Your World Tonight - Tariff deadline approaches, Palestinians killed while seeking aid, 20 years of same sex marriage in Canada, and more

Episode Date: July 20, 2025

We are now just days away from a trade deal deadline with the United States. Canada has until August 1st to cut a deal. If it doesn't, the Trump-administration is threatening steep tariffs on many Canadian exports. The U.S. commerce secretary says free trade with Canada is alive and well. But even if a deal is struck, it is likely some tariffs are here to stay.Also: It's been one of the deadliest days in Gaza for Palestinians seeking aid. Dozens are dead after a large crowd gathered around a UN convoy carrying food. It comes as Israel's military plans to step up its ground offensive in the territory.And: 20 years ago today, Canada made it legal for same sex couples to get married nationwide. But while legalized same sex marriage is a significant civil rights victory - advocates say the fight for true equality is still ongoing.Plus: Hong Kong businesses targeted for pro-democracy view, empty crown land in B.C., and more.

You searched for your informant, who disappeared without a trace. You knew there were witnesses, but lips were sealed. You swept the city, driving closer to the truth, while curled up on the couch with your cat. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover heart-pounding thrillers on Audible. This is a CBC podcast. Hi, I'm Peter Cowan in St. John's. This is your World Tonight. Canada is not open to us.

Unless they're willing to open their market, they're going to pay a tariff. That's a simple message the president has. The U.S. Commerce Secretary says free trade with Canada is alive and well, but tariffs on Canadian goods are here to stay. Also on the podcast, Israeli troops killed dozens of Palestinians waiting for aid trucks in northern Gaza and celebrating 20 years of same-sex marriage across Canada. What a wonderful thing to be able to be part of the community of marriage, like to be recognized in the same way as our family members and other friends.

But advocates say full equality still remains elusive. could say full equality still remains elusive. We're now just 12 days away from a trade deal deadline with the United States. If Canada doesn't reach an agreement, the Trump administration is threatening steep tariffs on many exports. But even if a deal is struck, it's looking more and more likely like some tariffs are here to stay. Katie Simpson reports from Washington. Let's talk about Canada.

It is rare for Canada to come up as a line of questioning on an American political talk show. But today, a top Trump administration official was asked directly whether free trade between neighbors is effectively over because of tariffs. Now, see, that's silly. We have a plan called USMCA, US-Mexico-Canada agreement. Virtually 75% of all goods coming from Mexico and Canada already come in tariff-free. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick arguing that from the US perspective, free trade is still happening because Canada

has been granted some tariff exceptions for goods that are compliant with the existing trade deal. Canada has car votes when it comes to some tariffs imposed on the auto sector and tariffs connected to border security and fentanyl, with Lutnick suggesting that could remain the case. The president said, look, unless you stop this fentanyl and close the border, we're just going to keep tariffs on the other 25 percent. And that's what he has on. Canada has been trying for months to escape all of President Donald Trump's tariffs.

But Prime Minister Mark Carney recently conceded it's looking unlikely that will happen. No country yet has been able to reach a deal with the U.S. that is tariff free. And Canada is one of several nations to get a letter from Trump setting new tariff terms starting August 1st unless a better deal can be reached. Democrats broadly say it's a terrible strategy. Congressman Jim Himes mocking the Trump administration. If you're over the age of five, you've dealt with hucksters and conmen. Everything's going to be great in two weeks. By August 1, we're going to have a deal.

The American people are going to be so happy. Complete failure to understand the facts, right? Tariffs are unpopular among American voters. Even so, some of Trump's critics admit perhaps they haven't been so bad for the U.S. Larry Summers served as Treasury Secretary under Democratic President Bill Clinton. I think it is fair to point out that things have been less grave so far than many expected.

Though Summers cautions he would not call the tariff agenda a success and that he will be watching economic data closely. For Canada, trade negotiations are expected to continue this week as the final push for an agreement intensifies. Katie Simpson, CBC News, Washington. Los Angeles police have charged a man suspected of plowing his car into a crowd outside of a nightclub. 30 people were injured.

It happened early Saturday morning. The LAPD says the suspect was kicked outside of a nightclub. 30 people were injured. It happened early Saturday morning. The LAPD says the suspect was kicked out of the nightclub for causing a disturbance. Police are investigating the crash as an intentional act because the driver made a U-turn before the ramming. Still ahead, it's the concert canoodling that has transfixed the internet with endless jokes and memes. A CEO caught cuddling at a Coldplay concert with a woman who isn't his wife.

The privacy lesson we can all take away from this later on Your World Tonight. It's been one of the deadliest days in Gaza for Palestinians seeking aid. A large crowd gathered as a UN convoy handed out food. That's when witnesses say Israeli soldiers opened fire, leaving dozens dead. It comes as Israel's military plans to step up its ground assault in the territory. Sasha Petrasek has the latest on the war from Jerusalem. A panic crowd runs down Gaza's coastal road. One group carries an injured man yelling, he's breathing, he's breathing.

A father cradles his son's body. What was his fault? He asks through tears. He just wanted to eat their targeting children. The road leads from Zikim, a crossing from Israel into the north end of Gaza. A little earlier, a convoy of UN aid trucks had driven in, finding thousands gathered desperately waiting for food. Shots rang out say witnesses from Israeli soldiers into the crowd.

Shooting, shooting says 19 year old Ibrahim Mukdad. Some fell dead, some injured. And if you managed to get a bag of flour you kept walking. It was the most dangerous day he says and possibly the deadliest yet for palestinians trying to get food at least 85 died at different sites say hamas and hospital officials the floor is literally completely full of blood doctors volunteering in gaza hospitals like Travis Mellon confirm the carnage.

Today's deaths are on top of more than 875 others who were killed near aid distribution spots in the past six weeks, according to the UN. Israel's military acknowledges the shooting at Zikim, saying its soldiers felt threatened. Israel will soon be expanding its ground defensive to a new part of Gaza, the central city of Deir al-Bala. It's been left largely untouched since the war started because the military believes Hamas is keeping Israeli hostages there. 20 still thought alive and it didn't want to endanger them. A new offensive worries hostage families and friends demonstrating in Tel Aviv this weekend.

They want the government to bring hostages home through negotiations, not risky operations. All of us are extremely scared for the destiny of the hostages and I believe that we just have to bring them back. Hey, too late! As for the negotiations, to free hostages, stop fighting, and even bring in more aid, those are at a standstill.

Sasha Petrusik, CBC News, Jerusalem. In Hong Kong, some small business owners say they're being targeted for their pro-democracy sympathies. Critics say it's just another way Hong Kong authorities are silencing dissent five years after Beijing imposed a national security law. Freelance reporter Laura Westbrook has more. So we do sell various kind like books about 2019, books about 2014 or even we sell many books about mainland China politics.

Letitia Wong has run a bookstore in Hong Kong since 2022, selling books no longer available in mainstream bookstores or public libraries, with titles on pro-democracy protests in 2014 and 2019. The former pro-democracy district councillor says authorities have taken measures to toughen security checks almost 100 times, such as sending warning letters and inspecting her store. The checks are typically in response to anonymous complaints for, such as sending warning letters and inspecting her store. The checks are typically in response to anonymous complaints for activities such as hosting events without a licence.

And she's frustrated. Why every time you said, receive a complaint, said you will come here? You clearly know that we are having this argument for like over 50 times. Why are you still responding? It's OK if you have some new thing, you have new angle, but they don't have. The government says it conducted 15 inspections due to complaints about fire safety risks and all complaints are handled in accordance with the law. I asked Letitia if she thinks the complaints are because she was associated with the pro-democracy movement.

I guess so because the checkup are really very focusing on the bookstore, the independent bookstore industry. Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong in 2020, which China says was necessary following widespread anti-government protests the year before. And last year Hong Kong passed its own local security law. Since the imposition of the two laws, opposition lawmakers have been jailed or fled the city, civil society groups and pro-democracy political parties have disbanded too.

The University of Hong Kong honorary professor, John Burns, calls the repeated inspections of bookstores harassment. He says they're meant to intimidate these businesses so they will pack up and close. The purpose is to silence dissent and to ensure that no organized opposition or resistance to government policies or the regime

takes place. Government advisor Ronnie Tong dismissed allegations of businesses facing pressure because of their political stance through inspections. But the government recently announced it is stepping up screening of restaurants and other entertainment businesses for potential national security violations. Offenders risk losing their licenses to operate. Here's Ronnie Tong. The Hong Kong government dare not relax their vigilance in safeguarding the stability of Hong Kong. Back at the bookstore, Letitia has been reading up on local regulations to ensure she's not falling foul of the law. She's resolute that she will carry on, refusing to self-censor which books

she displays. So it's an endless thing. If you stop and you cannot see the end. So then my books have no point to be accepted. As the future remains uncertain, she hopes businesses like hers won't be resigned to the history books. Laura Westbrook for CBC News, Hong Kong. Across southeastern BC, there are large swaths of crown land just sitting empty. Much of it was once rented to cattle ranchers for grazing, but not anymore, Corey Bullock explains.

In the Kootenay's livestock production is the main form of agriculture. There's no question about it. Randy Ray is a rancher and the president of the Waldo Stock Breeders Association in BC's East Kootenay. He says 90% of cattle in the region are on crown land range tenures, and that for more than a decade the industry has been calling on the provincial government to make more grazing tenures available, with at least a dozen currently sitting in limbo and many more with statuses unknown. We would not have a livestock industry

here without those range tenures and when they continue to shrink it is almost impossible for us to increase our numbers. Ray says the region is currently only producing about a third of the cattle it once was and numbers have been steadily decreasing since the 1960s. He says with less land accessible it makes it harder for young farmers to become successful ranchers. Morgan Diltz is a fourth-generation rancher, teacher and vice president of the Waldo stock breeders association. In the East Kootenay area we're missing out on about

14 million dollars of taxable profit that would be there if the same amount of cattle were on the landscape. Diltilt pointed to the fact that wildfires in B.C. continue to worsen, saying the empty land is creating a fire hazard. And he says one of the main reasons the land is cattle-free has to do with defective fencing and corrals, important infrastructure which has not been maintained by the provincial government. It's like you having a house, but because the tenants aren't in the house anymore we're going to let it fall apart until we find some other tenant that'll take it over.

It doesn't make any sense. He says ranchers are prepared to do the upkeep but that they can't get to the land in the first place. Both Diltz and Ray want to see that change and soon. And so in my perfect world we see something along those lines. An effort to honestly get livestock back on the landscape, help give opportunities for new farmers and new ranchers, and the government be accountable for their responsibility of maintaining those ranges until somebody else can come in

there and be a responsible steward of the land again. CBC News reached out to BC's Ministry of Forests, but they were not able to provide a response by deadline. Corey Bullock, CBC News, Cranbrook, British Columbia. People in Musgrave Harbour, Newfoundland are out of their homes because of a massive wildfire. It's come dangerously close to the town of about 900 people, requiring an evacuation order. The province says four water bombers and other firefighting efforts are trying to keep the

flames from reaching homes. Right now it's about two kilometres from town. Officials say the fire is unlikely to impact the town Sunday, but high winds are still expected for the next few days, which could push the fire closer. The Canadian Red Cross has set up a reception centre for evacuees in Gander, about an hour away. Shrubs are not usually considered threatening plants, but in the Arctic tundra, shrubification is destroying entire ecosystems and threatening important wildlife, like caribou.

As the Arctic continues to warm faster than anywhere else on Earth, scientists are just starting to understand the full scope of the problem. Darius Mudave now with the story we first brought you in May. So this is the growth chamber room where we have our arctic plants. In a basement lab at the University of British Columbia, Anya Bordman is looking for signs of life. And then we have some new growth in here. We have like little buds coming out.

Twenty-one pots of soil soil kept at a chilly four degrees under bright grow lights. We brought these back from the tundra last summer. Most pots appear barren. Blades of grass sprout from a handful. From one a single leaf pokes through the dirt. If I had to guess I would say this is Salix arctica. Boardman is the lab and field coordinator for Team Shrub, a research group dedicated to understanding how plant communities in the Arctic are changing. Sometimes when I tell people I'm an Arctic plant researcher, their first thing they say is, wait, there are plants in the Arctic? So the Arctic is actually incredibly biodiverse.

But that biodiversity is under threat. Whereas in certain places in the Arctic, like on Svalbard, they've already seen four degrees of warming. Overall, the Arctic is warming four times faster than the global average. In the winter, that number is way higher. The winter average temperature is increasing by 10, even 15 degrees. That is simply too fast for many species to keep up. But in places like Svalbard and other places in the Arctic, some of the changes are not just coming, they are here and they've been here.

Team Shrub researchers were part of a major new report, which drew on over 40 years of data collected across more than 2,000 sites in the Arctic. The study found that the overall number of plant species in the Arctic is actually holding steady, but that doesn't mean nothing has changed. It's really important to look place to place because even if overall the number of species aren't changing, regionally the species within a certain site are changing quite dramatically. One of the biggest changes? Shrubbification. That is when plants like this one, shrubs, are growing larger and they are becoming more abundant. And despite their name, Team Shrub isn't just interested in the plants themselves. The shrubs impact a bunch of different

functions of the Arctic tundra. Jordan Sider is a PhD student and scientist with Team Shrub. Caribou, particularly like they eat a lot of lichen. But as shrubs grow larger and across more of the tundra, they are out competing the lichens. That's a huge loss of their diet and it will be detrimental to the caribou, their body condition, their ability to raise calves. And then there's the caribou migration. It's also difficult to move around. Shrubs can be a couple meters tall, surprisingly, in some areas, and that makes it difficult to avoid predators. When caribou decline, the knock-on effects can hit ecosystems hard, as well as communities

up north. Caribou are such an iconic species across the country, and particularly for the northern Inuit and First Nations people. So in the fall when they go out hunting, if there's no caribou, that's a big deficit. In the tundra, there are no easy answers. But whether in the lab or in the field, Arctic researchers are hard at work tackling the tough questions. Darius Badawi, CBC News, Vancouver. They thought they were sharing a private moment in paradise, but a viral kiss cam moment has turned into a lot of trouble

for coworkers who attended a Coldplay concert in Boston. Internet sleuths dug into the pair's background and found out they were allegedly having an affair. Now the man in question has resigned. As Michelle Song tells us, it's now raising questions about the expectation of privacy in public spaces. Either they're having an affair or they're just very shy. It's as if Coldplay's frontman Chris Martin looked into a crystal ball.

What was meant to be a sweet moment of a supposed couple embracing at the band's concert in Boston took a wrong turn. In the now viral video, a man is seen ducking for cover while a woman turns around, seemingly embarrassed. Internet sleuths soon discovered the two were co-workers. The man is Andy Byron, CEO of the tech company Astronomer, and he's married to another woman. She is Kristin Cabot, the head of human resources. Byron since resigned as theories of an alleged affair spread across social media platforms. She's the head of HR.

Oh! So today, she had to call herself into her own office. That was it. From being mocked on late-night talk shows to reenactments on kiss camps to memes, the world reacted strongly to the moment. I mean, we don't know these people. Psychologist Janine Hubbard says the public's reaction to this moment is an example of schadenfreude, a German term which means taking joy at the expense of other people's

suffering. There's a couple of things that happen. When we see someone, for example, get caught cheating, that helps with kind of our righteous or moral beliefs. It's the, oh, you know, okay, well, they deserve it. Or good people have good things happen. Bad people have bad things happen. Like we're doing something wrong, they get caught. Hubbard says it's also important to remember that we don't know what's happening beyond what we see in that video.

This isn't just something to play with in AI or in Photoshop. You know, there are real families and real feelings and you know, the fallout from it unfortunately for those immediately involved is pretty significant. It started looking like a doxing effect. Cyber security expert Claudio Popa says although people shouldn't have an expectation of privacy in public spaces, spreading personal information online that may not even be accurate could be very dangerous. Well, I think there's definitely grounds here for the potential of a defamation lawsuit if in fact false information is being spread

or information being maliciously disseminated online. Okay, now listen, are you two a couple? Coldplay poked fun at the situation again at another concert and both parties involved have yet to speak out. The video now has more than 100 million views, a viral moment spreading faster than the speed of sound. Michelle Song, CBC News, Toronto. In Newfoundland and Labrador, a public inquiry is investigating the experiences of Innu children

in the province's child protection system. But the hearings are much different from other public inquiries. Heather Gillis reports. Each morning a prayer and sacred smudging ceremony opens the public inquiry into Innu and the child protection system. Smoke swirls around chairs arranged in two concentric circles at the Healing Lodge in Natwashish in one of Newfoundland and Labrador's most northern communities. The inquiry will use hearing circles to look into systemic issues and make recommendations.

More specifically, it will investigate the deaths of six Innu youth in care, starting with 17-year-old James Poker. He was in foster care in North Bay, Ontario, far away from his Innu culture, language and land. His brother Sean was also there with him. He says they experienced culture shock and racism. James froze to death in February 2015 trying to walk to a town 80 kilometers away. Thomas Poker is his father. What many of us have experienced with the system is not helping us. It's killing our

children and it's hurting all the families. When James returned, Thomas says his son felt lost, disconnected from the Innu way of life and culture. He says James had mental health issues. And I didn't know that he was on medication also, depression pills I think. Thomas wants the Innu more involved in child welfare to change how the system operates. The government should have listened a long time ago about the concerns from the Innu.

That their policies and rules and regulations that they were imposing on our people doesn't work. If they listened a long time ago, James will probably still be here. Mike Devine, one of the inquiries commissioners, agrees. It's been an additional failure. It's really done a lot more damage, regardless of what the intention was. The inquiry has also focused on the Mushwae Inu's history. Forced settlement in Davis Inlet in the 60s, poor living conditions and social problems that followed even after relocation to Natwashish, says

Commissioner Anastasia Kupy. It's important for people in Canada to understand who you know people are and what we have been through. Meanwhile Thomas Poker hopes the hearings will help him heal. Maybe this second hearing will help me to let go of some of the stuff that I've been carrying and start moving on. These hearings also investigated the death of Jacob Collins who died by suicide in custody. Four more circle hearings will happen in the fall and winter before commissioners submit their final report to Newfoundland and Labrador's government in October next year. Heather Gillis, CBC News, St. John's. Twenty years ago today, Canada made it legal for men to marry men and women to marry women.

But while legalized same-sex marriage is a significant civil rights victory, advocates say the fight for true equality is still ongoing. Ethel Moussa has more. We have a wonderful relationship and why shouldn't we be married, really? It's a simple question, one that countless couples have asked themselves. But for Bridget McGail and Catherine Sidney, making their union official in New Brunswick required a legal challenge. And in 2005, they won it.

What a wonderful thing to be able to be part of the community of marriage, like to be recognized in the same way as our family members and other friends and you know, just the public at large. I thought it was really important. A few weeks after their wedding on July 20, 2005, same-sex marriage became legal across Canada. I think it was a relief that everybody now had the same right. And while it was a joyous time, Catherine says she remembers when it was a little scary, too.

I can remember the first Pride Parade in St. John, and I remember when we were fought for the right to legally marry. I was afraid. To walk, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's okay. Okay but not perfect, says the couple. The fight for civil rights they say still remains. Helen Kennedy, executive director of advocacy organization E-Gal Canada, agrees. Marriage was a milestone. It was a landmark but it's not the end goal. I think the end goal is full equality, full equity in our work, in our housing, in our access to health care and education.

Kennedy says police reported hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation have continued to rise in this country. According to Stats Canada, they shot up a staggering 388% between 2016 and 2023. We're the fourth country in the world to recognize same-sex marriage, but we can't stop there. We have to ask ourselves now, okay, that was progress. We have to celebrate the progress. Whose voices are now missing from these conversations? Civil rights advocates in the United States say Donald Trump's presidency poses a serious threat to the rights of two SLGBTQI plus people. We've seen enormous change in the past several months.

Imani Rupert Gordon is the president of the National Center for LGBTQ Rights in California. We've seen a record number of anti-LGBTQ bills all over the country, bathroom bills, don't say gay or trans bills, medical bands, sports bands. We've seen things that have now gone to the Supreme Court and are continuing. For Catherine Bridget, this moment in Canada is about honouring a historic legal landmark. It was a beautiful, powerful day. The fight that it took to get there and the one that continues to protect the rights of all Canadians.

Ivo Musa, CBC News, Toronto. And finally, tough economic times are hitting a place you might not expect. The tattoo shop. Montreal is a top spot for people looking to get inked, but artists in the city are struggling. Business is down for Hans de Groyer. It's the first time in 12 years that I see a slowdown like that in the industry. Like I've never seen that in 12 years. After lockdowns ended, business was booming.

People saved up money during the pandemic and were ready to splurge and add a new tattoo. But now as living expenses rise, people are looking for places they can save. Being tattooed is a luxury for sure. So if you have to cut somewhere, we'll be on tattoos. That has like an impact on us. Add to that the rise in costs for tattooing supplies. Everything from the ink to the needles to the gloves they wear are more expensive. And they can't raise prices or they risk scaring away customers.

But there's another factor at play, and that's competition. During the pandemic, people picked up hobbies they could do at home, and tattooing was one of them. Artist David Piotti says people took it further. For some people, it just became a bit more of their vocation, questioning their life choices, like, hey, am I really happy at work? I think I can quit work to pursue tattooing full-time. So it led to an increase of competition.

That's changed the business model. Montreal's well-known storefront tattoo parlors are shutting down as people shift online to find the right artist for their next tattoo. I feel like it's evolving right now. It's not dying. The tattoo is not dying. It will never die. It's just we need to figure out another way to be seen and to reach clients.

That means producing more content on Instagram to get noticed or finding something else entirely. For Delorier, tattooing is no longer a full-time job. The rest of the time he does other art like painting. This has been Your World Tonight. We'll leave you with Tim Hicks and his song New Tattoo. I'm Peter Cowan. Thanks for listening. I want to feel that rush.

I need a new kind of thrill. Something to get my mind out of my head. Something to get my heart thumping again. I might need too much. I need a new tattoo. I want to I need a new tattoo. I wanna feel like a new man.