Your World Tonight - New cabinet, Honda delays EV plans, Trump in Saudi Arabia, and more

Episode Date: May 13, 2025

Prime Minister Mark Carney has unveiled his new cabinet. We have the names, the ministries, and a look at the big challenges ahead. Those include a trade war, Arctic security, energy development, and national unity. And that’s just to start. And: Honda Canada is delaying a $15-billion electric vehicle investment project in Ontario. The plans included a battery plant and retooled vehicle assembly facility. The likely culprits: a slowdown in demand, and the uncertainty of tariffs. Also: U.S. President Donald Trump is in Saudi Arabia, trying to extract a trillion dollars in business from the country. The two countries have already signed a nearly $142-billion defence agreement, part of a Saudi commitment to invest $600 billion overall. Plus: The World Health Organization warns of the threat of famine in Gaza, the fifth defence lawyer cross examines E.M. a the trial for former world junior hockey players who have all pleaded not guilty of sexual assault, and more

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Our government will deliver its mandate for change. We're going to deliver that mandate with a new team, purpose-built for this hinge moment in Canada's history. Trying to break from the past while facing a historic challenge, Mark Carney lays out his new cabinet with a focus on the cross-border fight that defined the campaign and could define this government. Stephen Guilbeault, Sean Fraser, Chrystia Freeland, Francois-Philippe Champagne. 14 Trudeau ministers are now in Carney's cabinet. Jolie, LeBlanc, Haidou, Annan.

It's more of the same when Canada needs real change. There are lots of fresh faces in the new cabinet, including first-time MPs, but Pierre Poliev is focusing on the ones he recognizes. Welcome to Your World Tonight. I'm Susan Bonner. It's Tuesday, May 13th, coming up on 6pm Eastern, also on the podcast.

So we'll just see how that moves forward, but we're very confident that we'll continue producing Honda vehicles here in Ontario. A project that would supercharge Canada's EV industry is stalling. Honda says its massive plans for a new battery plant and retooled assembly lines are being put on hold with EV demand softening and cross-border tariffs making it harder to accelerate production. Some are arriving in Ottawa with no parliamentary experience whatsoever. Others bring baggage from previous governments. Prime Minister Mark Carney's new cabinet is a mix of rookie ministers who signal the change many voters were asking for and cabinet veterans who have experience that could be valuable

right now. Tom Perry begins our coverage from Ottawa. Mark Carney and his team welcome to Rideau Hall, a swearing-in ceremony for the Prime Minister's new cabinet, one that Carney says is ready to get to work. It will operate with a commitment to true cabinet government with everyone expected and empowered to show leadership. Carney says his new government will focus on the issues it campaigned on, building Canada's

economy and pushing back against US President Donald Trump and his tariffs. So whether you voted for this government or not, we are in your service, in the service of building a stronger, more united Canada. Carney's team, a mixture of new and old voices from every province and the North, including two dozen ministers and secretaries of state serving in cabinet for the first time. Those include former Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, who becomes federal housing minister, Mandy Galmasti, a former Grand Chief of Quebec's

Grand Council of the Crees, now Minister of Indigenous Services, and Evan Solomon, a former CBC and CTV journalist who was named Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation. Canadians elected us with a mandate for change. So there is a great deal of change in this cabinet by necessity. That's what Canadians voted for. But Carney has maintained some key holdovers. Ministers who served in his interim cabinet prior to the election

and under his predecessor Justin Trudeau. I, Christia Freeland, do solemnly and sincerely promise and swear that I... Christia Freeland, who served as Trudeau's Deputy Prime Minister and hastened his demise with her sudden resignation late last year, keeps her job as Transport Minister and Minister of Internal Trade. Carney as well, keeping some main players on the Canada-U.S. file close to the centre. Dominique LeBlanc stays on as minister of intergovernmental affairs and Canada-U.S. relations. Francois-Philippe Champagne remains at finance. To Conservative leader Pierre Poiliev, these familiar faces prove Carney was never about offering real change.

Canadians cannot afford more high spending, high taxing, over regulating, out of touch liberal policies that have priced young people out of homes and made life unbearable for too many hard-working and decent people. Poiliev says his party will hold the government to account and work with it when it can, though the Conservative leader first has to win a seat, having lost his in the election. As for Carney's ministers, they'll hold their first meeting tomorrow, their work just getting started. Tom Perry, CBC News, Ottawa.

As Tom mentioned, a pillar of Carney's government will be US relations and the ongoing threats to Canada's economy. Rafi Boujikaneen has more on who the Prime Minister has tapped to deal with Donald Trump. This is a government that of course we have to address and come to a new arrangement with the Americans. The rows of ministers coming out to the cameras in front of Rideau Hall may be for Canadians to see, but a big part of Prime Minister Mark Carney's message is for the White House. Obviously in my role I take ultimate responsibility for it, but the Minister of Foreign Affairs will play a role, the Minister of Finance. And in some of those key spots, he's made changes.

spots, he's made changes. I, Indira Anita Anand, do solemnly and sincerely promise. Like putting Anita Anand in foreign affairs, moving Melanie Jolie off that file after close to four years, placing her in industry. I'm leaving the diplomatic front of the trade war with the U.S. to the economic front. Jolie insists she sought this out and it's not a demotion. I know people watching us right now that are in the auto sector are anxious. They don't know whether they'll continue to have a job. At the same time what I'll be doing is really also working to protect

the steel and aluminum sectors. Other changes, Gary Anandasangary goes to public safety, moving David McGinty to national defense. The role will be absolutely fundamental. Eric Miller is an international trade consultant based in Washington, D.C. He says McGinty will still be a key player because of the file he's inherited, which would have him oversee a Carney campaign promise to bring this country's military spending up to the NATO goal of 2% of GDP in five years time. At the same time,

Canada has also had articulated threats to its sovereignty and to its national security in ways that it hasn't seen in decades, if ever. And so the sense that Canada will need to have in ways that it hasn't seen in decades, if ever. And so the sense that Canada will need to have more robust defense capabilities in the Arctic and more broadly is something that will be profound." Signaling the North is on his mind, Carney has named three ministers from northern areas of this country to his cabinet.

But there is continuity in the government too. Dominic LeBlanc no longer at international trade, but with a narrower focus on the US-Canada trade relationship, even further focused on ties to Washington. But another issue Carney will need to focus on is much closer to home, the bubbling national unity crisis in the West. He has named the minister from each of the three prairie provinces, hoping representation can help address what Alberta and Saskatchewan's premiers call feelings of alienation and growing frustration with Ottawa. Rafi Boudjikan, YonCBC News, Ottawa.

For more now, let's bring in Catherine Cullen. She is the host of CBC Radio's The House. Catherine, what is the broad message to Canadians today? Well, Mark Carney, Susan insisted that Canadians didn't vote for small change. What they wanted was major change. And there is a significant amount of change in this cabinet. Lots of new faces and new roles for more familiar faces in big jobs like foreign affairs and justice.

But of course, it can't just be about change for changes sake the point has to be to be effective and I thought it was striking when Mark Kearney said that in his experience what is crucial is how you govern so how he is going to delegate how is he going to run meetings what will he actually do to get the best performance out of these cabinet ministers the team matters but also so much of this rests on Carney's shoulders. He's got a very different character than Justin Trudeau, but will it lead to different results? And now he has a different cabinet, so how does that translate into a different governing plan?

Well, it's hard to miss the big emphasis on trade in this new cabinet. It comes up repeatedly in different titles. Internal trade, international trade, Canada-U.S. trade, and one Canadian economy. Mark Carney was born in the Northwest Territories. There's also clearly an emphasis on the North here. It seems it's something he wants to make a bigger part of Canada's agenda. He created a minister responsible for artificial intelligence and digital innovation. That's interesting. That's former broadcaster Evan Solomon. And that I think is not just about sending signals. Carney is almost aggressively interested in the potential of AI and how Canada

can get a good foothold. It came up in his first international meetings as Prime Minister. We heard about it in the election too. So let's see what happens there. He's keeping two indigenous portfolios that was an advent of the Trudeau era and between the cabinet and the secretaries of state he does have every province included as well as a minister from a territory. At a time where national unity perhaps feels a little bit more tenuous it's probably prudent to have that symbol, to try to send that symbol, at least. Now, Conservative leader Pierre Poliev's comments today interesting, not just for what he

said, but how he said it. Yeah, it was really striking when he began talking. He congratulated all the ministers and he said they really did have a one in a million chance of having such a job because there are about 40 ministers and about 40 million Canadians. And he wasn't trying to tee up some joke at the Liberals expense. He really was trying to be cordial, it seemed. He talked about working with the Liberals when they were making good choices. There were certainly, though, several moments where he couldn't quite fight back that old pugilistic side either. He called new Justice Minister Sean Fraser the master of failing upwards. So is Poliev going to try to be a little bit nicer in hopes of winning over some more voters? And if that is

indeed his goal, can he stick the landing? That'll be interesting to watch. Susan? Thank you, Catherine. Thank you. Catherine Cullen is the host of CBC Radio's The House. She's in our Parliamentary Bureau. Coming up on the podcast, another blow to the Canadian auto sector, Donald Trump's mission in the Middle East, plus hunger and heartache in Gaza. It was billed as the largest auto investment in Canadian history.

Today, it's on hold. Honda is pausing billions of dollars worth of upgrades and plans for a new battery plant in Ontario. And as Anis Haidari explains, it's just the latest development in an industry in crisis. But as you know, in North America, the EV market growth is slowing down. A slowdown in demand for electric vehicles, a big reason why Honda is delaying a $15 billion dollar project in Ontario. And so as of now, we think that we should postpone for at least two years.

Through a translator at a press conference, Honda President Toshihiro Mibe announcing the pause. This has been decided. The company was planning to invest billions into a new electric vehicle battery plant, plus upgrades to an existing assembly facility in Alliston, Ontario. Elsewhere in the province, facilities to make battery parts. The federal and provincial governments pitched in five billion dollars with about 1,000 new jobs expected. Honda does say it's not cutting existing jobs in Ontario. There are more than 4,000

existing at the plant right now. Ontario Premier Doug Ford says his government will hold automakers like Honda accountable. They're going to keep that facility moving forward. So we'll just see how that moves forward. But we're very confident that we'll continue producing Honda vehicles here in Ontario. I think the situation that we're in right now is fundamentally different than where it was even a year ago. David Adams is the president of an industry group that includes Honda, Global Automakers of Canada. He points out that Canadians just aren't buying as

many electric vehicles as they've been projected to. So not only are investments changing, government goals may need to change too. It's unreasonable for the manufacturers to be still mandated to meet certain electric vehicle or zero emission vehicle standards, those are ultimately going to be up to consumers to make those choices. As for consumers, industry experts say this decision doesn't entirely hinge on their demand. The other reason why Honda has really decided that maybe we have to postpone, because if you think about the Canadian market, it was not the entire market for them.

Gal Raz is a professor at the Ivy Business School in London, Ontario. He points out Honda may want to hold off on making thousands of electric cars until they know whether the United States wants them from Canada. And now with those tariffs, those kind of cars are not going to be competitive in the U.S. Honda will have a hard time kind of, you know, making enough money, especially when we are not doing enough for the demand side. And making enough money is a concern for Honda these days. For the first three months of the year, profit was down 76 percent.

While the company isn't directly blaming tariffs for its decision to delay investment in Canada, it's definitely losing money because of them. Anis Hadari, CBC News, Calgary. Donald Trump is in Saudi Arabia, the first stop on his four-day Middle East tour. The US president landed to a royal greeting from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and they both had plenty of positive things to say about each other and the multi-billion dollar business deals the two countries have signed. Chris Brown has more from Riyadh.

The Saudis gave Donald Trump more than just a lavish welcome. It was a full-on, most important person in the entire world welcome. Saudi F-15s escorted his presidential plane to the ground and trumpets blared as he met the kingdom's de facto leader, 39-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, or MBS as he's known. There was more opulence inside the palace palace as some of the United States' most important chief executives, from Nvidia to Google and BlackRock, lined up to greet both leaders. I want to thank His Royal Highness the Crown Prince for that incredible introduction.

He's an incredible man. I've known him a long time now. There's nobody like him. Trump was effusive in his praise for his host. MBS is credited with increasing social freedoms for Saudis, especially women, and infusing the country with a can-do business attitude. Today we are working on the opportunity to share $600 billion. MBS in turn praised Trump, not just for signing $600 billion in trade deals but also for trying

to bring security to the Middle East. It's pretty amazing, right? Are we doing a good job so far for America? Saudi Arabia is trying to move from being an oil-dominated economy to one that's more diverse and it needs U.S. investment to help build some of its grand mega-projects from skyscrapers to sports stadiums to cities of glass in the desert that are at the center of its attempted transformation. But the biggest round of applause Trump got during his speech

came not for a comment on Saudi Arabia, but on Syria. I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness. That's a move the Saudis in some European countries have already done even though Syria's new president al-shara was once part of extremist groups. Trump may meet here with Shara Wednesday. Saudi political analyst Ahmed al-Ibrahim says most Saudis will feel Trump nailed his visit here. I think I love what I heard this is the first American president that he actually I feel he really know the nitty-gritty of this region country by country he know the challenges. Tonight Trump visited the Daria UNESCO

World Heritage Site, Saudis ancient, which is being painstakingly rebuilt to turn it into a high-end tourist attraction. What Trump has not mentioned on his visit is human rights, which many critics in the West say is still an issue despite MBS opening up Saudi society. But for this upbeat trip, the focus for Trump appeared to be avoiding anything that soured the feel-good mood. Chris Brown, CBC News in Riyadh. Ukraine's president says he wants to negotiate a ceasefire with his Russian

counterpart face to face. The two countries are scheduled for talks on Thursday in Turkey. Volodymyr Zelensky says he will go if Vladimir Putin shows up as well. If Putin will not come or if ceasefire will not be supported by Russians, by Putin exactly, by him, it's been only one thing that Russia is not ready for any kind of negotiation. The Kremlin has yet to say if Putin will attend. Zelensky says Putin is scared of meeting him and the U.S. and EU should impose strong sanctions if the talks do not take place. The World Health Organization is issuing a dire warning about hunger today in Gaza.

The risk of famine is rising. Children are dying. Malnutrition could affect an entire generation. There is a proposed U.S. plan to deal with the humanitarian crisis which is backed by Israel. Sarah Levitt on what the plan is and why it's being heavily criticized. Sarah Levitt, Mother of 6-year-old Najwa Hajaj She's on the edge of death, the mother of 6-year-old Najwa Hajaj says from Gaza City. As she speaks, Najwa sits quietly, wearing only underwear, her ribs protrude from her body, her limbs like sticks.

Islam, Hajaj says, during the war her daughter's condition worsened. Najwa isn't alone, according to the w Today, it says the Gaza p catastrophic situation de and starvation. There are people now facing starvat deputy director of the U organization. Malnutrici

These are the types of characteristics that ultimately move a country into a famine. The UN defines famine as a population facing widespread malnutrition and hunger-related deaths. According to the Hamas-run health ministry, 57 children have reportedly died from the effects of malnutrition since March. A UN-backed assessment also found another 71,000 under the age of five

could be at risk of acute malnutrition if things don't change within a year. Israel rejects those numbers. At a protest east of Can Younis, women and children bang on pots and pans in protest. They chant, we want to eat, we want to live. and children bang on pots and pans in protest. They chant, we want to eat, we want to live. Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1200 people and taking 251 hostage. Since then, getting aid into Gaza has been hard, now it's impossible. Israel has blocked all shipments since March 2.

There is a US plan backed by Israel to get aid through. The US proposes to put a private charity in charge of the distribution in specific areas in Gaza, with access controlled by the Israeli military. Not everybody agrees. Rachel Cummings is the International Humanitarian Director in Gaza for Save the Children. She calls it a militarization of aid. That would be very much in violation of our humanitarian principles in terms of our ability to act with impartiality and neutrality.

Getting aid in was the focus of a UN Security Council briefing this afternoon. Barbara Woodward is the United Kingdom's UN ambassador. Humanitarian aid must never be used as a political tool or a military tactic. At Nassar Hospital in Can Younis, people worked to clear rubble the result of an overnight Israeli airstrike. Israel has said attacks won't slow until a deal is made that sees all remaining hostages released. Sarah Levitt, CBC News, Montreal. until a deal is made that sees all remaining hostages released. Sarah Levitt, CBC News, Montreal. 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. Major League Baseball has posthumously reinstated Pete Rose and shoeless Joe Jackson. Both faced sports gambling scandals. Rose was banned in 1989 after an investigation concluded he bet on the Cincinnati Reds while he was on the team. Jackson was among the team.

Jackson was among the eight Chicago White Sox players who came to be known as the Black Sox. The men were accused of deliberately losing the 1919 World Series. The reinstatements mean Rose and Jackson are now eligible to be named to the Baseball Hall of Fame. At the sexual assault trial of five former Team Canada junior hockey players, cross-examination of the complainant is now complete. Known as EM under a publication ban, the woman was questioned for seven days by five defence lawyers, one for each of the accused, who have all pleaded not guilty. Katie Nicholson is following the trial. Katie Nicholson is following the trial. Members of the World Junior Hockey Team dance in a London, Ontario bar in June of 2018.

Today, more tough questions for the woman who alleges five players sexually assaulted her later that night at a hotel. Michael McLeod, Alex Fermentin, Dylan Dubay, Carter, and Cal Foote have all pleaded not guilty. Lawyer Juliana Greenspan representing Cal Foote accused E.M. of bolstering her narrative and exaggerating how drunk she was. She introduced a replica pair of the strappy stilettos E.M. wore, passing one around to the jury. E.M. acknowledged they took some work to get on. E.M. previously testified to trying to get dressed and leave the hotel room several times that

night but said each time the men would lead her away from the door. Greenspan suggested she never intended to leave because she didn't try to put her shoes on. You were putting on an act to say, okay, I'm leaving, to put the focus back on you. Do you agree, Greenspan asked. EM disagreed, saying no, not at all. This follows Monday's grilling from Alex Fremonton's lawyer, Daniel Brown, whose questioning challenged the Crown's argument that the sex acts happened without consent. You were egging those players on to have sex with you, Brown suggested.

EM disagreed. Fremonton is alleged to have sexually with you," Brown suggested. EM disagreed. Fermentin is alleged to have sexually assaulted EM in the hotel bathroom. Brown suggested EM guided Fermentin to the bathroom and said there is a witness who will testify that's what happened. I don't remember that, EM said, but I guess it could be possible. Brown also suggested she told Fermentin he didn't need to wear a condom because she was on birth control. EM said I don't recall any conversation about that. Just because we may hear from a witness that a individual led

another individual into the bathroom doesn't necessarily put a nail in the crown's coffin. London-based defense lawyer Nick Cake isn't involved in the case but has been following it closely. It's absolutely possible that someone could have a conversation about birth control and that someone could lead someone else into another room and still not consent to an act that occurs in that room. Something Cake says the jury will have to mull over once they've seen the totality of evidence and start deliberating. But that's weeks away and first, EM will have to answer more questions from the Crown

to clear up any of her answers from the marathon cross-examination. Keetie Nicholson, CBC News, London, Ontario. Finally tonight, celebrating one of this country's great legal minds who overcame discrimination to rise to the heights of Canadian law. The husband has legal title to the farm properties. I see no reason to entertain the wife's appeal any further. If I may, I find there are in fact many reasons, both legal and moral. That's a bit from the new Canadian Heritage Minute airing on TV and online, honouring the life and achievements of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Bora Laskin,

the first Jewish member of Canada's highest court. Born in Thunder Bay in 1912, Laskin graduated from U of T and Harvard with exceptional grades. But he struggled to get his law career off the ground. Laskin confronted pervasive anti-Semitism in the profession. Or a Laskin says he was among the toughest class at Harvard Law. He's a Jew, but he's not one of those flashy Jews. No, we have an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of people today, men and women. His life experience helped shape Laskin's legal philosophy and his groundbreaking contributions

to the Supreme Court. Laskin was nominated by Pierre Trudeau in 1970 and oversaw an era of historic advancement in the law surrounding civil liberties and women's rights. He died in 1984. Michel Beaulieu is a professor at Lakehead University where the Faculty of Law is named after Laskin. He disagreed when the court upheld that indigenous women lost their status if they married non-indigenous men. I mean Laskin argued very forcefully that this compounded racial discrimination, gender discrimination, and was a violation of basic tenets of human rights.

For Alaskan, the first Jewish Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada fought for fairness and civil rights for all Canadians. Keen viewers of the Heritage Minute may also notice a cameo in there. The narrator you just heard is another legal trailblazer, Beverly McLaughlin, the first woman to be named Chief Justice. Thanks for joining us. This has been Your World Tonight for Tuesday, May 13.

I'm Susan Bonner. Talk to you again. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.