Your World Tonight - Thousands affected by NL fires, fewer houses being built, using teeth to restore sight, and more

Episode Date: August 12, 2025

Parts of Newfoundland and Labrador are shrouded by thick smoke as four wildfires burn out of control. More than 13,000 people are on evacuation alert. The fires are also affecting venues for the Canada Games. While Canada has one of its worst fire seasons on record, some are asking: Why isn’t there a national fire response plan?And: Is Canada moving quickly enough to build new homes?Also: A medical story you have to hear to believe. A surgery to restore sight to the blind using teeth. We’ll tell you how it works and introduce you to one of the first people in Canada to benefit.Plus: China escalates canola dispute with Canada, extreme heat and wildfires in Europe, National Guard deployed in D.C., and more.

If you're absolutely loving your summer read and don't want the book to be over, your experience doesn't actually have to end when you finish reading. I'm Matea Roach, and on my podcast bookends, I sit down with authors to get the inside scoop behind the books you love. Like, why Emma Donoghue is so fascinated by trains, or how Taylor Jenkins Read feels about being a celebrity author. You can check out bookends with Matea Roach wherever you get your podcasts. This is a CBC podcast. How quickly after three hours this thing evolved was extremely frightening. We were receiving calls right across the island asking if there was anything that they could do to help us. In Newfoundland in Labrador, the flames are spreading along with the fear,

hot, dry and windy weather, sparking new wildfires and allowing. the ones already burning to get bigger and closer to communities, with one bearing down on the province's largest city. Welcome to your world tonight. I'm Susan Bonner. It is Tuesday, August 12th, just before 6 p.m. Eastern, also on the podcast. The challenges that cost to build keep going up. So we've reached a point at which the costs are so high relative to prices is just no longer economically viable to build most forms of housing. Federal government wants to build thousands of new homes, but new data suggests construction isn't getting off the ground

and is actually on the decline in parts of the country that need it most. And we always said that we would go anywhere, do anything, to keep his vision. And here we are. Seeing is believing the rare procedure using a patient's teeth to restore their vision. Smoke fills the skies over large parts of Atlantic Canada tonight as wildfires burn across New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland in Labrador. In that province, four fires are out of control, growing quickly while threatening homes, businesses, and now the provincial capital. Nicola Sagan reports.

How quickly after three hours this thing evolved was extremely. frightening. Hot high winds blowing through a hillside near St. John's, Alex Driscoll peering at his business down below as water bombers cut through the smoky sky. He's the manager of Akita equipment, a trucking company in an industrial park less than 20 kilometers from the capital city. It was evacuated Monday when a new wildfire called the Paddy's Pond Fire broke out in the densely populated area. We were receiving calls right across the island asking if there was anything that they could do to help us. Driscoll says people rushed to his business to help move trucks, tires, and flammable materials away from the fire zone. Even as more than 13,000 people in the area

were told to be on evacuation alert, preparing to leave their homes at a moment's notice. This is not a normal situation, and we can't treat this as anywhere near normal. Newfoundland and Labrador Premier John Hogan says four fires burn out of control in the province, two especially threatening. The Paddy's pawn fire near, St. John's and the Kingston Fire on the Beta Verde Peninsula around 150 kilometers from St. John's. It has grown to more than 60 square kilometers, forcing thousands of people from their homes and destroying at least nine houses already. Marlene McShane lives nearby. The flames that I seen were frightening, high, high in the air, and you could see that Okapit Cove and Western. They were

a smoke fills the sky. The Canada Summer Games has suspended some outdoor competitions, including beach volleyball and sailing, and moved some events like soccer and lacrosse from the St. John's area. Karen Sheriffs is the CEO of Canada Games. She says the community is rallying together. We put out a call last night to each provincial territorial chef team and said, can you come help us get the equipment down in Paradise? And they were all there within 20 minutes, loading up trucks. Across the Atlantic region, firefighters are struggling to hold back wildfires with two burning out of control in New Brunswick near Moncton and Mirmishie and a new wildfire igniting in an industrial area in Halifax Tuesday afternoon, leading a medical

center and commercial businesses to evacuate. Resources are stretched thin throughout the Atlantic provinces as some pack their belongings in go bags and hold their breath. Nicholas Sagan, CBC News, Halifax. Wildfires are burning in nearly every province and territory. At least four are causing anxiety for people in Cawartha Lakes, Ontario. The region is about a 90-minute drive northeast of Toronto. Officials say crews are struggling to keep pace with the heat and the intensity of the fires. Doug Elmsley is the mayor of Cawortha Lakes.

With the temperatures the way they are right now, and then you add that they probably have on bunker gear and they are in an active fire scene which also raises the temperature that it must be really uncomfortable for them. In the West, a major wildfire on BC's Vancouver Island has triggered a new round of evacuation orders. The blaze near Port Albany has forced hundreds of people

from their homes and knocked out power to dozens of customers. The fire has grown to more than six square kilometres in size. Canada has had its worst wildfire seasons for the past three summers now. And if this kind of severity is the new normal, some experts say it's time to change the way the country responds to the emergency with a better coordinated national fire plan. Julia Wong has that story. The situation is catastrophic. Some of the towns are totally wiped out. The last few days have been horrible for Eugene Howell. The 62-year-old is one of thousands of Newfoundlanders

forced from his home because of a fast-moving wildfire. But he's also a bit frustrated. Howell has been through an evacuation before and wishes wildfire response could be better. This is like going on in Canada many decades now. So I think it's been pushed down and down and down. He's not the only one calling on Ottawa to do more, so stories like this don't keep repeating themselves.

Ken McMullen is the president of the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, which represents municipal firefighters. The organization has, for years, been calling for a national fire administration. The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center already moves resources around on a provincial level. McMullen says a new federal agency is needed to organize municipal resources. We need that coordinating body at a federal level to work on the coordination, the response, the training, the equipment, have been needed in order to most effectively put those resources around our provinces and territories to their ultimate perspectives. Everything is on the table, according to federal emergency preparedness minister Eleanor Olshevsky.

One of the things that is definitely under consideration is whether or not we should have something like you called an administration or an agency, some different body at a federal level. But experts say it isn't only about suppressing a wildfire once it starts. Tuesday, the federal government announced more than $45 million in funding for wildfire research like risk management and mitigation. Robert Gray, a wildland fire ecologist from BC, wants to see wildland firefighters do work year round. That will enable us to kind of bend the curve on the amount of area that's burning. If we don't start to do more of the mitigation work, they're working. constantly just, we're just chasing fires.

Another idea says Glenn McGilfrey, managing director of the Institute of Catastrophic Loss Reduction, is a federal indigenous wildland firefighting force. They have millennia-long knowledge in the use of fire and the use of controlled burning and cultural burning. But in the end, McGilvery says making meaningful change in Canada's wildfire response may be hard to do in a country this big. The idea that we're going to be able to knock down fire and keep it down across the country is kind of a pipe dream. And he says Canadians will have to learn how to live with fire. Julia Wong, CBC News, Edmonton. Coming right up, high hopes for housing meeting the high cost of construction.

The latest figure show new home builds heading in the wrong direction. And Canadian canola farmers effectively cut off from one of their biggest customers. as China escalates an ongoing trade dispute. Air Canada says talks to end a labor dispute with its flight attendants have reached an impasse. The carrier today rejected the union's latest counteroffer after the union declined a request to enter third-party arbitration. The workers could issue a strike notice at 1201 tomorrow morning with a possible walkout coming this weekend if no deal is reached. Negotiations have been going on since the start of the year.

Sticking points include wages and unpaid work. New numbers suggest the federal government has a long way to go to reach its housing targets. Mark Carney's liberals came into office with a promise to build half a million homes and lift the country out of a housing crisis, but it's off to a slow start. Kate McKenna has the details. There simply aren't enough homes, so housing is just too expensive. Housing was a key issue for the Mark Carney Liberals during the federal election campaign, as costs have soared, leaving young Canadians priced out.

We have solved a housing crisis before. In our past, we can solve the housing crisis now. But instead of more housing stock on the horizon, new Statistics Canada data shows the value of new residential building permits issued last quarter dropped, double digits indicating less interest from developers in building homes. Well, most of the decline is in lower mainland BC and the GTA. And what's happened in those two environments is that home prices and rents have fallen. Housing researcher Mike Moffitt says it all comes down to the math. But the challenges that cost to build keep going up. So we've reached a point at which the costs are so high relative to prices is just no longer economically viable to build most forms of housing.

So, you know, we're seeing this decline in permits. We're seeing a decline in housing starts. These figures come one day after Ontario reported that it is not on track to meet its housing target of 1.5 million homes built by 2031, even after changing the way they count to include things like dorm rooms and long-term care bets. We'll do everything we can to hit the targets. Ontario Premier Doug Ford says they want to get more built, but municipalities play a big role. If you want to build, you will build. And then there's some, I won't name names, they're NIMBY's. And they're the first to get out there and say, we need more homes. Oh, by the way, you aren't building in our backyard. You aren't building in our neighborhood. There's no way you're doing that.

Prime Minister Mark Carney promised to build nearly half a million homes annually, including starting a new Crown Corporation. Housing Minister Gregor Robertson was not available for an interview. We have to all be heading in the same direction. Conservative housing critic Scott Acheson says the federal government's previous efforts to move the needle, including the housing accelerator fund, which gave money to cities to fast-track development, didn't work. That program was an abject failure. I mean, they gave millions of dollars to cities that then turned around and increased their costs for building. Another obstacle for a new government trying to solve a complex problem.

McKenna. CBC News, Ottawa. It may feel like the trade walls are closing in on Canadian exporters. Already struggling with American tariffs, Canadian canola is now getting hit with new duties from China at a rate of more than 75%. It's the latest escalation in an ongoing dispute. Senior business correspondent Peter Armstrong has been following this. Peter, what does this decision mean for Canada? I mean, if you zoom out, Susan, it essentially means that.

Canada is now fighting a trade war on two fronts, with its two biggest trading partners. Canola exports to China are like a four and a half billion dollar industry, and a tariff this high effectively closes off the Chinese market entirely. How much of Canada's canola exports went to China before this trade war started? It's a huge customer for Canadian farmers. You know, Canada mostly sells canola seed to China. Canola oil and canola meal are also sold, but much more of that goes to the United States. Now, we've been here before, Peter, right? China essentially blocked Canadian canola imports in 2019.

They did. Remember, Chinese Huawei executive Meng Huangzhou was detained by Canada. That was January of 2019. That sparked that diplomatic crisis. And during that crisis, China banned canola imports from Canada's two largest exporters for nearly two years. And the Canola Council of Canada says that ban costs canola farmers in the industry itself between $1.5 and $2.3 billion. This time, Canada imposed 100% tariffs on Chinese electric cars and 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum. And in response, Beijing imposed steep tariffs on Canadian canola oil and meal. But the bigger concern was that it launched this anti-dumping investigation into Canada's canola seed exports. That investigation is now complete. And this new duty is the result of that.

There are some competing timelines here. So really, we're just going to have to wait and see when this actually gets implemented. If the Canadian tariff on Chinese cars is what led to all of this, can that tariff just be dropped? It's complicated, as you can imagine, right? On the one hand, it's unclear if simply undoing the EV tariff would result in the Chinese dropping the canola duties. On the other hand, those tariffs were implemented by Canada, at least in part, to show the Americans that this country is taking action to keep cheap Chinese products from flooding into the North American market. So undoing those would come with a whole set of consequences itself. How hard and how fast can this hit Canadian farmers?

Look, some farmers begin their harvest as early as late August, so that's just weeks away. Depending on where you are in the country, you may harvest as soon as that or as late as October. So this is definitely a timely threat. And remember, this year's harvest is going to determine planting for next year as well that Chinese market was supposed to be this huge source of growth, and now it's just one more source of uncertainty

in an already incredibly uncertain time. Thank you, Peter. You bet. Senior business correspondent Peter Armstrong in Toronto. The U.S. President's attempt to crack down on crime in Washington, D.C. is underway tonight. Hundreds of National Guard members are now in the U.S. Capitol, and they've already made some arrests. Donald Trump says the deployment could work for other cities. As Ashley Burke reports, he's not just targeting criminals, but the homeless, too.

The first round of National Guard soldiers arriving for decades. duty at an armory in Washington. White House press secretary Caroline Levitt pushing back against opposition. I think it's despicable that Democrats cannot agree that we need more law and order in a city that has been ravaged by violence, crime, murders, property theft. Yesterday, Donald Trump seized control of local police, activated the National Guard and called in the FBI, too. They'll immediately begin massive enforcement operations targeting known gangs, drug, dealers in criminal networks to get them the hell off the street. Leavitt says overnight 850 officers and FBI agents hit the streets, seizing six illegal handguns and arresting 23 people for crimes

from driving under the influence to homicide. D.C.'s mayor, Muriel Bowser, yesterday called Trump's actions unsettling, but today said this. How we got here or what the, what we think about the circumstances right now. We have more police and we want to make sure we're using them. And it's not just crime Trump's cracking down on. The U.S. President wants to move homeless people right out of the city. Levitt says police are starting by dismantling homeless encampments this week. And those who don't comply could face jail time.

You just want to just throw us to the rats. Fledget Rippey says her house burnt down. Local shelters are full, so she's sleeping on a park bench. All I know is he's a rich man pushing me. people with no money around. Trump has used the National Guard before, but it's the first time in history a president's ever used D.C.'s

Home Rule Act to take control of local police. And now Trump's put other cities run by Democrats on notice they could be next. This president could use a seventh grade class right now to understand the basics of the Constitution. Chicago's mayor, Brandon Johnson,

says if Trump acts on his threat, to target Chicago, it could violate the Constitution. He is one of the biggest threats to humanity that we've seen in the entire generation. L.A.'s mayor Karen Bass speaking out too. Trump called in National Guards to her state after June protests about immigration raids. It was not necessary here. We had over 4,000 National Guard members that were here doing absolutely nothing. And it was unnecessary. And to me, it just all boiled down to being a stunt. A federal judge is hearing arguments today in California

to determine if the Trump administration violated the law in that case. But in Washington, Trump has newfound power for at least 30 days. Ashley Burke, CBC News, Washington. Foreign ministers of 24 nations, including Canada, Britain and France, are demanding Israel allow more aid into Gaza. In a joint statement, the group says urgent action is needed to reverse. widespread starvation. In an update today, the United Nations described the conditions in the territory as dire. Dr. Rick Pipercorn is with the UN.

The overall health situation remains catastrophic across the Gaza Strip. Nearly 12,000 children under five years in Gaza were identified to be suffering from acute malnutrition in July, the highest monthly figure recorded two days. Israel's military has strict controls on aid entering Gaza. Its government denies there's a starvation crisis in the territory and blames Hamas for stealing supplies. It's not just Canada sweltering in high temperatures tonight. A blistering heat wave is hitting large parts of Europe.

It's fueling destructive wildfires forcing thousands of people from their homes. And in some cases, it's been deadly. Chris Brown reports. The heat in Europe is extreme, fanning fires from one side of the continent to the other. Spain, where temperatures hit the mid-40 Celsius, may have it the worst, with entire mountain sides in a northern national park in flames. As water bombers tried to keep the fire contained, residents in the nearby town of Kongosta used their garden hoses to spray their homes to extinguish flying embers.

We're helpless and feel completely abandoned, pleaded Evangeline Peral. Enormous fires burned just 30 kilometers from the capital Madrid in the municipality of Tres Cantos, where a man working at a horse stable died from burns after the wind whipped up the flames. And in the country's far south, beachgoers had to quickly pack up their umbrellas and towels and join more than 2,000 people in Tarifa who were evacuated.

Many in their cars complained of road chaos as they tried to flee. To the east, the Balkans also burned as people and villages in Montenegro returned to incinerated homes. Dragana Vukovic said money can help replace the things she lost, but memories and keepsakes that burned can never be replaced.

Fire is raged in nearby Albania too, one of many places where tourists, such as Andrea Azahe, from the Netherlands, found their holiday plans upended. We were just to for vacation, just a holiday, and I was really shocked to see the fire. We were driving yesterday, and we saw it. I was really shocking.

A warming climate is, of course, a major factor contributing to such extreme conditions, but not the only one, says climate scientist Stefan Doerre, of Wales's Swansea University. What we're seeing is that the area of flammal vegetation, that is forest, that is shrubland, is increasing, especially in the Mediterranean area.

and this is largely to do with the rural depopulation. Tourists staying in resort towns in southern Turkey were rescued by sea. Suffocating heat has also blanketed large parts of France and Germany and moved into southern Britain as well, conditions that are expected to last for days to come. Chris Brown, CBC News, London. This is Your World Tonight from CBC News. If you want to make sure you stay up to date and 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. It is a remarkable medical feat, rarely performed in Canada, giving a British Columbia man his vision back two decades after he went blind. The procedure is straight out of science fiction and involves using a patient's tooth to help them see. Yasmin Renea has the story. Seeing the skyline. Standing at a window overlooking the ocean and skyscrapers in downtown Vancouver, Brent Chapman can see the tiniest of details. You can even see the four different floor levels. The 34-year-old

had been blind or partially blind since he was a teenager until he underwent a rare tooth-in-eye surgery. The best way you can describe it is euphoric. I feel fantastic. It's a whole new world. It looks great. Vancouver Dr. Greg Maloney performed the complex two-stage surgery on three patients starting in February for the first time in Canada. He says all three patients can now see to different degrees. To watch them come back into the world, it's an incredibly rewarding feeling. The tooth and eye procedure developed in Italy in the 1960, is a last resort for people with severe corneal blindness.

It involves removing a patient's tooth, inserting a plastic lens into it, and then suturing the whole thing into the patient's eye socket. Why a tooth? Because teeth have dentine, the ideal tissue that can house a lens without the body rejecting it. The procedure is so intensive that it's typically only performed in one eye. But it's been done in several countries, including the UK, Australia and India, with high success rates. At around about 30 years' time,

we expect that the tooth will still be in place around 90% of the time. Chapman went blind when he was 13 after taking ibuprofen, which triggered a rare autoimmune reaction known as Stevens-Johnson syndrome. He's had about 50 procedures done to try and get his vision back,

some working, but only temporarily. His father, Phil Chapman, traveled to several countries looking for solutions. said to Brent that we would go anywhere, do anything to keep his vision. And here we are. Brent says he's now appreciating the little things. When Dr. Maloney and I made eye contact, we both just first in the tears. Yeah, I hadn't really made eye contact in 20 years. He's looking forward to spending time with family, traveling, and working, not taking anything.

for granted. Yasmir Ranea, CBC News, Vancouver. We end at the Canada Games in St. John's Newfoundland, where wildfires in the region aren't stopping the competition at this country's largest amateur sporting event, and they're not stopping its youngest competitor from making a splash. All the people are at least five to, like, three to five years older than me, and it's, like, really crazy to find out that I'm, like, I can go as fast and most of them.

Swimmer Louisa Henry from Yellowknife. Plenty of teenagers are competing at the Canada Games. Many are heading off to college and university next month. Henry is going into grade 7. She's just 11 years old, keeping up with much older competition and inspired by a young Canadian star. Summer Macintosh does it again.

My swimmer inspiration is Summer Macintosh because she's like an amazing female athlete from Carab And she, like, is also one of the youngest, like, competitors, like, where she competes. And it, like, really inspires me to, like, do the same. The pressure of the races, the spotlight of a major event, it's a lot for an 11-year-old. But Henry has a support network. Her two older sisters are there as athletes. One is also a swimmer, the other on the soccer team, proudly representing their family and the North.

There's not too many Northwest Territories and Canada Games in general and fewer in swimming. So it feels nice to have a distinction between everyone else to have come from a small territory. Going into the games, Henry knew she'd be outmatched in the age department so her goals were modest, swim her personal best, and try not to come in last. Well, mission accomplished.

In her first race, the 50-meter breaststroke, Henry did not come in last. She won her heat. Thank you for joining us. This has been your world tonight for Tuesday, August 12th. I'm Susan Bonner. Talk to you again.