Your World Tonight - The hunt for Justin Trudeau's replacement, Misinformation about fires, The future of Greenland and more

Episode Date: January 12, 2025

We're learning more this weekend about who's not seeking to be the next Liberal leader. Many names have been floated as potential successors to Justin Trudeau, but few have entered the race so far. And some high profile names have taken themselves out of the running.Also: As wildfires continue to burn across Los Angeles, misinformation and conspiracy theories about those fires are spreading just as quickly online.And: Greenland says it's not for sale. But that hasn't stopped U.S. President-elect Donald Trump from threatening to take it. We look at how seriously that's being received.Plus: The latest on Donald Trump's tariff threats, the fifteenth anniversary of the Haiti earthquake, and more.

Struggling with debt? Help is available. Discover reliable solutions to help you get back on track. Visit Canada.ca slash debt dash solutions for support you can trust. A message from the Government of Canada. This is a CBC podcast. Hi, I'm Stephanie Scanderis. This is your World Tonight. Stephanie Scanderis, this is your World Tonight. On the podcast, wildfires continue to burn out of control in LA, and high winds threaten

to spread them even further. Meanwhile, conspiracy theories about those fires are spreading just as quickly. And we'll tell you how people in Montreal are marking the anniversary of the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti. But first, who's in and who's out of the race to replace Justin Trudeau as Liberal leader? We're learning more this weekend about who's not seeking to be the next Liberal leader. Many names have been floated as potential successors to Justin Trudeau but few have entered the race so far and two top liberals have taken themselves out of

the running. As Kate McKenna reports behind the scenes others are preparing to launch their campaigns in the coming days. Employment and Labour Minister Steve McKinnon is bowing out. He issued a statement saying the time available is not enough for the kind of campaign he wants to run. He joins a growing list of Liberals saying no to the top job, including Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Jolie. She spoke with Rosemary Barton live. I had to ask myself the question whether I was ready to step away from being the Foreign

Minister at a crucial time between Canada and the US and the answer was no. Other high-profile ministers Anita Onond and Dominique LeBlanc have also said no. But behind the scenes others are organizing, preparing for potential campaign launches in the days ahead. That list includes former BC Premier Christy Clark, former Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney, former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland and government House Leader Carina Gould. Well I think it's important for anybody running to be able to be bilingual. With no high-profile Quebec candidate in the

mix, Jolie says she's looking for a candidate who is fluently bilingual. Because I think as Prime Minister you're tested on three things. First the economy, second the Canada-US relations, and third national unity. And that includes the relationship with Quebec and of course all provinces. That could disqualify Clark who says her French is a work in progress. I mean I'm working very hard at it and I speak French every day but I have a ways to go in that. Housing Minister Nate Erskine-Smith says he hopes this short leadership race is about ideas. We need to make sure that we have serious and thoughtful ideas on the big picture.

I talk about housing, addressing the challenge that six million people don't have access to a family doctor. What are we going to do about addressing wealth inequality, about productivity, about foreign interference and foreign relations. I mean, there are big picture questions that the next leader has to put serious ideas on the table for. Let me ask you about your decision to resign more broadly.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appeared on the MSNBC program Inside with Jen Psaki. It's his second American network interview since announcing his resignation. He hasn't spoken with any Canadian outlets. Right now we're seeing a time in politics where emotions and social media is carrying an awful lot of weight in how people feel about things but I'm always going to lean back on what are the substantive things that are being done. Whoever takes over his leader will also take on the job of prime minister until the government is dissolved.

CBC News has learned Mark Carney is set to launch his campaign this week. The deadline to enter the race is in less than two weeks. One big question is who can pay the $350,000 entry fee? A spokesperson for the Liberal Party says it can be paid in installments, but a price tag that high could weed out long shot candidates. Kate McKenna, CBC News, Ottawa. Still ahead, Greenland says it's not for sale, but that hasn't stopped US President-elect Donald Trump from threatening to take it.

We look at how seriously that's being received coming up on Your World Tonight. Canada is stepping up its efforts to help combat the devastating fires in Los Angeles. The federal government says it's coordinating with the provinces to deploy more resources to the region, including dozens more firefighters from B.C. and Alberta. At least 16 people have been killed in the fires and that number is expected to rise. In Los Angeles County more than 12,000 structures have been damaged or destroyed. As Lindsay Duncombe reports, neighborhoods have been reduced to sheer rubble and people are trying to come to terms with the loss.

The congregation of Santa Monica's first Presbyterian church is grieving. Three members lost their homes in the Palisades fire. Their sister church, a few kilometers away, is gone. Nikki Cross came here for sanctuary. Yeah, I mean the phrase a lot of people are using on social media is I'm in Los Angeles and I'm safe, but I'm in LA and I'm sad. Even for those of us who are safe and whose homes haven't been destroyed, there's so much devastation and there'll be so much work and they're part of the community that will just never be the same and that's really hard to internalize.

Even as people struggle to comprehend the scale of the loss, the threat remains. Fire crews made good progress on the two major fires overnight, assaulting the flames from the air, attacking hot spots from the ground. But Santa Ana winds are expected to pick up tonight, with gusts of up to more than 70 kilometers an hour predicted for Monday into Tuesday. LA County Fire Chief Anthony Moroney spoke at a news conference. These winds, combined with low relative humidities

and low fuel moistures, will keep the fire threat in Los Angeles County very high. There's tension at roadblocks. At this Santa Monica intersection, people lined up for hours hoping to get access to their homes. Earlier, police had been letting small groups in, but that stopped now. To allow officers with cadaver dogs to search for bodies and LA Fire Chief Kristen Crowley says it's just not safe. There's no power, there's no water, there's broken gas lines and we have unstable structures.

So we've been out here since 6 this morning, there's other people that have been out here since 3.30. Shannon DeGrooms is waiting at the roadblock she says the main structure of her home is still standing but everything around it is gone we were told it's not safe that the winds are too bad I'm I don't see them I'm not saying they aren't coming I'm just saying I see 20 officers standing around and there's people here desperate to see what's left of their lives. That has to be frustrating.

Incredibly. Certainly praying and thinking for all of you who are scattered and displaced around our community. First Presbyterian pastor Tim Vance says people have all kinds of emotions now. So if they feel devastated, we're devastated with them. If they feel gratitude, we're thankful that they're safe. If they feel angry at God, we're angry at God with them. If they're hopeful about what comes next, then we're hopeful with them as well. So we're gonna just try to sit with people wherever they might be.

Sitting, comforting and watching the wind. Lindsay Duncombe, CBC News, Santa Monica. The lack of information about what exactly caused the fires and the full scope of the destruction is acting as kindling for misinformation and conspiracy theories. Yvette Brand now with the facts on that. As flames incinerated parts of Los Angeles this past week, another firestorm raged on social media. A firestorm of conspiracy theories. How the f**k does that even happen? Posts blamed the fires on everything from arson to laser beams from space.

Some, like actor Mel Gibson even suggesting the fires were planned. In the events like this, you sort of look, is it on purpose? It's an insane thing to think. Do they want the state empty? I don't know. Scientists who study fire behavior, like Ramla Koreshi of McMaster University in Hamilton, say science explains what we're seeing. This is a natural human need to want to point the blame somewhere just so that it makes sense because just the sheer scale of this is unfathomable.

She says sites like trees still standing have explanations. So you would see that tree still standing but the outside bark of that tree would have completely burned. It has a self-protective mechanism in there where that char is going to limit how much more that tree can burn. The fact that people share pseudoscience instead of facts upsets her. I'm not gonna lie, it really makes me frustrated. One video from California shows a palm tree ablaze with flames kilometers from the fire zone. The wind is blowing 100 kilometers an hour and the embers can fly literally for miles.

John Valiant wrote Fire Weather and he's seen the rampant spread of misinformation before during the 2016 Fort McMurray fire and other Canadian fires. They generate fear and suspicion exactly when we need trust and concerted action. Valiant says while some of the fires may have started with arson, the reason fires are so catastrophic relates to climate. Long periods of drought, tinder dry conditions. The landscape itself is now explosive. Mel Gibson had some ideas about the parched conditions. I can make all kinds of horrible theories up in my head, conspiracy theories and everything else, but it just seemed a little convenient that there was no water.

Valiant says this fire is so hot and so massive and so many of the structures needed water pumped uphill its understandable sources ran dry. The idea that people would intentionally turn the water off is malevolent and irresponsible. He says it's time to give full support to exhausted firefighters facing another week of severe weather, more Santa Ana winds and more potentially deadly sparks. Yvette Brand, CBC News, Vancouver. On January 12, 2010, a massive 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti,

killing more than 200,000 people and making more than one million homeless. In Montreal, a special ceremony has been held to mark the 15th anniversary of the disaster. Vanessa Lee was there. Vanessa, it's a difficult day for so many in Montreal's Haitian community. Absolutely, Stephanie. We are at La Maison d'Aitzi, which is a community organization dedicated to Montreal's Haitian community. 15 years after the tragedy, people here say it's still a shock. They describe it as a trauma. But as painful as it is, they told us it's important to remember and for everyone to

be together to be able to lean on each other. Homes were red, there was music. And then at 4.53, the exact time the earthquake hit, there was a powerful moment when 15 survivors each held a candle as a minute of silence was held and memories of all of the lives lost. And people in the room afterwards were asked to say the name of someone they lost, which was a very emotional moment as well, because it really spoke to the magnitude of grief just in that room. We spoke to Joelle Merle, she lost her sister, and here's what she had to say.

She says it's a day that enrages her because of all of the lives lost, but also because she thought after this catastrophe, there would be change, there would be a renewal in the country, and that didn't happen, Stephanie. Well, 15 years later, Haiti is still a country in crisis. What can you tell us about that? The country continues to face complex challenges, including political instability, economic hardship and escalating violence. The United Nations says at least 5,600 people were killed in the country last year from gang violence. Displacement has

tripled with hundreds of thousands of people on the run. Around a million and a half children have lost access to education and face malnutrition due to food shortages. And with armed gangs attacking hospitals and clinics, Doctors of the World Canada says currently only two of Haiti's five public hospitals are operational with limited resources. We spoke to its International Operations Director, Manon Hourdain. She says the health system, which was already fragile before the earthquake, is on the verge of collapse, with five and a half million people, or nearly half the population, needing humanitarian aid. There is a lack of response. There's really

not enough resource available. There's not enough money going to the country. There's not enough logistical means to actually move throughout the country and be able to deliver the aid. And we really need to have a stronger support from the international community. Still a lot of uncertainty ahead in a country that has already suffered so much, Stephanie. Okay, Vanessa, thank you. Thanks for having me. Vanessa Lee in Montreal. In just over one week, Canada could be hit with a devastating economic blow. Donald Trump is not backing down from his threat to impose tariffs on Canada on his

first day in office. Canadian leaders are stepping up their pressure campaign to try to get Trump to change his mind. Katie Simpson reports from Washington. All along Pennsylvania Avenue, barricades are being put into place as organizers run a rehearsal ahead of Donald Trump's big day. Inauguration is set for one week from Monday and the president-elect is promising to have tens of executive orders ready to sign the moment he

returns to the White House. There is a real possibility. New 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico could be one of those executive orders. If he does choose to go forward with tariffs that raise the cost of just about everything for American citizens, that on top of that we're going to have to have a robust response to that. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appearing on US cable news warning that Canada has a retaliation plan should it get to that point. Ottawa has a list of hundreds of American goods they could target with tariffs in response including Florida orange juice and plastic and metal products.

We are ready to respond with tariffs as necessary. While British Columbia Premier David Eby is pushing for a harsher response including export bans on certain critical minerals only available from Canada. And if you don't get it from us then you don't get it at all. These are the kinds of conversations unfortunately we're going to have to have with the Americans if they're going to do this to our families. At least one former Trump official questions whether it's a wise strategy for Canada to push back with threats. Nazek Nikakhtar served as Assistant Secretary of Commerce during Trump's first presidency.

Nothing good can come out of sort of threat counter threat. I see it only escalating. President Trump is not the kind of person who would ever back down. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith taking a bit of a different approach. Meeting with Trump directly at Mar-a-Lago this weekend. Describing their conversations as friendly and constructive, saying she emphasized the mutual importance of the US-Canada energy relationship,

highlighting that hundreds of thousands of American jobs are supported by Alberta energy exports. Conversations at different levels will continue this week. Several federal cabinet ministers are headed to Washington, including Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Jolie. She says the tariff threat remains very real. Something we can't do is not to take President-elect Trump on his word

because when he says something he usually does it. Trump's language about tariffs has only hardened since the new year began. The view from Ottawa about his tariff threat growing increasingly pessimistic. Katie Simpson, CBC News, Washington. Donald Trump has also been musing about wielding his country's economic might to annex this country. Trump's fantasies of US territorial expansion are also aimed at Greenland, and it's not the first time he's had his sights set on owning the world's largest island. As John Last reports, there are reasons to take these threats seriously.

There was a strong sense of disbelief in Copenhagen. In a sense, it was a surprise that perhaps shouldn't surprise. Christens Hobe Christensen is director of the Institute for Military Studies at the University of Copenhagen. Though Greenland has been a Danish territory for more than 200 years, it's long been moving toward independence. It's closer to the Canadian Arctic than to Europe, and its population of less than 60,000 people is more than 90% Indigenous to the island. Its pro-independence government is expected to put forth a referendum next year. Mikko Runga Olsen is a senior researcher at the

Danish Institute for International Studies. Olsen says independence could pose challenges for Greenland. After all, it receives more than half a billion dollars in funding from Denmark each year. Greenland wants independence. Every poll shows it. But Greenland does not have the economic means to keep the Greenland welfare state together without a substantial influx of money from somewhere else. Enter Donald Trump, who first floated the idea of buying the Arctic Island in 2019. On the one hand, Olsen says it's highly unlikely that Greenland would ever sell. But an independent Greenland could enter what's called a free association agreement with the United States, handing them control over security and other portfolios, as is

currently the case with Denmark. Greenlandic politicians have been adamant that the territory is quote, open for business, but not for sale. But it pays to be delicate where Trump and US investment is concerned. The United States already conducts major military operations from Greenlandic territory, and Greenland's leaders are increasingly eager for foreign investment to exploit some of the world's largest reserves of valuable rare earth metals. But given both those facts, experts are unclear on what exactly Trump stands to gain from taking over Greenland. Kristensen again.

What is it actually that the US would get out of it apart from having to pay for supporting the Greenlandic population? The answer may be the simple, if unsettling one, the expansion of US territory. Let's manifest destiny again. Rob Hubert is an Arctic expert at the University of Calgary. He says while some argue all this bluster could be about gaining advantage in trade talks or extracting other concessions, in Greenland's case, it may well be the feeling of conquest that Trump is after. You've got everything that you can possibly want except for the right of putting a flag

up. So when Trump starts talking about this, I take him at his word. For CBC News, I'm John Last. 🎵 One of the biggest songs of last year, Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter. One of that tune's songwriters, Amy Allen, is in the middle of a heated debate with streaming giant Spotify. Here's the tea.

Allen is one of five Grammy nominees for Songwriter of the Year Non-Classical, a category that's only a couple of years old. Spotify throws a party for those nominees, inviting them to perform their own songs. But Spotify has also recently cut how much it pays songwriters in royalties. So, Alan's boycotting the party, and so are other nominees,

like Jesse Joe Dillon, who's behind country tunes like Morgan Wallen's Lies, Lies, Lies. Lies, lies, lies, looking. ["Lies, Lies, Lies," by Morgan Wallin & The Bunch plays.] Spotify's rationale for the royalty rate cuts is a little complicated. It added audiobooks to its premium subscription tier and says that allows it to pay songwriters and publishers a discounted bundle rate.

Billboard estimates the change will lead to a royalty rate decrease of a hundred and fifty million US dollars over the next twelve months. Jessie Jo Dillon told Billboard she pulled out of Spotify's event because quote, it's nice to be individually honored but it's better for me and my entire songwriter community to be paid fairly for our art. There are no songs without songwriters." Here's another of the songwriters who won't be attending Spotify's party. Rae is also up for best new artist of the Grammys, which are scheduled

for February 2nd. Here's more of Ray, this is The Thrill is Gone on Your World Tonight. I'm Stephanie Scanderis. Thanks for listening. The thrill is gone I can't sleep in the same bed as you Something just doesn't feel right When you fall asleep I leave the room as you're closing your eyes I shut the door behind me quickly As I get in my car But then the second I leave quickly, as I get in my car.

But then the second I leave you, I wish I was late. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.