Your World Tonight - Ottawa’s auto strategy, Alberta’s judge ultimatum, forever young at the Winter Games, and more

Episode Date: February 4, 2026

The Carney Government is set to unveil its national automotive strategy tomorrow. CBC News has learned it includes scrapping the EV mandate, and reviving popular incentives for buyers.Also: Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is threatening to withhold funding for judges in her province unless Ottawa agrees to reform the way they’re appointed. Critics say any suspension of funding for judges will worsen the province's judicial backlog and lead to more cases being dismissed.And: Old Schooled. The Olympic athletes proving why age really is just a number.Plus: ICE’s Minneapolis ‘drawdown’, CBC News at Iran’s border, U.K. PM’s Epstein problems, and more.

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This is a CBC podcast. The reason automakers like Donald Trump right now is because he's rolling back what it is. Canada appears to be putting forward tomorrow. It's cheaper. It's more profitable. It is a supply chain that exists. In the midst of Donald Trump's tariff war with consumer confidence and jobs on the line, Ottawa is ready to roll with a new national automotive strategy, scrapping mandates,

and bringing back incentives. Welcome to Your World Tonight. I'm Susan Bonner. It is Wednesday, February 4th, just before 6 p.m. Eastern, also on the podcast. Ensuring that we have an independent judiciary is a hallmark of democracy. It's essential that we have a judiciary who's able to make decisions without fear or favor. The federal justice minister weighs in after demands from Alberta's premier. Daniel Smith set off alarms among Alberta judges.

She warns she could withhold funding if her province doesn't get a say in judicial appointments. Canada's auto sector has been hard hit by the tariff war. Its future in jeopardy. Tomorrow, the federal government is expected to announce a strategy to bolster the industry. CBC News has learned it will focus on incentives for consumers to buy EVs while simultaneously scrapping EV mandates. David Thurton reports. We'll have more news on that to come.

This week, Transport Minister Steve McKinnon hinted that a broad strategy for Canada's auto sector was in the works. CBC News has learned some new details of what's inside. According to sources, the electric vehicle sales mandate is out, purchase incentives are being brought back, something that McKinnon signal. So it sounds like you're bringing it back. We'll have more news on how to come. More than a year ago, the Liberal government suspended its zero-emission vehicle incentive program. The popular program offered consumers up to $5,000 for an EV or a plug-in car.

No word yet on how much that will cost the federal government. But finance minister Francois Filippe Champagne says Canada's auto sector is an important economic engine. He employs hundreds of thousands of people. And Canada is one of the few G7 country which still have an auto sector. He added, the future of the sector won't be powered by a combustion engine. Our North Star is still towards electrification. Despite that North Star, the auto industry has lobbied for an end to the EV mandate.

Amid Donald Trump's tariffs in September, Prime Minister Mark Carney paused the critical climate policy. Now it seems those advocating for the permanent end to the mandates are getting their wish. Well, people in the sector are going to be happy because those targets in the EV mandates were unachievable. Flavio Volpe, with the Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association, says it's not just auto producers that are celebrating. But also people who are on the climate. side who say, okay, listen, let's not let major industrial producers off the hook. According to sources in place of the EV mandate,

Ottawa will focus on a system that emphasizes fuel efficiency. The European Union recently decided to opt for so-called tailpipe pollution standards after pushback from industry. Joanna Kyrgyzis with Clean Energy Canada has mixed feelings about that. Now, that can be a transformative policy and help improve EV supply here in Canada as well

if we get the details right. So in the EU, their policy is so stringent that they're on track for 85% EV sales by 2035. So it matters. It's unclear, though, how soon this system will be implemented. And more importantly, if it will achieve the same level of carbon pollution reduction as an EV mandate, all while raising questions,

about the future of Canada's climate plan. David Thornton, CBC News, Ottawa. The Alberta government is laying down another ultimatum to the federal government. It wants more say in how judges are chosen, including Supreme Court justices. And if the feds won't agree, Alberta Premier Daniel Smith says she will withhold provincial funding for new judges. Critics warn any suspension of funding would cause chaos in the judicial system. Helen Pike reports. We have a functioning independent process.

We should protect it and defend the independence of the judiciary at all costs. Justice Minister Sean Frazier says he's willing to work with Alberta Premier Daniel Smith, but stops short of promising to make any changes. Look, I'm planning to maintain the process that we have in place. It has independence. In a letter made public Tuesday, Smith says it's time for reform and that her government won't provide funding for any new judicial positions until Ottawa's ready to collaborate.

The desire for more provincial input into the appointment of judges goes back decades. John Santos is a Calgary-based data analyst with Janet Brown Opinion Research. He says Alberta asking for more say isn't new, but threatening to withhold funding he thinks sends a signal. You know, there's a lot of speculation about the political motives here. I really think this just comes down to this is something that, you know, Danielle Smith wants that her base has wanted her to do. Last week, Alberta Chief Justices from all three levels sent a letter reaffirming the separation between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government is essential to a functioning democracy. An unprecedented public statement from the bench that followed comments Smith made arguing her government should have more power to direct the courts while suggesting a liberal bias. There's no evidence to suggest that federally appointed judges are behaving in a way that favors the federal.

federal government. That's University of Alberta political scientist Fio Snagovsky. The premier here has suggested that there's no way they could be impartial, but that's simply not true. There's no evidence. Snagovsky says the system works as is, but withholding funds to overhaul it presents a problem. This is a threat. This is a form of ransom. And the concern I've got is it's only threatening to not supply funding to fill these positions, right? Sean King is with Alberta's Criminal Trial Lawyers Association. He says the legal system is already stretched thin. More delays could come with serious consequences.

We're going to start running into a situation where trials aren't being concluded and matters are being stayed. When trials are thrown out, King says neither the victim nor accused get their day in court. Helen Pike, CBC News, Calgary. The Carney government is scrapping the offices fighting both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. The identity minister says the roles will be replaced by a new advisory council for rights, equality, and inclusion. Here's Mark Miller. Now it's about taking the next step into a national unity committee that is broad, that does recognize the specificities of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism,

but it's focused on national unity, and I think that's important. The envoy roles were created under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Carney pledged to keep them in place during the liberal leadership race. There's no word on who will be on the advisory council. Coming right up, drawing fire and drawing down. With outrage, mounting over deadly ice incidents, Donald Trump's borders are, slashes the number of agents in Minneapolis.

And from the House of Windsor to the House of Lords, the UK fallout deepens over the Jeffrey Epstein files. The Prime Minister accused of hiring an ambassador he knew was friends with Epstein. and later, we'll have this story. It's a pretty damn good comeback if I can pull it off. American alpine skier Lindsay Vaughn came out of retirement hoping to meddle at the Winter Olympics, even after she tore her ACL just last week.

At 41, she's one of an array of athletes passed their so-called athletic prime. To still be, like, competitive and pushing with the young guns is really amazing. I'm Sarah Levitt in Lavinio, Italy. Later on Your World Tonight, how older athletes are hanging on and showing up. Ten days after taking over command of ICE operations in Minneapolis, the Trump administration's borders are announced a withdrawal of agents from the city. 700 ice agents will leave Minnesota immediately.

As Katie Nicholson reports, those against the ice crackdown say it's a step in the right direction, but not nearly enough. Good morning. Trump's border czar Tom Holman kicked off the morning making good on his word to Minnesotans. It's effective immediately. We will draw down 700 people. That still leaves roughly 2,000 immigration enforcement officers in the North Star State, still far above the normal footprint of 150 agents.

U.S. President Donald Trump says the decision to partially draw down came from him. Yes, it did. Trump and Homan say they pulled back in part because Minnesota authorities will release migrant prisoners to immigration officials. Something local officials said repeatedly they were already doing. Trump's immigration crackdown has given way to fierce grassroots pushback, plummeting polls and mounting criticism. Made all the worse when federal border agents shot and killed two Minnesotans within weeks of each other. Renee Good and Alex Prattie. Trump said lessons were learned in Minneapolis.

I learned that maybe we can use a little bit of a softer touch. In a social media post, Minnesota Governor Tim Walls said Holman's announcement was a step in the right direction, but pushed for a faster and larger drawdown. Sentiments shared by the many in the Twin Cities who consider themselves part of the resistance. There's this feeling and this understanding that it's not enough. We want zero agents here. Megan Newcomb organizes noisy protests outside hotels where ice agents stay. There's a lot more to do.

So do not expect that the resistance will decrease. If anything, now we have the same number of people on the streets and fewer ice agents. Even as some immigration officers leave, the scars this operation leaves behind may continue to mar the Trump administration. Feelings of disbelief, distress. and desperation for change. Luke Ganger, Renee Goetz brother, speaking before a congressional committee yesterday. These encounters with federal agents

are changing the community and changing many lives, including ours, forever. In a sign, Minnesotans don't see today's drawdown as a full retreat. Two public school districts have filed a new lawsuit against Homeland Security to keep its agents off their properties. Katie Nicholson, CBC News, Washington. We've made real progress. If you look at the checklist of open items that existed at this time last year

and the checklist of open items that remain now in terms of reaching a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia, that list has been substantially diminished. That's the good news. The bad news is that the items that remain are the most difficult ones. And meanwhile, the war continues. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on talks to end the war in Ukraine. Kiev and Moscow are meeting for two days in Abu Dhabi. The Americans are mediating.

There is no word yet on progress. The main sticking point is territory. The Kremlin wants Ukraine to give up its eastern Donbass region, which Kiev rejects. In Kiev, crews are working to repair a damaged power plant. It was hit Tuesday by Russian drones. The strikes are the latest in a wave of attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure. It's left thousands of people across that country with no heat or power as winter temperatures plunge. There's a different kind of trauma along Iran's border tonight.

The threat of a military strike by the U.S. or another brutal government crackdown by Iran is weighing on people who already struggle in daily life. Our senior international correspondent Margaret Evans has this report from the Iran-Iraq border. A remote border crossing between Iran and Iraqi Kurdistan in the north. Haji Omran, the name of the town on the Iraqi side. The fear instilled by Tehran's intelligence agencies can stretch itself all the way up here, especially in the wake of recent anti-government protests. Many of the Iranians crossing make money carrying goods back and forth

in a small tax-free zone along the border. This man makes about three U.S. dollars a day doing it, lugging huge boxes on his back. Life is really hard financially, he says. Demonstrations have decreased, but a lot of people were killed. Few will show their faces or allow their names to be used publicly. Locals in Haji Omran say that's because Iranian security agencies pay informers to report on the Iran. Iranians coming over. One woman, a mother of three, asks if there are spies listening to our questions.

We hear the Americans might attack Iran again. What do you think about that? We're using only the interpreter's voice. I wait out every night. The mayor of Hajee Omran believes Iran will actually submit to U.S. demands before any military strike. But he adds that if the U.S. carries out limited attacks, there will be danger to U.S. bases across the region, including a small U.S. contingent in the Kurdish capital, Erbil, to the south.

Planned talks between the U.S. and Iran have once more been thrown into doubt, this time by differences over what's on the negotiating table. De Lauer-A. al-Din of the Middle East Research Institute says Iran is trying to limit talks to the nuclear issue, hiving it off. They genuinely believe that President Trump ultimately is not interested in a war, an all-out war, or even regime change. But today, the U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, laid out Washington's demands. And that includes the range of their ballistic missiles.

That includes their sponsorship of terrorist organizations across the region. That includes a nuclear program, and that includes the treatment of their own people. A long way still to go, then. Evan CBC News along the Iraq-Iran border. The Jeffrey Epstein files continue to reverberate. In the UK, Prime Minister Kier-Starmer is at the epicenter, under fire for a diplomatic appointment he made, which critics say calls his judgment and his leadership into question.

Crystal Gamoncing has the details. Madelson betrayed our country, our parliament, and my party. UK Prime Minister Kier Starmor outraged and attempting to distance himself from Peter Mandelson. The high-profile politician first elected as an MP back in the 90s was brought back into the Labour Party fold by Starmor. He was appointed ambassador to the U.S. before Starmor was forced to sack him last fall. I regret appointing him. It was revealed he had an ongoing relationship with a late convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein, A relationship, Starmor shocked his colleagues in the House of Commons

by admitting his team knew about it at the time of his appointment. What was not known was the depth, the sheer depth and extent of the relationship. He lied about that to everyone for years. In an effort to prove that, the Labor government will release documents from their vetting process. At least the one Starrmer says don't risk national security. or compromise future investigations. This is not about national security. This is about his job security.

The Conservative opposition party says the Prime Minister's judgment is compromised and his leadership untenable. This sort of just adds to that kind of end of days feeling that seems to be floating around politics at the moment. Political scientist, Anna Mennon, says Starrmer was already vulnerable with members of his own backbench saying he needs to go. Now, the Labour Party as a whole is under scrutiny. In an effort to take some of the heat off of labour, Mandelson resigned from the party and the House of Lords.

But the recently released Epstein documents allege Mandelson, while business secretary under a previous labour government, may have shared sensitive market information with Epstein around the time of the financial crisis. And hence the importance of this investigation underway at the moment because the key question about the Prime Minister's judgment is, was there stuff in that appointment process that should have warmed him off Mandelson because of a suspicion that his links with Epstein were far too close for comfort?

As for the sensitive government information possibly shared with Epstein, a criminal investigation into possible misconduct of public office by Mandelson is now underway by the Metropolitan Police. Crystal Gamansing, CBC News, London. It is a story that shook a family, a community, and a province. Nine months later, the disappearance of two young children in rural Nova Scotia remains a painful mystery. In a CBC News exclusive, the family and friends of Little Lily and Jack are speaking out about the ongoing search and the struggle to remain hopeful.

Angela McIver reports. That was their first day of school. I was about to ask about what that was. Yeah. Cheryl Robinson and Angeline Maloney Arsino watch videos of happy kids they hope desperately to see again. Five-year-old Jack and six-year-old Lily Sullivan disappeared last May. Both women are close to the children's mother, Malaya Brooks Murray. Robinson says these last nine months have been a nightmare.

She says Brooks Murray is shy by nature and is just trying to take it day by day. We just try to help her and guide her in the right direction and give her the hope that the kids will be found. Maloney Arsino says it's been difficult. It's definitely highlighted how her, seeing how her world has, like, turned upside down. Cindy Murray is Jack and Lily's maternal grandmother. As time ticks on, she's getting more desperate for answers. I can't describe it. It's mental torture to figure out, like, how come it's taking so.

long for them to find out what happened. Nova Scotia RCMP say the case remains very active. It is still being investigated under the Missing Persons Act and the RCMP says right now there are no reasonable grounds to believe the case is criminal. Staff Sergeant Rob McCammon is with the Nova Scotia Major Crime Unit. Once we have all the information necessary we'll make decisions on any criminality that may be relevant to the case. Last week RCMP charged the children's stepfather Daniel Martel with assault, sexual assault and forcible confinement in relation to an adult complainant.

He has not responded to CBC's request for comment on the charges, but in early January, he did sit down for an interview. At the time, Martel said he believed he's not considered a suspect in the children's disappearance, but he thinks a crime has been committed. But it will not pivot to a criminal case or a criminal investigation from a missing person until they have a suspect. Martel lived with Brooks Murray and the children in Lansdown, a rural community an hour and a half outside Halifax.

According to court documents in the weeks before the kids went missing, the couple had been fighting about money. The day after Jack and Lily disappeared, Brooks Murray left the scene and never returned, a move that has been heavily criticized. Robinson says she encouraged it. And it may not be what a lot of people would do if their two kids were missing.

but until you're in that situation, you really don't know how you would act. Despite the ongoing family rift, everyone involved has the same goal to not let this become a cold case. Angela McIver, CBC News, Halifax. 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.

The Olympics are billed as a gathering of the world's best in sport. Usually that means a forum for the young. But a number of athletes scheduled to compete in this winter's games show youth is a relative term, even if the challenges of aging are universal. Sarah Levitt reports. 50 meters high illuminated by floodlights, Canadian snowboarder Mark McMorris gets some practice in.

Hurdling down the steep, big air ramp, he launches himself skyward. This is in his first rodeo. It's the fourth Olympics for McMorris, with three bronze medals already to his name. But at 32, McMorris is considered old for his disciplines. To still be, like, competitive and pushing with the young guns is really amazing. Still, things have changed since he was 20. The amount of work I need to put in is much greater than it was in,

2014, just in the physical side of things and pushing to do these new bigger tricks. Milano Cortina is going to see an array of older athletes. There's a 52-year-old snowboarder, a 46-year-old downhill skier, and Canadian curler Mark Kennedy is 44. It's a higher risk. Dr. Robert Foxford is an emergency in sports medicine specialist and a former chief medical officer for Team Canada. As the body ages, it's a body ages.

It takes longer time for recovery so that injuries become more important. And once you have an injury, a second injury on top of it, it's a real challenge for athletes as they age. Storyed Alpine skier Lindsay Vaughan knows all about that. Oh, Von is in the netting. Oh, my goodness me! She hoped to make the ultimate comeback at 41 after retiring for nearly six years. Lindsay Vaughn is in trouble here. Then a crash last week resulted in a torn ACL.

Still, she says, she'll compete. I'm still here. I think I'm still able to fight. I think I'm still able to try. I'm still living the dream at 41. Canadian figure skating pair Diana Stellado Dudak and Maxim Deshaun have also been dealt a blow. They've pulled out of the team event that starts Friday after 42-year-old Stilato Dudak injured herself during training.

She said this back in May. I have always wanted to make history and be the oldest figure skater ever to win an Olympic gold medal. And so that is my goal. Stilato Dudak is waiting on a doctor's decision to see if the duo can be healthy in time to compete for the pair's event in the second half of the games. Back in Livigno, McMorris has no idea if this will be his last Olympics, but the goal remains the same. I'm staying consistent with it and, yeah, keeping my... my eyes on the prize. Going for gold.

Always. Sarah Levitt. CBC News, Levinio, Italy. Today's snowboarder Mark McMorris, who you just heard Sarah mention, crashed during a training run in Lavinio. He was preparing for the big air event and was taken off the hill on a stretcher.

There's no word yet on his condition. And finally tonight. We are so excited to be back where it all started and then ended and then is maybe starting. again depending on how tonight goes. It's the Lumpit show and it starts. The Muppet Show is 50 years old

and Disney and ABC are airing an anniversary special tonight. It's been a long road for Jim Henson's creations. Muppet appearances on Sesame Street in the 1960s led to a show of their own in 1976. Movies and specials followed over the years and Kermit and the gang looked pretty good

for their age. Just, don't say that to Ms. Piggy. Oh my God, it's you. You're my idol. You're sweet. Go on. I grew up watching you. My parents grew up watching you.

Their parents grew up watching. That's Sabrina Carpenter that you heard there. She appears in the show, along with executive producers Maya Rudolph and Canadian Seth Rogan. They hope to build a big audience tonight by the time they reach that famed grand finale. This is my big show.

Can't believe they're. doing the old show again. Well, if it ain't broke. No, they are broke. That's why they're doing it. Oh, he-he-he. Well, you can't please everybody. But if critics and fans like the new Muppet show,

word is, a full reboot could be next. Thanks for joining us. On this edition of Your World Tonight for Wednesday, February 4th, I'm Susan Boner. Talk to you again. For more CBC podcasts, go to cBC.ca, slash podcasts.