Your World Tonight - Three byelections, U.S.-Canada lake dispute, Nepal rescue hope, and more

Episode Date: August 31, 2026

It’s voting day for three federal byelections in the British Columbia riding of North Vancouver-Capilano, the Ontario riding of Beaches-East York and the Quebec riding of Chicoutimi-Le Fjord.And: The White House says it’s not a war, but Canadians aren’t taking kindly to the takeover of the name of Lake Ontario.Also: The search for flood victims in Nepal turns to tunnels under hydro-electric power plants. There’s hope hundreds of workers have taken shelter there and are still alive below.Plus: U.S.-Iran fighting ramps up again, accused Canadian NATO intern denied bail, coral crisis, and more.

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This is a CBC podcast. I know that the president reached out to Apple directly, so I'm sure that we may be seeing that change coming up soon to Lake America. Lake effects. President Donald Trump's order to rename Lake Ontario has become a flashpoint in the trade war between Canada and the U.S., especially when Lake America started showing up on Canadian online maps. Those strained relations are making ripples political. in Canada on people's minds as they vote in three federal by-elections.

This is Your World Tonight. It's Monday, August 31st, just before 6 p.m. Eastern. I'm Salima Shivji, also on the podcast. We are looking for the first time there. My house, there is nothing left. It's horrible. Extremely horrible. Nothing left. Villagers in Nepal return home to find those homes washed away. The devastating floods, a reminder of the power of nature.

That power could also contain a glimmer of hope. Nepal has been building hydroelectric stations. The tunnels underneath them could be sheltering survivors. Three by-elections, many questions, and federal leaders watching closely for the answers. How the trade fight with the United States affects votes. Do the liberals further solidify their majority and what the results say about the mood in the country? Catherine Cullen, the host of CBC Radio's The House, will be tracking the results this evening. So Catherine, let's start in Quebec with the riding that seems to be attracting the most

attention out of the three. Yes, this is the riding where we're most likely to see a competitive race, perhaps even a three-way race. Chiquot to meet Le Fjour. The conservative who held the seat, Richard Martel, was appointed to the Senate by Prime Minister Mark Carney, and undoubtedly the Liberals are hoping they can snatch this seat away. But traditionally, this writing has been a race between the conservatives and the Black Quebecois. Okay, but now we're in the middle of a trade war with the U.S. That's dominating the political discourse. How is that expected to play into this vote?

It's a good question, Salima, and it's a big question. We know that Canada-U.S. relations have been a strong issue for Kearney and public polling. And this writing has several industries affected by tariffs. Plus, the liberal candidate was president of the Quebec dairy farmers and a farmer himself. Supply management was certainly a hot topic during these. Canada, U.S. trade talks. There was reporting that Carney was going to cede some ground on dairy quotas to the Americans, but the deal fell apart. Mark Carney insists the sector will be protected, so that dairy background might help secure voters who felt worried about these issues.

Okay, but there's also a provincial election campaign underway right now in Quebec. Yeah, and you have to wonder whether that may lead to some confusion, or does it just amp up passions around federalist versus sovereignist options? It's one of the reasons it can be tricky to extrapolate too much from by-election results. There are always particular circumstances unique to each vote. Okay, well, let's move on to the West Coast now in that writing in BC. How is the race looking there? Yes, this is North Vancouver Capulano, formerly held by Cabinet Minister Jonathan Wilkinson.

The conservatives are trying to make inroads pushing back against the liberal candidate, who was Mark Carney's deputy chief of staff. Okay. And the last of the three, that Ontario writing, it's not such a competitive race there. Yeah, beaches, East York and Toronto, a pretty solid liberal stronghold. The conservatives came in second last election, the NDP third. It will be interesting to watch that NDP number overall tonight. They still have a fairly new leader in Avi Lewis.

He's made it clear he won't run for a seat in the House of Commons anytime soon. But the levels of support, the NDPC may tell us something about whether that party is gaining traction. And we know by-elections are always tricky to read into, but ultimately what could tonight mean for Mark Carney's majority? Well, it may change the numbers in the House of Commons, but it does not put his majority into question. And that's because when MPs return to Ottawa next month, several are going to be missing. Six have resigned their seats, and this will mean fresh by-elections, but also that Carney needs a smaller number of MPs in the meantime to get over 50% on any given vote.

All right. The CBC's Catherine Cullen, thanks for this. Thank you. The U.S. Treasury Secretary says Canada and the United States are not in a real truth. trade war. Scott Besson says Canada can't be in a tit-for-tat trade war with a country that is 13 times larger. Bessent made the comment in an interview with U.S. cable news outlets CNBC. He says Mark Carney is the one escalating the rhetoric. I think this is very unfortunate that Prime Minister Carney has turned this into a political shouting match. I mean, we're not at war with Canada. How are we going to be a war with Canada? They're going to take their two submarines

from the Edmonton Mall and sick him on us. Besson says he'll meet with finance minister of Francoe-Philippe Champagne at the G20 Finance Summit in North Carolina. The submarines at the West Edmonton Mall that Bessent mentioned there were broken up for scrap in 2012. Whether or not the White House calls it a trade war, Canadians are clear about who they blame for the latest escalation,

U.S. President Donald Trump, and his executive order to rename Lake Ontario, especially since Lake America started showing up on websites north of the border. Cameron McIntosh has more on the reaction. It probably hasn't hit U.S. President Donald Trump yet. His rebranded Lake America clearly rejected in Canada. Listen to the crowd in Toronto at this Blue Rodeo concert Saturday night.

Also Saturday? Ontario Premier Doug Ford unveiling a large sign to applause along the lake shore in Hamilton. Reading Lake Ontario, now and always. President Trump can call it whatever. he wants, but I can tell you the rest of the world will always call it Lake Ontario. President Trump signed an executive order to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America last week in response to trade talks collapsing between Canada and the U.S. While few in Canada, including Prime Minister Mark Carney, recognized Trump's authority to do it,

the U.S. geographic names information system. The U.S. government's official geographic database made the switch over the weekend. It feeds Google Maps, causing some Canadian websites that use Google. Google Maps, including some provincial and federal agencies to start showing Lake Ontario as Lake America. Canadians really do live under the shadow of American tech monopolies. Anne Passick is a professor of communication at Trent University. Our digital lives and a lot of our life that extends from that falls under the jurisdiction of American companies and therefore American law. Google controls about 80% of the global market in digital mapping. It says Canadians using its maps should still see Lake Ontario.

Ontario if they're using a Canadian device on a Canadian network, while Canadian companies that use Google's maps on their apps and websites can change their map settings. One competing app, MapQuest, is refusing to make the change. It became the top-rated navigation app in Apple's App Store over the weekend in Canada and the U.S. Meanwhile, on Fox News today, U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Bergam said the president is directly asking other mapping companies to make the change. President reached out to Apple directly, so I'm sure that we may be seeing that change coming up, coming up soon to Lake America. Expect it to remain a lake with two names, at least while Trump is in office.

Meanwhile, that video of the Blue Rodeo show is racking of views and likes. A little defiant diplomacy. Cameron McIntosh, CBC News, Toronto. Coming right up, Iran and the U.S. trade military attacks after a month of relative quiet. Also, the search for victims of the flooding in Nepal turns to the tunnels built for hydro power plants, the hope that there are hundreds of people still alive inside. And later, we'll have this story. As a potentially record-setting El Nino warms the Pacific Ocean, scientists fear for the coral reefs that have already suffered declines for decades.

I'm Anandrum in Toronto, coming up on your world tonight, the state of coral reefs around the world and the calls to act now before we lose even more. Oil and gas prices are on the rise again, largely due to new exchanges of fire between the U.S. and Iran. The U.S. says it attacked mine launchers that Tehran set up to disrupt oil tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran was quick to hit back. Sasha Petrissik reports. As Iranian missiles flew toward U.S. targets in the Mideast, the month-long ceasefire seemed to end. Iran says it sent a barrage at Jordanian bases hosting U.S. warplanes. Jordan says it shot down eight missiles. An Iranian drone was also intercepted on its way to the UAE.

This, after the U.S., targeted Iranian troops on LaRoc Island, saying it was preventing them from firing rockets armed with mines into the strategic strait of Hormuz, A waterway U.S. President Donald Trump says the U.S. has under control. That doesn't mean we won't smack them, but we have the Strait of Haramuz in extremely good shape. He insists the exchange of missiles last night is a very limited return to fighting. Still, it seems to signal an end to the Memorandum of Understanding announced in June to wind down the six-month war. Both sides have dug in with very different views on who controls the vital oil traffic that sales from Gulf oil and gas producers to world markets. Those markets reacted nervously today, with crude prices jumping above $90 a barrel.

As for Iran, President Massoud Peshchkian threatened to deliver a decisive response to any U.S. attack. A defiant line echoed in comments from Iranians to the state broadcaster in Tehran. I don't think the leadership should have stopped fighting, says a man with the last name, Azizifar. Let's settle it for good. Iran insists it has the right to charge tolls and choose which ships get through. Trump says U.S. forces have been escorting some tankers safely through the strait. Many, many ships got through last night, as you know, with the Navy's assistance.

And we've been averaging 30 ships a night. It's a lot. And a lot of oils coming out. Over the past week, three tankers have been hit, trying to avoid the Iranian side of the strait, causing fires and casualties on board. Washington also says it has cleared all mines from the route. though experts like former U.S. Admiral Mark Montgomery say that's unlikely. I participated in convoy operations and mine clearance operations the last time Iran placed mines. And it takes months to even a year, not days or weeks, to totally clear a waterway of that size. It's also clear the U.S. still has work to do as it tries to wrestle control of the strait from Iran. Sasha Petrosic, CBC News, Toronto.

Few people are being found alive in the mud and debris in Nepal. More than 4,000 are still unaccounted for six days since disaster struck the border with Nepal and Tibet. The best hope for locating survivors lies deep underground in tunnels beneath the country's numerous hydroelectric facilities. Georgie Smyth has more. By the beams of flashlights, rescuers walk the dark underground tunnels deep in Nepal's mountains. Heavy machinery sits in floodwater, but the people who are working here when the flood hit are nowhere to be found. This Chinese rescuer says they've searched more than two kilometres of this tunnel, and this time found no signs of life. But since Friday, more than 250 people have been found alive underground,

adding to the urgency of blasting and digging through mud, rock and earth, to reach the hundreds of workers still missing. someone alive, there's people alive out there, we're doing our best to find them. Arnold Dix is an expert in tunnel rescues. He says survivors are more likely to be found in the refuge chambers built for emergencies, all part of the country's rapid expansion of hydro power projects on aspirations to harness the power of its roaring rivers. Normally I'm doing rescues because a tunnel has collapsed. Now I'm trying to do a rescue because the world everywhere else collapsed and the tunnels is all that's left.

The dead continue to be pulled from rivers as people watch silently from shore. Some are taken to shallow graves in forests after DNA is taken for future identification, says Chitwan Police Inspector Anel Tapa. Those are already decomposed, you know. They are already in the state of decomposition. So it was very difficult to put them inside the city. That's why we have to do this. Till today, we have already managed 1198 bodies in this temporary.

area. And today we are almost 80 dead bodies are going to be buried today. Even in unending death and destruction, some homes still stand. Like Lakshmi Padni's bright turquoise house, a viral video showed her family standing on the balcony as towering walls of floodwater rush past. They were inside, chanting God's name, she said. Her family survived. 65,000 people, including displaced and all. orphaned children need clean water, food and sanitation, says the United Nations.

Assessments are still ongoing to determine how to help Nepal cope with such an enormous disaster. Georgie Smyth, CBC News, Vancouver. The Canadian woman accused of spying at NATO's military headquarters has been denied bail while she awaits trial. Claire Bway-Jang was working as an intern in Belgium when she was arrested last month. Ithel Musa has the latest on this developing case. It's a serious offense. Frank Verbrugin is a criminal law expert in Belgium. He says it is unlikely Claire B. Wei-Zang will be released before her trial.

She's a foreigner, apparently with not many, if any, ties to Belgium or Europe. The 33-year-old computer scientist, who was interning at NATO's military headquarters, was arrested last month after her home and workplace were searched. According to European media reports, NATO's internal security services were triggered after she allegedly exhibited suspicious behavior, like entering areas and accessing files beyond her authorization. Zhang is now facing charges of spying on behalf of a third country and of being a member of a criminal organization, and today Belgium's chamber of indictments denied her appeal for pretrial release. Verbrugent says investigators will continue to build their case. I don't know how far they're going to dig and how many people they're going to involve and what links to foreign instances there might be like Canada.

According to some European media, other people may have been involved in this case. News reports claim shortly after Zhang was arrested her apartment was broken into and some of her social media passwords were changed remotely. CBC News has not independently verified those claims. Authorities made a point to note Zhang's Chinese origin, leading some to speculate she may have been spying for China, a claim the Chinese embassy in Canada denied as baseless. We do have a responsibility to examine the Canadian security processes.

Before moving to Europe, Zhang worked in several federal government agencies in Canada, including, according to her LinkedIn profile, Statistics Canada and the Canadian Space Agency. After these spying allegations came to light, the House Committee on Public Safety and National Security voted in favor of holding hearings to examine Canada's security screening process. Rhonda Kirkland is the Conservative MP for Oscewa.

Canadians deserve to know what security screening, for instance, was conducted before this individual was granted access to one of the world's most sensitive military institutions. Dan Stanton is a former senior institution. intelligence officer with CIS. He speculates if Zhang was indeed spying, she may have been recruited more recently. They may have on paper in terms of initial vetting been fine, but at some point maybe they were cultivated and recruited by a hostile intelligence service. Zhang's trial may not begin until next year, and it's expected she will remain in custody until then. Neither

Zhang nor her lawyer has responded to CBC's request for comment. It'll moose, CBC News, Toronto. We know that students are using AI chatbots for help with their homework, but researchers say students are also turning to the technology for emotional support. And they warn that's a strong sign of psychological distress. The CBC's Megan Fitzpatrick reports. Getting good grades, getting a good job, getting into university, but we're also dealing with, well, the world around us.

17-year-old Annie Vital Ramos says teenagers have a lot. lot on their minds and they don't always feel like they have somewhere to turn for support. The Ottawa resident advocates for youth mental health. Young people need a place to talk to and it should be accessible and convenient to them. For some young Canadians, that accessible and convenient source is an AI chatbot. A new study published today in the JAMA Pediatrics Medical Journal found that students are not only using AI for help with their homework but for emotional support too. researchers surveyed nearly 40,000 students in grades 4 to 12 in Ontario.

21% responded they had used the technology to seek advice on how to cope with their feelings, friends, family, or others in their lives. The study also showed that of the students using AI for advice, they were twice as likely to have clinical emotional problems. The study does not say there's a causation between using AI and the emotional problems, but rather that the results should be viewed as a warning sign that these youth need help. Study author Tracy Vyingkor says it's understandable why some teens are turning to AI. They have nobody to turn to in their family. They feel like they don't have anybody to turn to at school. There might not be a lot of mental health support within their community. It's good there at least seeking advice, says Viancourt, but she's concerned about what that advice is.

In her view, AI is not a good substitute for a professional trained to work with youth. It's not human. It doesn't understand emotions like a, clinician would or a parent would or a teacher would. So there's some issues about them going to AI chatbots that can make them a little bit more vulnerable. Vyingcourt says AI companies are starting to recognize that people are using their platforms for mental health advice. But she says they need to be extra careful when it comes to young people relying on them. Dr. Peter Selby, senior scientist at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, says AI has potential to be helpful, but... The downsets,

side of it is it's the Wild West. Selby says the guardrails aren't yet good enough to ensure AI can be used safely, especially for youth with very serious medical conditions such as psychosis. He advises parents to be on the lookout for signs their child is struggling. If this child is in distress, that you're probably signs before they've turned to AI for help. Annie Vital Ramos has a simple message for parents. Ask your kids how they're doing. Because a lot of things could be hiding behind a smile. Ramos says AI can be a good starting point to get help,

but she hopes her peers will still reach out for support offline too. Megan Fitzpatrick, CBC News, Toronto. A Quebec Cardinal has won a defamation case against a woman who accused him of sexual assault. A provincial superior court judge ruled allegations against Mark Wollett were malicious and unfounded. Pamela Grolo accused Wollett of touching her without consent three times between 2008 and 2010. The judge says Grolo changed her story several times and ordered her to pay Willett $100,000.

Willett has promised to donate those damages to organizations helping indigenous people who have experienced sexual abuse. Scientists warned this winter could see a potentially historic El Nino warming event. More bad news for coral reefs worldwide. As science reporter Anandhram reports, reefs are already weakened by decades of warming oceans.

In the Japanese village of Onna, tanks of corals sit in Timothy Ravasi's lab, some even under UV lights as he seeks to answer one simple question. What drama change in particular ocean warming does to coral reef fish? Ravasi is a professor at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, a place where his heat wave simulators and other experiments are designed to put these slow-growing organisms through stress to see how they react. If we don't understand what climate change or ocean warming acidification does to coral ecosystem, there is a chance we're going to lose them or change them forever.

Now a new comprehensive report shows what a stressful time the last few decades have been for corals. Coral cover usually around the world used to be above 30 or 40% back in the 80s. But now we're seeing that the coral cover currently sits on. around the 25% mark. Manuel Gonzalez Rivera is the lead author of the new report, which involved tens of thousands of surveys by people painstakingly measuring how much coral was still there.

And the death they saw wasn't just about what was missing, but what's become monochrome. The vibrancy of the colors of coral reef are now becoming duller. So we can see that there is less coral, but it's also much less of that diversity of colors that characterize coral reefs. That lack of color is from bleak. where extreme ocean heat turns corals ghostly white, making them vulnerable. The report shows the time between mass bleaching events around the world has been getting shorter,

giving less of a chance for corals to recover. We're losing big chunks of coral from the majority of the world's coral reefs, and it's associated with climate change. Emily Darling is a coral reef scientist with the Wildlife Conservation Society. Some reefs are able to resist this fate for now. But as oceans absorb the excess heat from humanity's burning of fossil fuels, the frequency and intensity of marine heat waves is accelerating. So there's still hope for increasing resilience to coral reefs,

but it is against this backdrop of urgency that ocean temperatures are getting hotter and hotter, and we are slowly boiling corals to death. Maybe not this year, but next year it's just like a bomb ready to explode. Back in Okinawa, Ravasi is concerned too about the expected historic peak of this year's El Nino, and its supercharging of warmth in the Pacific Ocean, bringing fears of another global bleaching event just around the corner. Anandram, CBC News, Toronto. Finally,

Get your eye glitter, spandex, and dance moves ready, Canada. Applications are now open to represent this country at the 27 Eurovision Song Contest. Famous, of course, for glitzy costumes, sometimes goofy electropop and decidedly over-the-top. theatricality. That's last year's winner, Bulgaria's Dera, with Bangaranga. Canadians have competed over the years but for other countries.

Celine Dion won the whole Chebangera for Switzerland in 1988 with Ne Parte Passa Me. But this time around, CBC is an official broadcast partner, which means Canadians can compete for Canada. Artists must be 18 or older, able to sing in both. official languages and be ready to act fast because applications closed September 9th. Jennifer Detman is the head of the CBC's Eurovision Delegation. We are looking for an artist that has elite vocal command,

and we need an artist that can take on that stage, which is a huge stage. So we thought that our best bet would to be an artist that has a little more experience in the first year. And then going forward, I think that that will shift and change. Musician Danny Doucant has already put her name forward, and she says she did some research about what the judges would be looking for. And it's about the song, and it's about the performance. And about a month ago, I got together a little team, and we started to really go at it by creating a really original piece of music

that would have every element of Canada in it. So we really did check off a lot of the boxes. I'm very excited. All the info is on the CBC.ca website. A committee of music experts will select a show. shortlist and then Canadians will get a chance to vote online for the winner sometime in the fall. Thanks for being with us. This has been Your World Tonight for Monday, August 31st. I'm Selima Sjeevjee. Good night.

For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca.ca slash podcasts.