Your World Tonight - PM meets premiers, Canadian drug bust, driverless cars, and more

Episode Date: July 23, 2026

Prime Minister Mark Carney gets face time with Canada’s premiers in Charlottetown amid another tariff threat from US President Donald Trump.Also: Ontario police carry out a major sting, seizing cocaine, methamphetamines, and opium, in one of the province’s biggest-ever drug busts that even included an anti-tank rifle.And: Robot bragging rights. The new study that suggests driverless cars are involved in fewer crashes than their human-controlled counterparts.Plus: Washington’s controversial Saudi nuclear energy deal, fires and evacuations in France, Haitian workers who may have to leave the U.S., and more.

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We're willing to do whatever we need to do to address the situation we're in. This goes right to the heart of our national sovereignty. Canada's premiers and territorial. leaders with a message of unity to fight back against U.S. tariffs. The Prime Minister, also in Charlottetown, says everything is on the table to reach a trade deal that is fair and protects Canadian interests. This is Your World Tonight. I'm Salima Shivji. It's Thursday, July 23rd, coming up on 6 p.m. Eastern. Also on the podcast. So many firefighters, I saw in our eyes they were scared.

Fast-spreading wildfires ripped through parts. parts of southwestern France, fueled by tinder-dry conditions and suffocating heat. Thousands of people on the move looking for safety as firefighters struggled to get the situation under control. Mark Carney was the last to join the party, but the Prime Minister was welcomed at the Premier's meeting, which was dominated by U.S. tariffs and trade. If they have a collective plan, they're not saying. What they did show, though, was a common sense of frustration and resolve.

Janice McGregor reports from Charlottetown. If trash talk could win trade wars, Manitoba Premier Wobb Canoe and other First Ministers wouldn't need to meet behind closed doors to plot their next moves. Alas. Ontario Premier Doug Ford knows how it goes. One day the Prime Minister is with him side by side, and next thing you know, President Trump turns on him like a rabbit dog.

Put everything on the table. Let's get this done. This wasn't supposed to be the focus of the Premier's talks that Premier Rob Lance was chairing this week in Charlottetown. Under different circumstances, premiers would have had different demands for the Prime Minister. But instead, Mark Carney came here with things to ask of them. As everyone knows, on Monday, the U.S. administration announced its intention to impose the latest in a series of unilateral unwarranted trade actions.

Canadian governments around this table will do whatever it takes to defend and support our families, our workers, and our businesses. These decisions so critical that Carney turned up here with a full court press of his senior players, his lead minister, his chief Kusman negotiator, his chief of staff, the clerk of the Privy Council. Next year's chair of the Premier's Northwest Territories Premier R.J. Simpson summed up the sentiment in the room. We're willing to do whatever we need to do to address the situation we're in this is, this goes right to the heart of our national sovereignty. But when the Prime Minister led the premiers out to face the cameras, they weren't ready to say what might happen next. Everything's on the table if there's no agreement, depending on the outcome of the negotiations.

And until Donald Trump actually does follow through with his terror threats. We don't need to respond in advance. In fact, I think it would be counterproductive. at this stage to respond in advance. But it's important to know what your options are. So about those options, Carney said just because Canada hasn't retaliated yet doesn't mean it won't go there if it has to. There are other things we could have done in the intervening time that we didn't do.

Carney said that what he calls technical aspects of the Kusma talks could stretch on for months, not weeks. But the silver lining to this threat is that the Trump administration has now re-engaged. Work to do what they can to strengthen the domestic economy continues, with, for example, a new push for provinces to recognize each other's professional credentials and certifications that's kicking off as a result of these talks. We're also ready because of what we know in our bones. That our unity is our greatest strength and our destiny is in our hands.

But no one tipped their hand to show what cards they'll play in four weeks' time. Their plan may need more work. Trump could change his mind. But for now at least, no Premier spoke up to disagree. Janice McGregor, CBC News, Charlottetown. Cocaine, meth, opium, and lots of it. Not to mention cash, weapons, and tech. Ontario police say it was all seized in one of the biggest drug busts they've ever carried out. Part of an international investigation that has more than 20 people facing 100 plus charges. Lee Schenock reports. I truly do lose sleep over stuff like this for our community.

Windsor Police Chief Jason Crowley says the investigation into a criminal smuggling network began in 2025, sparked by concerns about drugs and guns flowing into the community from across the border. Now, 18 months later, he looks at a stack of cocaine and methamphetamines worth almost $140 million on the street. It's certainly, as you can see, a very large dent in someone's business. Also on display for the media at Windsor's police headquarters, a large caliber weapon. This is a Latte, L-39, 50-caliber anti-tank rifle. Andy Bradford is acting detective superintendent of the Ontario Provincial Police. He says the fact that such a weapon is in the hands of suspected drug smugglers is a big concern.

It is very rare. Bradford says as the investigation progressed, the scale of the alleged operation became clearer. Its investigators worked with U.S. Homeland Security and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The scope of this drug trafficking network extends into the southwestern United States. Police say smugglers were using legitimate commercial trucking operations to import large amounts of drugs into Canada for distribution in the greater Toronto area and beyond. Raids were conducted in the Windsor and Toronto areas. 19 people were arrested and faced drug and weapons charges.

Two people are still at large. charge. Officers seized nearly 1.7 tons of drugs. They say it's one of the largest drug seizures in the province's history. Bradford says Mexican cartels are involved and alleged drug kingpin former Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding's arrest in January may have created a vacuum. When one criminal element is removed like Mr. Wedding's network, another will often take us place. We know Wedding was closely affiliated with the Sinolaa cartel. Mike Chavaria is a former special agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. He says thousands of trucks cross the U.S. border from Mexico every day, and agents can only check a fraction.

It's very likely these are transportation crews that are contracted. Michael Procy of the Canadian Border Services Agency says when it finally opens next week, the new Gordy Howe International Bridge will have advanced border security and inspection infrastructure, including large-scale X-ray imaging technology. It's going to be the most futuristic port of entry that we have in terms of technology, in terms of detection equipment, in terms of the ability that we will have to interdicts, narcotics, firearms, and other items. Police hope intelligence gathered during the Project Bay investigation

will lead to more arrests and seizures. Philip Lishanak, CBC News, Toronto. Coming up, France Inferno. Thousands are forced to flee in southwestern France, as fast-moving wildfires remain out of control. Plus, hundreds of thousands of Haitians could be deported from the U.S. following a move by the Trump administration to acts an immigration program. And later, we'll have this story.

In a number of U.S. cities, Waymo, Google's self-driving car, is becoming more common. But compared to human drivers, how safe are they? What we are seeing is that the types of crashes they get into, in addition to being less frequent, They're also the less egregious types of crashes. I'm Jamie Strachan in Toronto with the story of a new study that looks at man versus machine. Coming up on your world tonight. U.S. President Donald Trump appears to have added a condition to the newly signed and controversial agreement that would allow Saudi Arabia to develop a civilian nuclear program.

Trump now says the deal requires the Saudi Kingdom to normalize relations with Israel first. and as Sasha Petrissik reports that could make it much more complicated. Saudi Arabia's crown prince got a royal welcome to the White House on his last visit in the fall, talks with U.S. President Donald Trump laying the groundwork for the current nuclear deal. But when it came to normalizing relations with Israel, signing on to the so-called Abraham Accords, Muhammad bin Salman hedged, insisting that couldn't happen. until Israel committed to a Palestinian state. But we want also to be sure that we secure a clear path of two-state solution.

And today we have a healthy discussion with Mr. President that we're going to walk on that. Officially, that position hasn't changed. But now, Trump is trying to force the issue, posting on social media that allowing Saudi to develop a civilian nuclear program is, quote, totally subject to Saudi Arabia, joining the Abraham Accords. And he has said, if they don't join the Abraham Accords, the deal is off. The new condition was not mentioned yesterday when the U.S. and Saudi signed the nuclear deal.

And today, White House spokesperson Caroline Levitt seemed unable to provide new details or reasons for the change. But it puts the deal in doubt. I don't want to comment on the specifics of the deal as we're still again, as I just said. talking especially about this very important condition that the president raised this morning. The deal itself has drawn criticism from Democrats in Congress, like Representative Gregory Meeks. I'm very concerned that it changes the climate in the Middle East, which could cause a nuclear arms race. Worried that during a U.S. war aimed at preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons, Trump may make that easier for other countries.

It won't happen, says U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. Any agreement that we're going to make with any country in the world on civil nuclear energy is going to be one that will have safeguards in place to ensure that it can't be turned into a weapons program. The deal has provisions for international inspections, though not as many as other countries. But it's Israel's complaints that seem to have caught Trump's attention. Former Israeli Prime Minister Neftali Bennett and others complained that the agreement endangered the security of Israel, the Mideast's only nuclear power. Now Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is praising Trump's condition as an historically forward for peace,

even though it may only end up scuttling any deal. Saudi has not accepted the change. or even responded. Sasha Petrissick, CBC News, Toronto. In Delhi. This is what a massive anti-government rally sounds like, one that's dominated the streets of India's capital for the fourth day in a row now.

Thousands of young people, led by some calling themselves the cockroach Janta party, stayed camped out. Even after clashes with police last night, who fired tear gas and water cannons to try to disperse the crowd. And it's evolved, into the biggest challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government since his BJP party was handily re-elected for a third term in 2024.

The revolts were sparked by a testing scandal. A ministry-mandated exam for medical student hopefuls was leaked and more than 2 million aspiring doctors had to retake the test, which is one of the toughest in the world. The protesters have been calling on Modi to fire his education minister and revamp the agency that runs those exams. Here's a student leader from Kerala, P.S. Sanjeev, on just how badly students were affected.

You know that 23,000 students has been affected. 21 students have committed suicide. It's not just suicide. It's a murder from the government system itself. The youth-led protests are spreading across India and opposition parties have also joined the fight. Raul Gandhi, with India's Congress Party, was briefly detained at one of the protests earlier.

this week. What used to be called, our success, what used to be called divesting India has, our education system, has been wiped out. And so we fully support these demands. And we fully support every single student. The sustained protests have forced some businesses and metro stations in Delhi to close. The parliamentary session has been disrupted. An Indian activist who started a hunger strike in solidarity with the students has just

ended his strike after 26 days. And the rallies have now prompted a response for Modi, who posted this video to social media. He's promised to set up fast-track courts to punish officials accused of leaking exam papers. The students, meanwhile, are calling for more nationwide protests Friday. Nearly 20,000 people have been forced out of southwestern France as intense wildfires tear through the region. As Ashley Burke reports, relentless heat is fueling. this dangerous new wave of fires, not just in France, but across the continent. The scale of wildfires in France is unprecedented for this time of year.

People are cared because since June there is three big fire, and they don't understand why. AFP photographer Romain Perre show was on the ground in Lepors, capturing the towering flames. His photos show a red inferno and exhausted faces trying to contain it. So many firefighters, I saw in our eyes they were scared and a police officer too. It was very difficult for them. Along the French Atlantic coast, more than 20,000 people have been told to leave their homes, campsites and vacation resorts. It's moving very, very fast, one moment said fleeing her home. For decades, France has prevented fires from becoming catastrophic.

by dousing high-risk force in advance. But that strategy is no longer a match for Europe's extreme heat. It's a nightmare. Everything's gone up in flames. This is our home, says another woman on the move. Three heat waves virtually back-to-back in Europe is helping create the conditions for a new era of wildfires. We're starting to see more and more extreme temperatures due to climate change. Theodore Keeping is a wildfire researcher in London and member of the world.

World Weather Attribution Network. As we reach temperatures and levels of dryness that that environment simply hasn't seen before, and we're therefore starting to see extreme fire behavior that we also haven't seen as a consequence. In central Spain, officers are kicking in people's doors, looking for residents to race to safety. 40-degree weather, combined with gusts of warm wind, is fanning the full. flames. In Sicily, a firefighter died while trying to contain it.

So far this year, wildfires have devoured more land in Europe than the annual average in the past two decades, and the peak of wildfire season is yet to come. Ashley Burke, CBC News, London. And here in Canada, close to 900 wildfires are burning, 78 of them out of control. In British Columbia, more communities were hit with new evacuation orders as well as alerts as fast-growing wildfires continue to spread across that province. A series of notices were issued for areas in the Thompson-Nicola, Caribou, and Squamish Lilouette regional districts. Meanwhile, here in Ontario, officials say close to 180 forest fires continue to burn across the northern part of the province, with several new fires starting yesterday. More than 300,000 Haitians in the U.S. are about to lose their

right to stay in the country. The Trump administration is scrapping a program that has let many Haitians live and work in the U.S. since 2010. The deportations could begin as early as next week. Mike Crawley reports from one American city where the Haitian community is particularly fearful. Workers are getting the lantern bar in Springfield, Ohio, ready for its grand reopening this Saturday. For years, as the economy in this Rust Belt City sagged, the bar had been closed, until it was bought by local Haitian entrepreneur Ketley Moisa. The Asian community here, we come here to walk out. Moisa is one of roughly 15,000 Haitians in Springfield, a quarter of the city's population.

Nearly all are in the U.S. under temporary protected status, a designation that the Trump administration has now ended. Many Haitians came to the city to do jobs that Americans didn't want. night shifts in factories or cleaning hospitals. But now they're losing those jobs as part of the president's push to deport one million people each year. Paneting and anxious and a bit hobblest too. Viles Dorsanville runs the local Haitian support center, where the end of temporary protected status is the dominant issue.

Some Haitians have told Dorsanville they're considering trying to escape to Canada, but he warns them of the risk they could be caught. at the border and handed over to U.S. immigration officials. I tell people it's a time to act with wisdom and try to become because taking quick decision sometimes put you in more danger. Springfield's Haitians were thrust into the national spotlight two years ago when Donald Trump said this. In Springfield, they're eating the dogs, the people that came in. They're eating the pets. The claim was false. Still, the concern. that lingers for this city's Haitians is that their unwanted notoriety will make them prime targets for immigration raids.

I mean, I think a lot of them are still hoping something's going to happen that will allow them to stay. I don't think that's very likely. Carl Ruby is senior pastor of Springfield's Central Christian Church and a driving force behind two local immigrant support groups. He says he and other church leaders in Ohio have been preparing for months in case immigration and customs enforcement agents come for the Haitians. We are committed to peaceful resistance. We're committing to placing ourselves in the way if we have to stand between ICE and someone who they're trying to detain. If that person's life's in danger, we're going to stand between them. The U.S. State Department says Haiti is so dangerous that Americans should not even visit. Criminal gangs control nearly all of the capital Port-au-Prass

and much of the surrounding countryside. As one Haitian in Springfield put it, the minute they know that you've flown back from the U.S., you're dead. Mike Crowley, CBC News, Springfield, Ohio. More than a thousand people in the Democratic Republic of Congo have died from Ebola. The outbreak was declared in May and cases spread to neighboring Uganda. This strain has no approved vaccine or treatment, and health officials in Central Africa are struggling to control it. They say dozens of deaths are being recorded each day, adding this Ebola outbreak could become the worst in history. The World Health Organization has called it a public health emergency of international concern, but the WHO maintains the risk of global spread is low.

Now, you may be hesitant to hop in a driverless car, but new research suggests they may actually be safer than cars with human drivers. An independent study of Waymos in four U.S. cities found they were involved in far fewer crashes. Jamie Strachan unpacks the findings and what they could mean for the future of our roads. I like it. It's very peaceful in there. In nearly a dozen U.S. cities, more than 3,000 Waymo's, Google's driverless vehicles, have become another option for commuters.

There's not the chatter. There's not the weird radio station playing whatever random music the driver likes to listen to. Or, you know, I thought it's very comfortable. It's private and safe. Now new independent data is looking at the safety of driverless cars versus human drivers. We found Waymo. has a crash rate about 68% lower than humans into similar areas where they operate. Eric Tio is the Director of Statistical Services at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

His team compared about 80 million kilometers of driverless operation with 355 billion kilometers by human drivers over the same period. What we are seeing is that the types of crashes they get into, in addition to being less frequent, They're also the less egregious types of crashes. Like they're not rear-ending people. They're not getting into head-on crashes as much, things like that. The study focused on crashes people would typically report to police based on damage and potential injuries. If we had some streamlined data, that would mean we could monitor this a lot quicker.

There are other limitations. Researchers had to comb through the numbers to find comparable stats, and not all humans, port crashes they're involved in. But while not a perfect science, Andrew Miller, the author of the future of driving, believes Waymo's are safer when it comes to navigating urban streets. Firstly, and most obviously, they obey the rules of the route. The cars don't get distracted. They don't speed. They fully stop at intersections. There are, of course, problems. Many documented on social media. This stoplight went out in Venice Beach, and this one.

does not know what to do. And more practical issues, Miller says. Like, for instance, they know what a stop sign looks like, but they're confused when it's a stop sign that is being held by construction worker. Or they know what a traffic cone looks like, but they're confused when there's a row of five traffic cones and two are on their sides. Waymo is trying to expand into Canada with efforts underway to clear regulatory hurdles in Ontario and BC. But Canada comes with unique safety issues, says the University of Toronto's

Stephen Wasslander. We have a fairly significantly different climate from what's happening down in the US where they've started originally. So we have our winters. We have our difficult driving. All things to be figured out as Waymo's and other driverless vehicles become more prevalent. Jamie Strash in CBC News, Toronto. Finally, that's the applause from a viewing party at the University of Toronto. as one of its own Jacob Zimmerman is accepting the prestigious Fields Medal. It's often considered the Nobel Prize of Mathematics. It's awarded every four years to up to four mathematicians under the age of 40.

The 38-year-old professor of mathematics won for his work on proving that Andre Oort conjecture, which has stumped mathematicians for decades. Essentially, one way to view it is when doing number theory you try to understand kind of probabilistically, statistically what you expect to happen, and then whenever something unexpected happens, you look for geometric explanations for it. The expert on number theory is the first scholar at a Canadian institution and the second Canadian ever to win the Fields Medal.

Zimmerman's interest in math started early in life. He was solving math puzzles at the age of three. My parents were very encouraging. One is letting me spend my time sort of doing math, which maybe a lot of parents would do, I'm not sure, but being very supportive of that. and also just continuing to try to engage. One of his biggest cheerleaders at the viewing party, Amir Cardos,

who's going into grade 12 next year, he hopes to soon study math in university. It would be such an honor to be able to meet him. I mean, a field's medalist is, like, pretty much the highest you can get in mathematics. That would be so great if he was my professor. For young people interested in pursuing mathematics, concerned about the impact artificial intelligence could have on the field, Zimmerman says to pay attention to it and to just keep learning. I would encourage people to, first of all, not give up on themselves,

to keep learning and improving themselves because you don't know how the world will turn out. And however it turns out, the safe thing to do is to invest in yourself. And so to keep learning, to keep being excited, to keep figuring out the world. And also to engage with AI, to keep engaging with it, because it's going to be a big part of our world going forward. Some good advice. Thanks so much for being with us. This has been Your World Tonight for Thursday, July,

I'm Selimma Shivji. Have a great night. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca.ca.com.