Your World Tonight - Stranded Sunwing passengers, German election look ahead, moving away from gentle parenting and more

Episode Date: February 22, 2025

In the wake of the Delta airlines plane crash earlier this week, Sunwing has cancelled all of its outbound flights from two of Canada's busiest airports. The airline says it's prioritizing flying back customers who are currently delayed in destinations. But many of those passengers are still looking for answers. Also: Germans will head to the polls tomorrow to elect their next government - and all anyone is talking about is the AfD. The anti-immigrant and anti-EU party is polling a close second in the race. You'll hear from Abby Kuhathasan in Berlin on what to expect.And: The pendulum on parenting styles has swung drastically over the decades. The style known as 'gentle parenting' - based around guidance and empathy - has been a go-to for many in recent years. But some modern parents say, being so gentle is just too hard.Plus: Donald Trump fires top military commanders, Austria's struggle to form government, Placing bets on awards shows, and more.

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But it's time to imagine what we can do with more. Join Scarborough Health Network and together, we can turn grit into greatness. Donate at lovescarborough.ca. This is a CBC Podcast. Hi, I'm Stephanie Scanderas and this is your World Tonight. We wake up, we're told to check out of our hotel and then go to the airport, but then there's no flight, so then we have to go back to the hotel.

More fallout from the Delta plane crash in Toronto, some Canadian passengers are still stranded abroad. Two others want to take the airline to court. Also on the podcast, Germans head to the polls and a far right anti-immigrant party could be the big winner plus the standards being set for parents these days are back breaking why some parents say a gentle style is just too tough. For thousands of Canadians, vacation dreams are now nightmares. Sunwing airline cancelled all of its outbound flights from two of Canada's busiest airports.

As Michelle Song tells us, there's a connection to Monday's Delta crash. During one of the busiest times for travelers trying to escape the Canadian winter, the popular low-cost airline Sunwing cancelled all of its southbound flights from Toronto and Montreal earlier this week. The airline says it's prioritizing getting passengers who are now stuck abroad back home. It blames back-to-back snowstorms in eastern Canada and a shortage of flight crew available. The cancellations come on the heels of a Delta flight crash landing at Pearson International Airport on Monday. It caused two out of five runways to close,

bringing a halt to regular plane traffic. Not knowing is a feeling of being very scared, just not knowing what tomorrow brings or what later today will bring. Hans Roach traveled with a group of 37 to celebrate a friend's wedding. He was supposed to fly home from the Dominican Republic the day of the crash,

and every day since has felt like Groundhog Day. We wake up, we're told to check out of our hotel and then go to the airport but then there's no flight so then we have to go back to the hotel. Roche and his wife changed resorts three times. They waited until today for Sunwing to finally fly them back home. Their friend Eli Nafic couldn't wait as long. He made other arrangements earlier, choosing to pay out of pocket for a flight to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to then hopefully catch a flight to Toronto.

We know that there were some legitimate reasons. Our frustration really grew from the lack of communication we were receiving from Sunwing. NAFIC says he still hasn't heard anything from the airline and Sunwing doesn't even know where he is. You know you have to have a lot of patience if you're a Sunwing passenger. Aviation expert John Gradek says when there are major issues like this, it does require an airline to basically shut down in order to recover. When Toronto-Pearson goes down, the airline system in Canada grinds to a halt. When Pearson goes down for any length of time, whether it's snowstorm or what is the aftermath of an incident like Delta's, it's chaos.

Pure chaos. Gradic estimates it could take Sunwing at least four to five days to get everything back in order. The two runways at Pearson Airport are still closed and with no indication of when they will reopen, travellers could expect more disruptions. Michelle Song, CBC News, Toronto. British Columbia has taken new measures to keep prescription opioids off the streets. People in that province who rely on those drugs can no longer bring them home. They now have to take them in front of a pharmacist. But as Jessica Chung

explains, there are concerns about how this new model will work. Opioids like hydromorphone tablets used to be taken home around a dozen at a time by those with prescriptions under British Columbia's Safer Supply Program. Now the province has scrapped the take-home model and says new patients who get prescribed opioids under the program will need to take them under the supervision of a pharmacist. They give me 14 a day. I can't take 14 or take two then run back in an hour. Lorna Bird says the change is completely unrealistic and would mean going to the pharmacy six to seven times a day.

It means you'll get a place right in the pharmacy and live there. What else are you going to do? I mean, by the time you leave and get home, you'll be sore again. What's going to happen at night? Pharmacy's closed. And then what happens? I don't understand. The Safer Supply Program provides regulated opioids to drug users with a prescription as a way of giving

people an alternative from toxic and deadly street drugs. The sweeping change was announced on Wednesday, effective immediately. The province says it's meant to prevent the diversion of prescription opioids into the illicit market. Earlier this month, BC Conservatives released leaked Ministry of Health slides which showed government and law enforcement officials knew that prescription opioids were being trafficked nationally and internationally. But some pharmacists say they were given no heads up on the change or direction on how to implement it. Siamak Ambarani is a pharmacist working in Vancouver's downtown Eastside neighbourhood, known as an epicenter for people struggling with

homelessness and drug addiction. Safe supplies is for controlling cravings. It should be at hand with them. Whenever they want they can use it. If they come to pharmacy and take two or three tablets it shouldn't be enough at all for the whole day. I think it's gonna be a nightmare. Sydney Salos, a pharmacy assistant, says this will set many recovering addicts back. It's going to make it so people can't really have jobs anymore. A lot of people, they come here at like 7 right on the dot because they need to go to work at 7.30. And if they have to come in multiple times a day, what is that going to mean for them?

It's going to screw them over a lot. And longtime advocates like Guy Felicella feel the same. When you have something that's actually working for somebody, you wouldn't on any other health condition actually come in and say, hey, we're going to change that to make it more complicated for you. That would actually push somebody over the edge. BC's Health Minister Josie Osborne says there are currently around 3,500 people in the safer supply program.

She says while new patients will have to take the doses under supervision, the witness model will be phased in for existing patients. This is where the work with community service providers, with the pharmacy community, with prescribers and clinicians is really, really important so that we can make this as easy as possible for people to do that. She says the transition will take several weeks to months. Jessica Chung, CBC News, Vancouver. NDP MP Charlie Angus wants the Prime Minister to revoke Elon Musk's dual citizenship status and Canadian passport.

Angus accuses Musk, whose mother was born in Regina, of using his wealth and power to influence Canada's elections. Angus has sponsored a petition that 24,000 people have signed since Thursday. Another petition sponsored by Angus says Ottawa should bar US President Donald Trump from entering the country until he stops threatening Canada's sovereignty. And speaking of Trump, he's given the top US general and senior military commanders new marching orders. Out the door, Cameron McIntosh has more from Washington. Thank you very much. Thank you. Speaking at the Conservative Political Action

Conference, President Donald Trump boasting about his first month back in office. We cannot stop now. We're going to push forward every single day. Which now includes firing the top U.S. general, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles Q. Brown, an African American. Trump announced it on his Truth Social platform, thanking Brown for his service, calling him an outstanding leader and gentleman. Previously, Trump criticized Brown for being too focused on diversity and inclusion. Today, before a partisan crowd, Trump called for a different military.

And the woke insanity and rebuild our military. The move, while expected, runs counter to convention. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs usually remains in place when administrations change to avoid politicizing the military. Trump also announcing he's appointing a new chairman. Air Force Lieutenant General Dan Cain, Trump using a nickname, Raisin, as in Raisin Cain, crediting Cain with being instrumental in the defeat of ISIS during Trump's first term. In an unprecedented shakeup across the military's top ranks, Trump also fired the head of the

Navy, Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to serve on the Joint Chiefs, and General James Slife, Vice Chief of the Air Force, along with the Judge Advocates General of the Army, Navy, and Air Force. This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy. The moves come as Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency takes aim at the Pentagon, which has been told to fire up to 8% of its 900,000 civilian employees. The first 5,400 could go as early as next week. Republicans insisting a bloated bureaucracy is compromising

the military's ability to fight fight Republican Congressman Pat Harrigan. We're running a $1.8 trillion a year deficit and this is the single greatest threat to our national security that we have ever had. To find the savings, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has told the Pentagon to target programs focusing on climate change and diversity. I think the single dumbest phrase in military history is our diversity is our strength. I think our strength is our unity. The Trump administration's first month in office already full of rapid change now putting its mark on the leadership of the strongest military in the world.

Cameron Macintosh, CBC News, Washington. Still ahead, if you're a sports fan, you're probably well aware of how big betting has become. Online gambling is also growing in the world of entertainment. We'll look at how award shows are being caught up. That's coming up on your world tonight. shows are being caught up, that's coming up on Your World Tonight. The Vatican says Pope Francis is in critical condition. The 88-year-old pontiff was admitted to hospital last week and is being treated for double pneumonia. In a statement, the Vatican says the Pope suffered a prolonged, asthma-like respiratory crisis and was put on oxygen.

The Vatican statement says Francis is alert but the prognosis for him remains guarded. Germans are going to the polls this weekend. That's Friedrich Merz, likely the next chancellor of Germany. But even though his conservative Party is expected to win the most votes, everyone's talking about three other letters. AFD, the anti-immigrant and anti-EU party that is polling a close second. For more on what to expect after tomorrow's election, let's bring in Abbie Kugedassen in Berlin. Abbie, what can we expect when the polls close tomorrow?

Well, what we know for sure is that no single party will be able to achieve a majority and so we'll see yet another coalition government in Germany. Whether it'll be a two-party or three-party coalition is the big question and that'll depend on who gets into parliament and which parties can then manage to work together. As you mentioned, the conservatives, the party of Angela Merkel are in the lead. We could see them forming what Germans call the Grand Coalition. That's with Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats. Now, in terms of his platform, Friedrich Merz, who's the leader of the conservatives, has pushed immigration to the forefront in recent weeks after several attacks

here in Germany where immigrants were the primary suspects. I had a chat with Sarah Wagner, who's a lecturer at Queen's University in Belfast, and she pointed out that the economy was the most pressing issue for most Germans before merits pushed on irregular migration. Mainstream parties, if they move to the right, especially on topics like immigration, that is not going to benefit them. It's only going to benefit the far right because it increases the salience, right? It increases how much this topic is being talked about. So has it actually helped the far right? That's their bread and butter. And it's really helped them to have it be a major topic of discussion. The far right, the anti-immigrant AFD, is second in the polls

with about 20% support. And this could be their best ever showing at the federal level. The AFD has called for securing Germany's borders and its leader publicly talks about what she calls remigration, which is widely understood to mean the mass deportation of migrants. But all the major democratic parties have said they will refuse to work with the AFD, a party that's under investigation for extremism by the German domestic intelligence service. And aside from extremism, there are also fears of foreign interference

in Germany's election, much like here in Canada. So what are some of the specific concerns emerging around this vote? The German Interior Ministry has just warned of Russian disinformation campaigns. It says a network known as Storm 1516, which is suspected of being linked to the Kremlin, is promoting the AFD by producing videos with false claims. The AFD does want to restore ties with Moscow and has said Berlin should not

be back in Kiev. Meanwhile, Reuters is reporting that researchers have found hundreds of new fake social media accounts created in recent days targeting Merz who supports providing military aid to Ukraine. Okay and speaking of Ukraine, the war there is nearing its third anniversary. How concerned are Germans about the fate of Ukraine ahead of the election tomorrow? Well, given that the White House's support for Kyiv has pretty much evaporated since Donald Trump's inauguration, the conversations around Ukraine have really ramped up at the tail end of this election cycle here. We have to remember Kyiv is about two hours away by plane from Berlin,

and Germany under Shultz sees the threat of Vladimir Putin. And this country is the second largest contributor to Ukraine's defense only behind the United States. But Shultz has been criticized for being too slow to greenlight weapons amid party infighting. Shultz hasn't sent Taurus long long range missiles, but Merz has said he'll allow it as chancellor.

It looks like Keefe can continue to expect Berlin's support because all the major democratic parties have said they will not waiver on this issue. Okay, Abby, thank you. Thank you. That's Abby Huckedhausen in Berlin. So it could take weeks or longer before Germany has a functional government. Coalition talks will start right away, but with the AfD in the mix, there's the potential for dysfunction. Germany's neighbour, Austria, is already dealing with that.

Stephen Hoff explains why Austria has gone nearly 150 days without a government. Two major parties have traded control of Austria's government since the end of the Second World War – the center-right People's Party and the Social Democrats. But last September's election was a paradigm shift, with the far-right Freedom Party winning the most seats. Now, five months later, there is still no sitting government. So we've had two rounds of bargaining. Professor Lawrence Enzer-Edenastic is a professor of Austrian politics

at the University of Vienna. Three way talks between the conservatives and social democrats and liberals. Those failed, mostly on socio economic issues. negotiations have failed because Austria's parties have maintained a so called firewall against working with the far right. But a potential budget crisis has created cracks, leading to attempts to bring the Freedom Party into the fold. And now we've had talks between the conservatives and the far right, the Freedom Party. Those also failed, but mostly not on budget questions, but mostly on questions of Austria's role

in Europe. That question about Austria's role in Europe is a debate that often centers on neutrality. The Freedom Party campaigned on ending sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine, framing it as a return to neutrality. They also want to reduce funding and support for refugees, an argument that has come back into focus after a deadly ISIS-inspired stabbing attack last week and another foiled attack in Vienna. Instead, they want to increase spending on Austrians.

Herbert Kiegel, the party's leader himself, drove this point home at a recent news conference saying quote asylum cannot be a route to Austrian citizenship and certainly not to our welfare pots. The Freedom Party as such is politically in some aspects is on the right, but in other aspects it's on the left. Professor Reinhard Heinzig is a professor of comparative politics at the University of Salzburg. It sort of very much pursues a welfare chauvinist policy, says we're in favor of expanding the welfare state, of protecting people, except we want to protect our people, not undeserving foreigners. If what's happening in Austria is any indication, a similar struggle could emerge in Germany after this weekend's vote. Heinzig says Germany's far-right AFD party is paying close attention.

They're looking at themselves from the future and that's why they've been very keenly aware of the developments in Austria, given the undertone here. Austria's two major parties are taking another stab at cobbling together a government to freeze out the Freedom Party. But if those talks fail, it could force fresh elections. Stephen Hoff for CBC News, Vienna. You're listening to Your World Tonight from CBC News. And if you want to make sure you 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.

Online gambling is a booming industry, pulling in tens of billions of dollars. A lot of it revolves around sports, but not all of it. People are also placing bets on elections and award shows. So with the Academy Awards just one week away, we're talking about that with pop culture writer Rad Simon-Pillay. So I'm a little confused about how this works exactly. Like I understand with sports there's a lot of stats involved for people to draw on to bet, but how does this work with the Oscars? Yeah, I mean exactly as you said, like when you're talking about sports,

there are these performance measures, right? You could look at wins, you could look at points scored. How do you measure emotional reaction? And what these betting sites, what they're relying on is what the people who predict Oscars rely on, right? So first it's like the reactions from critics out of the film festivals. And so, I mean, if we take this year, for example,

a lot of the most vocal bloggers and stuff were praising The Brutalist as a masterpiece. And so immediately The Brutalist becomes the odds on favorite on betting sites. It's really just kind of following a hype that isn't any real scientific measure. When you get to the later part of the season, you start getting the industry awards, like the Producers Guild Awards, the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the Directors Guild Awards. Those are a more accurate measure because those are industry voters and there's an overlap with Oscar voters.

And that's the thing, when the industry awards kicked in and then Enora ended up winning, the producers guild and the directors guild, best picture prize, all the betting sites had to change their odds accordingly. Okay, so it sounds like an imperfect kind of measurement. Also imperfect is the way that the Oscars managed to get viewers. Is this another way of for them to attract viewers? Like they're very concerned about relevance, declining ratings like most awards shows are. Is this a way of hooking people to get them to watch? Well, I mean, I would say it is a way and in a way that

way is already underway because Oscar betting is a 10 billion dollar industry. So it is a way to increase engagement. It is certainly drawing viewers to watch not just the films but also like the live telecast itself. But at the same time the Oscars, they haven't acknowledged betting and that tells me that they would either frown on it or they just can't be publicly seen to embrace it because I think it ruins the prestige of the awards in some ways. They don't want to be associated with betting. I think they want to have the appearance that we are appreciating art

and we're celebrating all artists and it's not about a winner, even though it is, but the idea of almost encouraging that the Oscars can be predicted and that maybe there are gaps in the system where it could be corruptible, that kind of thing is the kind of thing that it would be like, you know, you can't embrace that.

I think that we all know that if they did, it wouldn't be a good look. Okay. What about that potential for corruption? Cause I mean, we hear about that with sports betting sometimes players get suspended for, for throwing a game for a win or, or for betting against something. Is that something that could happen with the Oscars and with the voting block there? First off, I think you got to like, I mean, and this is the kind of the big difference between Oscar betting and sports betting is that the results are

known. So if you think about it, like all of those results are over there at Price Waterhouse Cooper who tabulates the boats, you know, they pride themselves on their very tight ship where it's only two people that know the results and those two people are not allowed to be betting or anything like that. And then, I mean, you said, can Oscar voters do something like sports players try to throw the game? I mean, that would be a monumental feat

because, you know, you're talking about 10,000 Oscar voters, right? So in order to like coordinate among a large section of that voting base and not draw any attention to yourselves, but also deal with the challenge of you can't bet in California where a lot of Oscar voters are, it's legal there and so it's feasible like it could be done but it was just I can't imagine anyone wanting to take that risk. Okay now you've got me thinking about my Oscar pool as well. Okay Rad, thank you so much.

Thanks for having me. That's Rad Simon-Pillay in Toronto. Now, gambling does come with serious risks, not limited to addiction. And some experts say online gambling should be treated just like alcohol or tobacco. You can read more about that on our website, cbcnews.ca. The pendulum on parenting styles has swung drastically over the decades from authoritarian to gentle which is based around guidance and empathy but many modern parents say being so gentle is just too hard. Deanna Sumanac Johnson looks at why they're pushing back. I get really pissed off when no one's listening to me.

1.7 million people follow Caitlin Murray's account on Instagram called Big Time Adulting, where she shares observations about her life with her three kids. But more than entertaining, Murray's posts like this one also hit a nerve. So if my kids happen to get a little bit nervous when they hear their name at a higher decibel,

then good, at least maybe they'll put their friggin' shoes on. Her audience, people who are pushing back against the demands of modern parenting, specifically so-called gentle parenting. The mayhem, the chaos, the losing your temper is all part of the normal experience of parenting children and that you know the standards being set for parents these days are back breaking and really causing an enormous amount of stress and overwhelm and it's not good for us. Gentle parenting or some version of it has been one of the most popular parenting styles of the last decade. When I hear the term gentle parenting, I really think about parents trying to

parent in a way that's respectful, in a way that embodies empathy, and in a way that's age appropriate. Well meaning, though it may be, therapist Ashley Wiley says parenting where you're always trying to be gentle, understanding of the child's feelings and never raising your voice has its price.

It's something I'm hearing. There's a degree of burnout in parenting culture right now. People are tired and they're feeling inadequate. A part of it, I think, is a bit of a misunderstanding of gentle parenting, this idea that it's permissive, it's incredibly child-centric, and so it just removes the humanity from the parent. That burnout has even been noted in a recent report by the US Surgeon General, which called modern parenting

a significant public health issue. The report notes, societal expectations, norms, and pressures to meet perceived parenting standards can contribute to stress as well. Those parenting ideals are often pushed by parenting influencers on social media. It's something Toronto mother Chelsea Strawn found first hand when she had her

daughter Hazel two years ago. So I think it's very overwhelming and I think it's really hard to weed out what's right for you. Therapist Ashley Wiley thinks it's time for a more individualized approach. You are allowed to feel like this is unsustainable and what I would encourage people to do is explore, explore another way of parenting if that feels like it's suitable for you. As for our new mom Chelsea, well she says she's still finding her way and that's alright. You know I've discovered that I'm more gentle just by seeing how I parent. I discovered that I am an attachment style mom through parenting. I've discovered those things just through experience.

I didn't discover those things googling what is gentle parenting. Going with her gut and her intuition, the type of parenting that these days sounds revolutionary. Deanna Sumanac-Johnson, CBC News, Toronto. My love, my love, espresso macchiato, macchiato, macchiato, please. Watch out, Sabrina Carpenter. There's a new coffee-based song in town, and it's already stirring up controversy. This is Espresso Macchiato by Estonian rapper Tommy Cash. It's Estonia's entry into the Eurovision Song Contest in May, but some Italians say it's so full of stereotypes about their country, it needs to be cut. Mentioned of not just coffee and pasta, but ostentatious luxury and the mafia have been

slammed by some as offensive. An Italian senator says Tommy Cash should come to Italy to see how decent people work before he allows himself to write such stupid songs. He hopes it's banned from Eurovision. Other Italians feel less strongly. On YouTube, where the songs video has millions of views, one person wrote, As an Italian, I am amused but also confused but also offended but also honored. Someone else calls it a masterpiece and some actually prefer it

to Italy's potential Eurovision entry. To be fair, it is tough to compete with lines like, life is like spaghetti, it's hard until you make it No stress, no stress, it's gonna be espresso Estonia has until March 10th to confirm its pick Until then, here's more Tommy Cash on your world tonight I'm Stephanie Scanderres, buonanotte! Espresso marchiato, marchiato, marchiato, por favore, por favore. Espresso marchiato.