this bitter, I don't know if people are having a good time. A bitter cold has settled over the prairies, with windchill values approaching minus 50 in some places. Even the ski hills are saying, uncle. Labor unions, out on the streets and cities across Canada today. They're protesting the repeated use of the

Canada Labor Code to end labor disruptions in favor of binding arbitration. From Canada Post to flight attendants, unionized workers argue that Ottawa's use of that section of the code is unconstitutional. Philip Lyshanik reports. Stand up! Hundreds of unionized workers rallied in Toronto hoping their voices are heard. They say that the federal government's repeated heavy-handed use of a certain provision of the Labor Code is eroding the constitutional rights of unionized workers. Marie Clark Walker is with the Canadian Labor Congress. She says from workers at Canada's two largest railway companies to port workers in Montreal

and Vancouver to Canada post workers and Air Canada's 10,000 flight attendants, the federal government has ended legal labor action by invoking Section 107 of the Labor Code. They have ordered folks back to work before they've even had a chance to really do any kind of collective bargaining, allow the right to strike, allow employers and workers to bargain collectively and freely. That provision of the Canada Labor Code ends a strike and sends the two sides to binding arbitration. It's been part of the code since 1984 and has been used rarely until recently. It was used to order striking Air Canada attendance back to work. Shannon Elliott is with the union. We were on strike for approximately 12 hours and historically

Section 107 is supposed to be used as a last resort. Since 2024, we've seen it used eight times. That's no longer a last resort. The flight attendants refused to end their strike and the Canadian Industrial Relations Board didn't enforce the order. In just a few hours, the two sides had a negotiated settlement. Mark Labinsky with the Canadian Union of postal workers says the liberal government shouldn't resort to using the labor code. They're using Section 107 because they couldn't legislate us back to because it was a minority government and still is. Rafael Gomez teaches industrial relations at the University of Toronto.

He says minority governments use Section 107 to end labor disputes without having to pass legislation. So because the votes in Parliament were risky for a minority government, in this case the liberal government, they used this provision that have been in the code, kind of as an emergency release valve. Gilles Lavasseur teaches law and management at the University of Ottawa. He says the government also wants to end labor disruptions

that can hurt it politically if the public is inconvenienced. Unless it's really critical, let us negotiate. But then the state is stacked because they're saying, yes, I want that, but I don't want to have an economic fiasco in this country. Lavasseur says there needs to be a new solution, which may come when the Supreme Court rules on constitutional challenges to the use of Section 107. But that may be years away.

Philip Lichanaw, CBC News, Toronto. Prime Minister Mark Carney says he wants to reset the country's relationship with China carefully. The prime ministers made it clear he wants to shift trade reliance away from the U.S. And in a year-end interview with the CBC's chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton, he

says Canada has to stop keeping all of its eggs in the American basket. But he admits renewing ties with China will have to come with strict conditions. The question is how deep is the relationship and how clear are the guardrails around that relationship. And there are areas

artificial intelligence, critical minerals, defense, where clearly the security threats are such that we would not have a deep relationship with China in those areas. Carney also named India and the European Union as key targets for trade expansion, as Canada works to double its non-U.S. exports in the next decade. You can watch more of the Prime Minister's Year End interview Sunday on Roseberry Barton Live at 11 a.m. Eastern.

The Epstein Files release on Friday was hotly anticipated, but a day later, it's landed with more of a whimper than a bang. Under orders from Congress, the U.S. Department of Justice released thousands of documents. They are heavily redacted, and with thousands more still being held back, frustratingly incomplete. As Chris Reyes reports, U.S. lawmakers are clamoring for more. It is disappointing that they haven't been able to release these documents on time. A day after the partial release of the Epstein files and few people say they have the answers, were looking for. Many mostly blacked-out documents prompting more questions from Democratic

Representative Rokana, a demand for an explanation. At this point, what we need is a clear timeline of when the rest of the documents will be released and an explanation for why they did not release all of them today. Kana says he's now considering impeachment proceedings against U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi over the heavy redactions and partial release of the final CANA co-authored the congressional bill signed by President Trump in November that required the DOJ to release all the files by December 19. Another Democrat, South Carolina Representative Jim Clyburn, backs Kana. I'm absolutely not satisfied, and I agree with R. Conner, but I'm not surprised that we have all of this delay and obfuscation. This is what you're going to get from this White House.

and from this administration. The DOJ has argued redactions are meant to protect victims. But some say it's the alleged perpetrators that are being protected, like a massage client list with hundreds of names blacked out. Former federal prosecutor and Kuskardori says many are left grasping for context. There's a huge, I think, swell of disappointment this morning. And I think it's the result of people, the president and all those other people playing politics with an issue that they never should have played politics with.

This is a tragic situation that should not have been handled in such a cavalier fashion. A set of photos getting a lot of attention, those that include former President Bill Clinton, one where he's in a hot tub, another next to the late Michael Jackson. His spokesperson, Angel Ureña, posted on X, accusing the White House of using Clinton as a scapegoat, saying the release is about shielding themselves from what comes next. Some are also asking why President Trump features little in the release documents, despite his well-documented relationship with the late convicted sex offender. Joshua Nafalas, former U.S. federal prosecutor, says that means anticipation will keep building for the rest of the files. I mean, the fact that the Clinton materials came out first and the Trump materials haven't come out, obviously raises questions, but you have to also give the Department of Justice time to comply.

On that, the DOJ hasn't given any firm dates, only saying they're working on the full release. Chris Reyes, CBC News, New York. Still ahead, residents of a tiny Scottish island are divided over what should happen to an aging castle they share it with. After a long and lavish life, it's going to need millions to stay standing. Will a wealthy buyer take it on, or is it time to let nature take its course? That's coming up on your world tonight. Winter doesn't officially begin until Sunday morning, but decidedly winter weather is plowing into parts of the prairies.

Deep cold is a regular part of life across these areas of the country, but as Sam Samson reports, this weather has been a bit much, even for Canada's most hardened winter cities. Normally, a sunny Saturday in December would have shredders and freestylers alike all over the Edmonton Ski Club. But this weather is even too extreme for these winter sports. We want people to come out and have a good time. But honestly, when it's this cold and the air is kind of this bitter,

I don't know if people are having a good time. Greg Seas is the club's general manager. The policy is if the forecast shows minus 25 without the wind, the club shuts down the next day. So the club is closed for the weekend. The little little ones, the three and four-year-olds that are out for our snowbug programs in the mornings, tends to be the most cold. We're very sensitive to that and we're very aware that we do not want

to put any children or the adults or our own staff in jeopardy at all when it comes to the cold weather and the wind chills. Several ski clubs in and around Alberta's capital decided to shut down or change hours this weekend due to the cold. A snap that environment and climate change Canada says is more like a grip. Meteorologist Dan Fulton says this Arctic front from the north isn't going to hit everyone in the prairies the same way. If you're located, say in the Crohnestnes Pass or southwestern Alberta, you're actually not cold at all. You're pretty warm. But conversely, if you're located in northern Saskatchewan or northern Manitoba, that's kind of the heart of the cold air. And you're dealing with wind chills that are in the minus 40 to minus 45 range.

Fulton says this system should only head as far as northwestern Ontario, but on its way, it continues to hit Winnipeg. Snow plows still dig out Manitoba's capital after a two-day storm of relentless snow and unforgiving winds. But the city seems to be full of realists, looking on the bright side. This is winter. I mean, you know what? We haven't had this for a few years. And I just, I'm happy for the businesses that are winter-related, you know, the guys that need to sell the snowblowers and this, you know, all that kind of stuff.

Yeah, they deserve this. We're even going to go pick up our kids later, so our kids are going to come walk as well. They love the snow just like we do. Being born and raised. The Winnipeg are in us, you know. We're out here all the time. Telling other people get used to it, let it snow. Every major city in the prairies has warming centers for people to take refuge from the cold during the day.

And some, like Edmonton, provide overnight rides to emergency shelters. Environment Canada expects the worst of the snow is behind us in the prairies, but it's still going to be freezing. Meteorologists expect this cold to hang on until at least after Christmas, making it a ho-ho-ho-cold holiday season. Sam Sampson, CBC News, Edmonton. Volunteers at a St. John's food bank are struggling to keep up with growing demand. Instead of people, they're trying to feed the city's pets as owners struggle to pay for their animals' food.

Zach Russell has more. It looks like a lot. It won't last two days. It's the beginning of the month at the Heavenly Creatures Food Bank, and the shelves are stocked with bags of kibble and stacks of canned wet food. However, this supply will not last more than a week, the group says. With the rising cost of living and even pet food prices, low-income pet owners are needing more assistance.

And as for the shelves, longtime volunteer Ivan Morgan says keeping them full is even harder. Well, we've been running a food bank here for years, but in the last year, it's really ramped up. The need out there has really, really increased noticeably. We get many more clients, many more people coming, and we need to be able to provide pet food for these people. Heavenly Creatures finds foster homes for pets and run this food bank that anyone can use. It's not the average clientele coming to the doors anymore,

but people who are in higher-income jobs, but still feeling the crushing weight of rising cost. Co-fander Jessica Rendell explains. We're seeing people come by that you wouldn't, ordinarily think would have to available food bank. Many people calling and saying that they simply can no longer afford their rent and food for them and their pets. We're also getting calls from people who are living in tents and cars with their pets. Vet costs are one of the biggest expenses that the group faces. Rendell says they spend a lot of money to help pet owners and

animals in their foster program, as well as the animals in their long-term care when the need arises. Vet bills are something else that we need to give up with, of course. We spend a lot of helping low-income people with vet bills and looking after all the animals in our care. So it's usually somewhere close to $200,000 in bet-bill money that we need to raise. Rendell says Heavenly Creatures relies heavily on the food drive to get them through the first six months of the year. We need everything, but primarily wet dog food. We're just about out of that right now. Wet cat food, scupable cat litter.

Again, we have a wish list on the website and monetary donations. Heavenly Creatures says it's important. important for the group to help people out because they understand the bond people have with their pets. Zach Russell, CBC News, St. John's. Several high-profile Apple executives have left the company in the last few months. So why are the makers of the iPhone and iPad now saying, I quit? As Ashley Fraser reports, the departures could have something to do with Apple's failure to take a bite out of AI competition. It's a sound you're probably familiar with if you turn on an Apple device.

But the company, known for its game-changing tech innovation, is saying goodbye to a lot of its top talent. In December alone, Apple announced the retirement of several key executives. Plus, Alan Dye, one of Apple's top designers, announced he's leaving for Meta, Facebook's parent company. Then, back in July, their chief operating officer retired. And that's not even counting everyone else down the chain. In recent weeks, key designers and other AI leaders have either retired, left for Meta, OpenAI, or other AI. start-ups. And this has some tech experts raising alarm bells. Wall Street Journal tech reporter Rolf Winkler described some of the departures as a long-term brain drain and a sign

that Apple might be behind in its AI innovation. If you're an AI researcher at Google or Open AI, you have immense computing resources to go build the thing you want to build. You don't have that at Apple. That's mostly because Apple has a strict privacy policy when it comes to user data. So as much data is on your phone. which Apple could use to train potentially very sophisticated AI models, they're not really doing that because they don't give their own people unfettered access to your data. That can lead to frustrations internally, and you combine that with the gigantic pay packages that some of these places are offering,

plus the opportunity to be at the forefront of AI, and, you know, the grass is greener. Author and Apple expert Patrick McGee says Apple isn't creating the game-changing products it once was. They can iterate a product like nobody's. business. But if you want to work on the absolute frontier, there's companies that are just more ambitious. And the race for AI supremacy is heating up. But who might just come up on top is still up for grabs. For example, OpenAI's Sam Altman. He announced earlier this year, he's working with Apple's former head of design, Johnny Ive. He left in 2019. And they're creating a new AI device. And META says it's launching a design studio to create AI products.

But Apple historian William Gallagher says Apple has been careful in its approach to AI. They've been making these steady moves in privacy and Apple intelligence that others are falling over on. I mean, we've all had it now with AI being incredibly irritating as well as useful. And Apple's been this steady thing. So I think actually Apple's going to come up from behind and others will join in with it. I have the impression that with meta, it's more trying to just buy a, talent in the hope that something will happen. CBC News reached out to Apple about these departures, but did not receive a response by our

deadline. And the experts we spoke to say Apple still holds immense power. And whether this is the first sign of decline or on the brink of the next best thing remains to be seen. Ashley Fraser, CBC News, Toronto. Faith leaders across Canada are seeing an uptick and interest from young people. And it's not just one religion that's packing them in. Mosques, churches, and Guadwaras are all seeing more youthful worshippers than in past years. Michelle's song looks into this new religious curiosity and the generation leading the way. The service at Grace Toronto Church is packed with people of all ages and backgrounds.

Church leaders say more and more attendees are from Gen Z. I was experiencing a lot of the brokenness of the world. Storm Laro is part of Generation Z, people born between 1997 and 2012. His friends introduced him to Grace Toronto Church. For me, it was like searching for things like love, things like identity, purpose, stuff like that, that I couldn't really find elsewhere, whether it was through sports or grades or relationships. The church's youth pastor, Stephen On, says he's seeing more young people looking for answers through faith. I would say it's a spiritual hunger, for lack of a better term, a spiritual hunger that they're expressing,

where it may not be just to learn about Christianity, but they're exploring different religions and Christianity is one of the stops among the many. According to one study by Angus Reed, Canadians between the ages of 18 to 24 are most likely to be religiously committed at 24, followed closely by those aged 25 to 34. Sarah Wilkins LaFlemm is a sociology professor at the University of Waterloo. She says there are a number of factors driving this data, including diversity. And Gen Zee is now the most religiously diverse generation we've ever seen. So there's higher rates of Hinduism, of Islam, of Sikhism, especially amongst Gen Z.

And at a mosque in Scarborough, Ontario, Imam Muslai Khan says young people regularly approach him, asking about Islam, but also religion in general. Why am I here? What's the purpose of life? What am I doing? These questions start to boil up. And I just find that more and more, especially young adults, keep asking and going on this journey. Wilkins LaFlemm says many young people attend more religious services when they live at home with their parents. And previous generations have shown that as they grow older, they become less religious. So we'll see once they head out to start their own.

job or a higher education or just kind of create their own household in whatever form that looks like to see if they follow previous generation's trends of seeing a bit of a dip in religion religiosity then. Faith leaders say they hope to see young people stick around, adding they're not just seeing new worshippers, but also those who have left religion coming back. Michelle Song, CBC News, Toronto. A discovery in a field in England is shedding new light on human evolution on this planet. Researchers discovered evidence of deliberately set fires.

The twist is they were made hundreds of thousands of years earlier than previously thought. Crystal Gumancing reports from London. Striking iron pyrite with Flint, a method of fire starting familiar. to most, a challenge for young campers, but a skill successfully utilized by Neanderthals hundreds of thousands of years ago. I mean, it is a significant discovery because the human use of fire, of course, is very important. Chris Stringer is a researcher in human evolution at the Natural History Museum in London. Part of a research team that discovered and has been testing soil and items found to confirm the site

in the village of Barnum was used by ancient humans as a burning site. The ability to make fire when they wanted to was a great addition because it meant that they could take that skill with them. They could go into new territories with the confidence that they could create fire. And they can use it obviously for processing their food, to get more nutrition from the food, to kill pathogens and parasites. You've also got warmth, you've got protection from wild animals. The BBC was given exclusive.

access to the site in the east of England, guided by researcher Nick Ashton. So this is the area where we discovered this heated sediment, and you can tell it's heated because normally the clay is quite yellowy orange, and this was a distinct red. Walking around the location, Ashton explains two tiny pieces of iron pyrite were found. It's foreign to the location, so Neanderthals brought it with them when they arrived in the region from continental Europe back when there was a land bridge. Yes, so this is where the hearth was. You can imagine early humans gathering around this fire

and developing the very early use of language. Scientists have been working at the site for roughly 20 years digging and confirming their findings which have been published in the journal Nature. Until now, the earliest evidence of Neanderthal's making fire at will was in northern France, roughly 50,000 years ago. The site in England changes the timeline by 350,000 years.

Stringer says the discovery also changes the perception of ancient humans. You know, the caveman image, even ape man image, it's something they've been stuck with for a long time. But they were actually fully human. Stringer hopes the discoveries at the Barnum site and the rigorous testing protocols will lead to more research into what Neanderthals knew and how they lived as our own species, homo sapiens, were emerging in Africa. Crystal Gamansing, CBC News, London. Attention real estate hounds, a 20-bedroom castle on a beautiful Scottish island, on sale for

the price of a small house in some Canadian cities. For about 1.4 million Canadian, you get the castle, the fittings, the furniture, and the task of restoring the place to the tune of 10. of millions of dollars. Reporter Richard Baines traveled to the remote island of rum to have a look around. We're coming in the back door of Kinlock Castle now, because the front door, we can't get in because there's a ceiling collapsed. The castle was built around 1900 by Sir George Buller.

His family had grown rich from the Lancashire cotton industry and bought the entire 10,000 hectare island. This is the day and room. There's a big oak table in the middle. It's surrounded by these. gorgeous paintings of rum. My guide to the lavish accommodation enjoyed by Sir George and his wife, Lady Monica, is Irelander and

occasional pianist El Hutchinson. This is the Great Hall and the walls lined with deer heads. There are some fantastic things here like a very mangy-looking lion's skin. Here it actually doesn't have any eyeballs which is a wee bit disconcerting.

On top of this piano it's a very gorgeous, impressive piano. it's massive. There's kind of some scratch marks on the top. And apparently it's where a lady jumped up on the piano with their high heels. Little dance during one of their parties. The place is category A listed, the highest protection for a Scottish building. Agents handling the sale say it would cost at least £10 million or more than $18 million to restore it. But is it all what it appears. What you're looking at there is kind of this rusted kind of steel beam clad and standstone. It's kind of the same way as, you know, cotton mills would have been built. So it's

not your kind of authentic castle. It's essentially a cotton mill with turrets. This island is a nature reserve, renowned for red deer and a sense of isolation, with only about 40 residents. So why is the castle up for sale now? The Bullers sold the island, castle and all, to Scotland's Nature Conservation Agency in 1957. The agency used to run the castle as holiday accommodation. Chris Donald is from Nature Scott. This is an asset that we have that is far better off being managed by people who know how to look after buildings and know how to run businesses, etc. The building costs $19,000 a year just to maintain.

Private sales failed, so now it's on the open market. Most Irelanders favourite being sold to a wealthy buyer. perhaps becoming a luxury hotel with dozens of jobs. But not everyone agrees. Just outside the house is a grassy area on the shore, so it's like a salt marsh. Fliss Fraser runs seafront accommodation for visitors here. Everybody knows that the person who's got the most money has got the most power. And obviously with more staff working for the castle and becoming part of the community,

but maybe not wanting to speak against their employer, that could create a power imbalance. So trying to create something positive out of an old building which it isn't economically viable to restore. Letting a building decay slowly in a managed safe way. In time, part of it could become a ruin. There are people on the island that would think it'd be better off just knocking it down. Since it went on sale, there have been a number of viewings,

but so far no firm offers. Richard Baines for CBC News on the island of Rum, Scotland. And a Saturday Night Live great hangs up his hat tonight. Rowan Yang joined the show in 2018. Bringing to life characters, it's hard to imagine anyone else pulling off. Like the iceberg that sunk the Titanic. Okay, wow. Okay, fine.

You want to do this? Let's do this. First of all, you came to where I live and you hit me. Also, like Moudang, the internet's favorite baby pygmy hippo. When I'm in my enclosure, tripping over stuff, biting my trainer's knee, I am at work. Yang also worked in the S&L wheelhouse with impressions of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un and writer Fran Lieboitz. But it's Bonjour High that really sticks with us. Live from Montreal.

Montreal, the best parts of Canada and the worst parts of France. It was this sketch about a French-Canadian news show that let Yang put his undercover Canadianness on full display. He's a dual citizen who spent his early years in Brassard, Quebec, and he uses all of that hyper-specific local knowledge to bring his newscaster Jean-Laurentz, who also goes by John Larry, to life. But my name is actually Fred. Correct, I said Jean-Fred? No, just Fred.

Ah, well, please welcome, Jean-Fred Desjardin. He hangs walking away from SNL mid-season after a hectic few years, starring in the Wicked movies and podcasting. He'll be performing tonight alongside his Wicked co-star, Ariana Grande, who is hosting. With a musical guest, I think the Titanic iceberg would deeply approve of. Share. This has been your world tonight for Saturday, December 20th. I'm Kate McGilfrey.

Thanks for being with us. For more, if I could find a way, I take back those words that I heard you. For more CBC podcasts, go to cBC.ca.ca.