Your World Tonight - Quebec men charged with terror plot, Trump threatens copper tariffs, flood survivor, and more

Episode Date: July 8, 2025

Police charge three Quebec men with terrorism, linked to an alleged plot to create an anti-government militia and seize land around Quebec City. A fourth man is charged with possessing firearms and explosives. Police also say some in the group are active members of Canada's military, without naming who.And: U.S. President Donald Trump says he’s imposing a 50 per cent tariff on copper. Business correspondent Peter Armstrong will tell us how that affects Canada.Also: Hope of finding survivors is fading in Texas. At least 109 people are now confirmed dead and crews are still searching for more than 160 missing people.Plus: The Competition Bureau investigates Amazon, Israeli official suggests relocating Palestinians to a walled city, bank phone scams, and more.

I'm Joshua Jackson, and I'm returning for the Audible original series, Oracle, Season 3, Murder at the Grandview. Six forty-somethings took a boat out a few days ago. One of them was found dead. The hotel, the island, something wasn't right about it. Psychic agent Nate Russo is back on the case, and you know when Nate's killer instincts are required, anything's possible.

This world's gonna eat you alive. Listen to Oracle Season 3, Murder at the Grandview, now on Audible. This is a CBC Podcast. Create some kind of chaos so that they could take over. We're talking anti-authority, anti-government, but quite often it's mixed with, could be misogyny, racism.

Accused of plotting and training for terrorist activity, an alleged homegrown anti-government extremist group and some are active members of the Canadian military, charged with amassing a dangerous arsenal of weapons and planning to seize land. In the country, they were trusted to serve and protect. Welcome to Your World Tonight. I'm Juanita Taylor. It's Tuesday, July 8th, just before 6pm Eastern. Also on the podcast… We did aluminum, 50 percent. Lumber just came out. And we did cars. And now today we're doing copper. I believe the tariff on copper we're going to make it 50%.

Another element in Donald Trump's trade war and another potential blow to a Canadian economy already struggling with levies on other goods. The US president announcing a shiny new tariff on copper and Canada is a major exporter sending billions of dollars worth of the metal to the US every year. Explosives, firearms, ammunition, not unusual in the hands of Canadian soldiers. But the RCMP say two military members were part of a group stockpiling

firepower for different reasons. Building an anti-government militia and planning to take over property in Quebec. Today, three men have been charged with terrorism and a fourth faces weapons charges. Kate McKenna reports. To be able to have charges laid is something that we're very happy about. RCMP Sergeant Camille Abel says for the Mounties, today is extraordinary. A two-year investigation resulted in four arrests over an alleged plot involving active members of the military to form an anti-government militia. National security investigations are really complex and we need time to actually get all the information and the proof that we need. Three men in their 20s face terrorism-related charges. Marc Arrel-Shabbat, Raphael Lagasse, and Simon Angéaude.

The RCMP says over the course of three years they stockpiled a massive trove of guns, explosives and equipment, some of which may have been taken from the military, all while doing training exercises and recruiting others to their cause on Instagram, allegedly with the goal of wanting to take over land near Quebec City. A fourth man, Matthew Forbes, was also arrested and charged with possessing firearms, prohibitive devices and explosives.

Two of the suspects are active members of the Canadian Armed Forces, but the RCMP hasn't said which ones. This is the first time in my recollection that we've seen any terrorism charges against active duty members of the military. Jess Davis is the president of Insight Intelligence. She notes the RCMP conducted major searches and seizures in January 2024 as part of the

investigation. Those searches resulted in hundreds and thousands of rounds of ammunition, weapons, improvised explosive devices all being seized and that's the single largest cache of weapons and components in any terrorism incident in Canadian history. Abel says the suspects were ideologically motivated. What I can say is that quite often if that kind of ideology, what they're looking for is to create a new society, create a society based on the values that they respect.

It's not clear what exactly was motivating these suspects, but a former colleague of Chabot's confirmed he served in the armed forces and says while at work, he made comments about former prime minister Justin Trudeau that were in his words, almost treasonous. Davis says police were right to take this case seriously. The amount of weapons and the amount of ammunition and the improvised explosive devices tells me that they were building up for something pretty significant, that they were either

trying to recruit many more people so they were going to need that level of weapons and ammunition or they were preparing for some kind of siege which would be fairly common amongst ideologically motivated violent extremists. All four men have been charged and detained. Kate McKenna, CBC News, Ottawa. Military leaders are well aware of extremism within the ranks. Three years ago a report showed it was on the rise. The chief of the defense staff at the time even called it disturbing. Evan Dyer has more. This is very alarming, although not surprising. McGill University psychiatrist Cecile Russo studies violent radicalization. There's nothing new, she

says, about militaries attracting those who want to overthrow their country's government rather than serve it. Historically, crews are often organized by either active or past military because they have both the means and the knowledge. Also, security forces tend to attract the best and the worst, you know, people who want to protect but also want to have power and may abuse it. Military service gives soldiers like these of the Van Du regiment training in military weapons and tactics. For an extremist infiltrator, knowledge is one possible benefit. There can also be opportunities to steal equipment hard to procure elsewhere. Photos show the accused had a significant amount of military kit, and one accused faces

charges under the Defence Production Act, typically used when controlled items like arms and ammunition are stolen. So you have the arms, now you have the training. Barbara Perry heads the Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism at Ontario Tech University and advises the Canadian military on its counter extremism policy. There are explicit attempts to recruit people with military experience whether they're former or whether they're active. Police say the group was seeking to create an anti-government militia and aim to seize and hold a parcel of land.

So is that the first stages of creating, you know, this white ethnostate that so many far-right actors and accelerationists, for example, are interested in? Past cases involving former Canadian soldiers have sometimes been tied to white supremacist causes. Most notoriously, Patrick Matthews of Manitoba, a member of a neo-Nazi group called The Base, who fled Canada in 2019 before being arrested by the FBI in Delaware and sent to a high-security federal prison. The Canadian Armed Forces is a cross-section of our society.

Former Army officer Anneliese Tower says the forces are exposed to the same radicalizing political currents as the country around them. We would hope that we can protect the military against some of these broader trends but you know there's always a minority that can get missed. With the case now in the civilian justice system experts say the Canadian public is likely to get new insights into how far extremism has penetrated the forces.

Evan Dyer, CBC News, Ottawa. Police in B.C. say they have a better idea about what caused last month's explosion outside a provincial MLA's workplace. Corporal Mansour Sahak is with the North Vancouver RCMP. The damage was consistent with a detonation of what is believed to be an unsophisticated, homemade device. It could potentially be multiple bare bangers or commercially available fireworks taped together to increase the explosive potential of the item. The blast shattered the front door of the constituency office of Infrastructure Minister Bowen Ma. The device went off in the early morning of June 27th

when the building was empty. Police say they still don't know what the motive was. They are looking for two men who they say are persons of interest. Still to come on the podcast, copper is now in the crosshairs of Donald Trump's trade war, and it could have a big impact on Canadian producers. And Amazon is having its annual Prime Sales event, but Canada's competition bureau says shoppers might be buying into unfair pricing. Also, if you get a call from your bank

warning you about a possible scam, you might want to hang up. [♪upbeat music playing on video.♪ [♪upbeat music playing on video.♪ [♪upbeat music playing on video.♪ Donald Trump's latest tariff threat is taking aim at another Canadian export. The US President says he will impose a 50% tariff on copper. Last year Canadian businesses shipped about $4 billion worth to the US. Let's bring in the CBC's Peter Armstrong.

So Peter, what is Trump trying to accomplish with these tariffs? You know, as is often the case, there's a bunch of goals and those goals are often at odds with one another. You know, at the outset, we had Trump allies saying that this is all happening because the US is doing what it can, what it must to keep Chinese copper out of North America. Does China even ship much copper to the US? No, right? American businesses produce about half of what's used in the United States and then the

vast majority of the other half comes from Chile with Peru and Canada coming in pretty distant second and third. So Peter, do we know why this is happening now? Well Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick went on the Financial News Channel CNBC this afternoon and he was saying the administration launched all those investigations back in February and what L. And he was saying the administration launched all those investigations back in February. And what Lutnick was saying is that the report into copper, that's now back. And the idea is to bring copper home, bring copper production home,

bring the ability to make copper, which is key to the industrial sector back home to America. We need that kind of production in America. It's important. So Peter walk me through that. How does this bring copper production back to America. We need that kind of production in America. It's important. So Peter, walk me through that. How does this bring copper production back to America? Well, you can see it if you game out the price of copper, say. It jumped almost 10% when this announcement went out. And if copper is more expensive, then there's an incentive for copper miners to expand, for refiners to add capacity. But that comes with a cost, doesn't it?

It sure does. And, you know, we've seen this play out with steel and aluminum tariffs. The cost of those critical inputs go up when the tariffs kick in. And sure, that's great for you, steel industry as an example. There's a lot more businesses that use steel to make stuff than there are businesses that make steel. And this, it just increases the cost of making stuff. How does this impact the Canadian industry? It's kind of uneven, right?

In BC, you got much of the copper we make goes to markets in Asia. So not a huge change, and they get the added benefit of a price hike. But if you look at Quebec and Ontario, they mostly ship to the US. My colleague, Ines Hadari, spoke with Ryan Jordan, the owner of RJ Steel and Copper in Windsor, Ontario.

And he says he's already had to shift production to try to mitigate the steel tariffs. Now he's got to deal with this. It's frustrating. This company has been around 25 years. However, we're not a billion dollar company where we throw money at just anything. We need to be very concerned on what machinery we purchase,

what product we concentrate on, and how we're going to deliver that to the customer. Meantime, we just don't have all the details and you've got to read the fine print, but the clock is ticking here, right? Lotnik says these are set to go into effect as early as the end of this month. Lots to watch out for. Thank you, Peter. Yeah, you bet.

The CBC's senior Thank you, Peter. Yeah, you bet. The CBC's Senior Business Correspondent, Peter Armstrong. Police are investigating the cause of a mid-airplane collision in southern Manitoba. Two small aircraft crashed this morning near the city of Steinbeck. Both pilots were killed. They were students of a local flight school. The company's owner says the planes flew into each other, trying to land at the same time. There were no passengers. Online retailer Amazon is getting lots of attention tonight from shoppers trying to cash in on the company's annual prime sales event and from Canadian regulators trying to determine

if Amazon is engaging in unfair pricing. Nicole Williams reports. The existing building is 2.9 million square feet. This one will be 3.1. It's slated to be the biggest Amazon warehouse in North America and the second to be built in resident Andre Le François' neighborhood, the quiet Ottawa suburb of Barhaven. Area Councillor Wilson Lo. That's 2,500 jobs across three shifts 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So it's going to become a major employer in the area. It's big business with one of the biggest companies in the world.

And one the Competition Bureau is digging into to see if it's abusing its power. It's now obtained a court order in its investigation into the online sellers business practices in Canada, specifically what is known as Amazon's fair pricing policy. The idea is good, the implementation is not good. Brett Netterlof co-owns Brindle, an online pet supply company that also sells on Amazon and is subject to the policy. It states the online marketplace can penalize third-party sellers for certain practices, including if they list an item for sale at a much higher price than

it's been recently listed for on the site or elsewhere. The idea to prevent sellers from price gouging. But Nedarlof says in practice, They just set the price and you have to live with it. So it's really challenging to first of all operate a business that way. And second of all, sometimes the price is below our cost. And so I believe they're referencing the US price when they're doing that, which as we know, like our Canadian dollar is weaker than the American dollar. So're doing that, which as we know, like our Canadian dollars weaker than the American dollar. So I believe that's what they're doing when it's below our costs. But again, they don't tell us that. So for example, if an item costs us $10, and we would ideally

want to sell it from anywhere from 15 to $20, depending on the item. Sometimes Amazon will tell us you can sell this for $11, $10, $9 or you don't get to sell it. You can't discuss it with them. Under a new court order, Amazon has to hand over records for the Bureau's investigation. Toronto-based lawyer William Wu. This is just an investigative process that is totally normal. And the Bureau is the first to admit that there is no conclusion of run-do-me-here. Still, Netterlof is hopeful an investigation may lead to changes in how Amazon operates to make it easier for

Canadian retailers to sell products at what they feel is a reasonable price. Nicole Williams, CBC News, Ottawa. Ninevout's premier is stepping down. PJ Akerog says he won't seek reelection when his term ends in the fall. The 40-year-old says he wants to spend more time with family. Akerog has been Nunavut's premier since 2021. The territory's next election is October 27th. London, Ontario is grappling with an outbreak of Legionary's disease.

Health officials say there have been more than 40 cases so far this year, most in the past week. One person has died. The respiratory illness is rare. Infections come from breathing in bacteria commonly found in water systems like hot tubs or cooling tanks. A similar outbreak in London last year killed two people. Hope of finding survivors is fading in Texas. Crews are still searching after devastating flash floods last Friday. At least 109 people are now confirmed dead and some residents barely survived. Katie Nicholson is in Texas.

Right now I'm just packing everything up that I got out of the trailer. In punishing heat, Henry Daigle piles his waterlogged belongings into the back of a truck. When the Guadalupe River spilled over into his Ingram, Texas RV park, he lost everything. But if a police officer hadn't come by, he could have lost more. And he says, hey, you need to leave now. Why are you still here? We cleared this. I said, I just need five minutes. He said, you don't have five minutes. He went inside to lock up. When I stepped back out of the trailer, I was up to my knees. It was up over my knee already. The water is actually lifting my truck up a little bit. I'm kind of bobbing my way out. And I realized just how close I came to getting swept up in that

current myself. Cops saved my life, really. No way I would have made it out of here. I would have been in the drink going downriver. They've been pulling me out today. Already, more than a hundred have been recovered. It's difficult and delicate work cutting through massive debris piles violently slammed into the river banks. And still no sense exactly how many more may still be missing. A question confronting Kerr County Sheriff Larry Letha. Even just credible reports, is it hundreds still? Is there any estimate among the general population of how many people are missing?

No. I've told you all several times, it's hard to know that number. No we don't. I know the numbers that we have found and that's all I know. Later this afternoon, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said at least 160 people were known to be missing. The searchers combing through river banks, hovering in helicopters above the river, hot, filthy and heart-wrenching work. We bought in some liquid IV, some energy drinks, some food, some socks. April Blalock, like so many in Ingram, doing what she can to support first responders.

These are people that I went to high school with. These are people that I teach their children. These are families that we work with on the day-to-day basis. And so we're just trying to do everything we can for them. Back at the RV park, Henry Daigle tosses the last of his destroyed belongings into a pile. I found some fingernail clippers this morning that weren't even rusted. I put them in my pocket.

It kind of made my hour. Just a little old-fashioned, you know, dollar store nail clipper. Made my morning, you know, just lifted me up. Something didn't get ruined. Such a small thing to hold on to as he processes an enormous loss. Katie Nicholson, CBC News, Ingram, Texas. law. Katie Nicholson, CBC News, Ingram, Texas. Israel's Prime Minister and the US President are meeting for the second stray tonight trying to come to terms on a ceasefire in Gaza. This as the conflict

claims more victims on both sides and as a top Israeli official lays out a controversial plan for the future of the territory. Tom Perry reports from Jerusalem. At Nasser Hospital in Hanyounes, no signs of a ceasefire, just the everyday crush of injuries and death. This time the victims, some very young, of an Israeli strike on a camp where displaced people were sheltering in tents. of an Israeli strike on a camp where displaced people were sheltering in tents.

While I was getting water from a barrel I was suddenly shaken by an explosion says Najwa Al-Gabran. My nephews are in intensive care and I don't know if they're alive or dead. While Palestinians mourn Israel is grieving the loss of five IDF soldiers killed by a roadside bomb in northern Gaza. The Israeli military says 888 troops have been killed since the war began on October 7th 2023. With the war dragging on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in Washington discussing a ceasefire, but back in Israel, his defense minister has been floating a controversial proposal. Israel Cats has reportedly put forward a plan to move Gaza's entire population, more than two million people, to what he calls a humanitarian city.

It would be built on the ruins of Rafa, in the southern part of the Strip. Under the plan, Palestinians would be screened on their way in and not allowed to leave. Aida Tuma-Suleiman, an Israeli opposition member of the Knesset, accuses the government of trying to clear Gaza of Palestinians, calling it ethnic cleansing. This is a big jail. This is not a humanitarian city. This is like a camp where they concentrate people and they are not giving them any freedom to choose where to live or how to live. Meanwhile in Gaza, some Palestinians say they're staying put.

This will never happen, says Nidal Bilha. We will remain in the Gaza Strip even if we die, we will not leave. We reject this as Palestinian people, says Sayed Al-Kashawi. This is our ancestral land and we will remain in it. What Palestinians really want, he says, is simple. For the war and all its horrors to finally end. Tom Perry, CBC News, Jerusalem. They pose as bank investigators, phoning to protect you from a scam.

But that's exactly what the call is, and in some cases, thousands of dollars are gone before you even hang up. Sophia Harris has more on a new type of phone fraud on the rise and how to protect yourself. Melissa Plett, who lives just outside Montreal, said there was nothing suspect about an apparent call from her bank. The caller sounded professional. The phone's call display showed RBC's name and number. It was very, very, very, very well executed. The caller said someone was trying to steal money from Plett's account.

He instructed her to log into her RBC banking app while on the phone with him and follow his instructions to safeguard her money. After the call ended, Plett discovered that somehow almost $15,000 had disappeared from her account. She says RBC refused to reimburse her. For you to finally have a little bit of a savings account and it just to be gone, it's like I'm going to cry now. It's just, you just feel helpless.

Lett is one of many victims of the growing bank investigator scam. Over the first six months of this year, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre heard from 677 victims of the fraud and tallied $11.7 million in losses, close to double the amount in the same period last year. The actual numbers are likely much higher. Two weeks ago, this reporter got the call. The scammer knew my full name and bank and used spoofing technology to make the bank's phone number appear on my call display.

In this case, the scammer targeted my credit card and asked me to share the number on it to reverse the charges. CBC News. Hello? If they have personal information then it makes it believable, right? Jeff Horncastle is a spokesperson with the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre. Victims are seeing a number on the call display that they trust. Even so, sometimes the banks hold the victims responsible and refuse refunds. The thing is people were tricked. Consumer advocate Sylvie de Belfoy says Canada needs to adopt stronger regulations to ensure victims of the fraud get their money back. They shouldn't be held liable. We have to take into consideration these kind of scams are very elaborate.

Ottawa says it's exploring stronger protections for fraud victims. RBC says it works hard to combat fraud and takes customer complaints seriously. After CBC News reached out to RBC about Plett's case, the real RBC called her and said it's looking into it. Thank you so much. If you get a fraud alert call from your bank, experts advise you to hang up and call your bank back to ensure that's really who was calling. Sophia Harris, CBC News, Toronto. [♪Music playing.♪ Well it may be at the center of the Canadian concert circuit this summer,

but a new venue in Toronto is a little far-flung for one of the biggest bands in the world. Okay welcome everybody and we'd like to say thank you so much for coming through all the bullsh**t you have to come through to this weird stadium in the middle of nowhere. So thank you for... Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin on stage last night and shining the spotlight on concerns about Rogers Stadium. It's the brand new 50,000 person capacity venue which will also host the only two Canadian dates on the Oasis world tour later this summer. Built in just nine months on the site of a former airport, the stadium isn't exactly in the middle of nowhere. But it is a long drive or subway ride from downtown Toronto and in an area with few hotels or restaurants.

This is ridiculous, but we got a hotel up at the airport, so maybe hopefully half an hour back there, but we'll see how it goes. There was a group of us that needed to be escorted to our seats, and we were waiting there for an hour back there but we'll see how it goes. There was a group of us that needed to be escorted to our seats and we were waiting there for an hour and nobody knew where to put us. At the venue's first event last week, many fans waited hours for public transit or taxis. There were problems accessing washrooms, water and wheelchair zones. The stadium's operator Live Nation says adjustments were made ahead of the

Coldplay show. We're so lucky to be here in general but also in Toronto on this beautiful Monday night. And so far it seems to be the best Monday I ever experienced in my life. And despite his concerns, Chris Martin seemed to enjoy himself and while some fans say they'll never be back, Coldplay doesn't have a choice. The band plays three more sold out shows there this week. Thank you so much for being with us. This has been Your World Tonight for Tuesday, July 8th. I'm Juanita Taylor.

Good night. He had cherished the bells.