Your World Tonight - U.S. auto parts tariffs take effect, Labour Party wins Australian election, profitability in women's sports, and more

Episode Date: May 3, 2025

U.S. President Donald Trump's 25 percent tariff on auto parts is now in effect - covering everything from engines to door hinges. Canadian auto part imports are exempt for now under the Canada U.S. Mexico free trade agreement. But auto workers in this country are still feeling the sting of the trade war.Also: Voters in Australia have given the Labour party and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese a rare second majority government. Much like in Canada, Donald Trump and his tariffs cast a large shadow over Australia's election. And that isn't the only similarity it shares with this country's most recent election.And: Whether its hockey, basketball or soccer - there's no doubt that professional women's sports leagues are enjoying unprecedented growth. But we'll tell you why profitability in women's sports remains elusive. Plus: The separatist movement in Alberta, Showcasing films from displaced directors, An Indigenous family reclaims the remains of their loved one, and more.

In this acclaimed new production of Anna Karenina, the National Ballet of Canada asks, what is fair in love and society? Renowned choreographer, Christian Spook adapts Tolstoy's epic novel to dance in a spectacular work complete with lush costumes, cinematic projections, and a glorious curated score, featuring the music of Rachmaninoff. On stage June 13th to 21st, tickets on sale now at national.ballet.ca

sponsored by IG private wealth management. This is a CBC podcast. Hi, I'm Stephanie Scanderis and this is your World Tonight. If I have a Canadian screw installed in a vehicle by an American, how much of that is American? How much of that is Canadian? A 25% tariff on auto parts made outside the U.S. is now in effect, with some Canadian carmakers exempt for now. You'll hear about the roadblocks to Donald Trump's entirely made in America car dream.

Also on the podcast, just days after this country's election, our Commonwealth cousins down under held their own. Why Aussie voters delivered a landslide surprising victory for the incumbent Labour Party. And... To see that they were that young to die for my freedom, yeah, that means a lot to me. A Dutch town celebrates the Canadian veterans who helped liberate them from Nazi occupation 80 years ago.

Engines, steering wheels, door hinges, just a sample of the kinds of auto parts that are now subject to a 25% import tax in the U.S. Those tariffs came into effect today. Canadian car parts that are Kuzma compliant are exempt, but that doesn't mean workers in this country won't face trouble down the line. Chris Reyes reports from New York. From engines to brakes to seats, from tires to glass to sensors, most auto parts coming into the U.S. will be slapped with a 25% tariff. Those parts come from all over the world,

including Canada. In an interview earlier this week, Ford's CEO, Jim Farley, said his company can't put out an entirely made-in-the-USA car. 75, 80% of the parts are made in America. But to keep it competitive and affordable compared to companies that import from overseas, like Mexico or South Korea or Japan, you know, we have to import certain parts. For now, Canadian auto part imports are exempt under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Free Trade Agreement.

Still questions abound about how to comply with President Donald Trump's new round of levies says Christian Bravo, a business analytics professor at Western University. You have to go through a process in order to get them to be compliant. So it's not automatic. You need to actually go and certify that there is a certain percentage of North American made parts. This is good in any case because it softens the blow to one of our most affected industries. McMaster Business Professor Marvin Ryder says even with exemptions, a new set of tariffs mean even more questions for Canada's auto industry.

If I have a Canadian screw installed in a vehicle by an American, how much of that is American? How much of that is Canadian? What do you chalk it down to? How do you calculate the tariff on that? American automakers have lobbied hard for exemptions, arguing the tariffs could cost their companies billions. President Trump has yielded on auto parts, but only with some relief, including a refund of up to 3.75% against their tariff bill for the first year. In Canada, with every promise of exemptions and pauses, the hope is to negotiate a better deal, says Flavio Volpe, president of Canada's Automotive Parts

Manufacturers Association. We need to work very hard with the Trump administration to make them help them understand that if assembly operations like Oshawa get hurt down a shift or closed, that's an American car company that's taken ahead. That's already happened. Oshawa's GM plant announced Friday it was eliminating one shift affecting 700 workers. The potential for more cuts and many other issues on the table when Prime Minister Mark

Carney meets with President Trump at the White House on Tuesday. Chris Reyes, CBC News, New York. A vocal minority of Albertans want their province to break up with Canada, and they gathered outside the legislature in Edmonton today to get their message out. Now the prospect is unlikely, but Alberta's government is introducing a bill that would make it easier to put it to a vote. Paige Parsons has the latest.

Hundreds gathered on the steps of the Alberta legislature today for a rally calling for Alberta to separate from Canada. Jeevan Mangat was one of the organizers. So we wish to be in charge as Albertans of our own nation. A smaller but vocal counter protest also showed up, arguing that separating would violate treaty rights. A woman who walks like a bear attended. She says she's a sovereign first person of this land and it is not for sale. Canada does not own this land. Alberta does not own this land. Our people own this land and it is not for sale. Canada does not own this land. Alberta does not own this land.

Our people own this land. Less than a week after the federal liberals were re-elected, political tensions remain high in Alberta. Premier Danielle Smith says an initial call with Prime Minister Mark Carney went well, but then her government launched a lawsuit challenging Ottawa's clean electricity grid regulations. It also introduced legislation to make it easier for citizens to ask for a referendum about Alberta separating from the rest of Canada.

On her weekly radio show today, Smith said the timing is a coincidence. We've been working on this legislation for a year. It just so happens, having released it now, that that is the topic that people have suggested they want to try to do a petition campaign on. A recent poll found only 25% of Albertans support the idea of separatism, but First Nations leaders were swift to react to the proposed referendum legislation, sending Smith cease and desist letters accusing her of fueling separatism talks. Sheldon Sunshine is the chief of Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation.

At this point, with the level of disregard for our people and our communities and our input on some of these things, I think nothing is off the table. We will do what we have to to protect our people and protect our land. Amidst all this, Pierre Poliev is looking to Alberta. The Conservative leader lost his long-time Ottawa seat. Yesterday, his party announced that Battle River Crowfoot conservative MP elect Damien Couric will resign so Polyev can run in a by-election in the large rural eastern Alberta riding. Couric won in a landslide earning over 80% of votes. As popular as he is some of his supporters in the

central Alberta city of Camrose say they're happy for him to step aside. I think it's a slam dunk. Romesh Persaud said he'd welcome Poliev and his influence. Alberta has a strong place in the country, in a United Canada, and we need to work towards that. And hopes it would help stamp out any talks of separation. Paige Parsons, CBC News, Edmonton. It's an incredible honor to be chosen to lead the Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador and to be the next Premier of this province.

Newfoundland and Labrador has a new Premier designate. The provincial Liberals have chosen former Health Minister John Hogan as their new leader with 77% of the party vote. Hogan is taking over from Andrew Fury, who announced his resignation in February. Hogan says his government will prioritize health care access, affordability, and finalizing a high-stakes energy deal with Quebec.

Australian voters have delivered a stunning victory to the status quo, giving the Labour Party and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese a rare second majority government. Much like in this country, U.S. President Donald Trump and his tariffs cast a long shadow over Australia's election. And as Philipp Lee Shennock reports, that's not the only similarity. Australians have chosen optimism and determination.

In a victory speech in Sydney, Anthony Albanese didn't mention Donald Trump, but he didn't have to. The US president has been in the headlines almost daily throughout the campaign. We did not need to beg or borrow or copy from anywhere else. After months of trailing in the polls, Albanese becomes the first Australian prime minister

to clinch a second consecutive term more than two decades, decisively beating Peter Dutton, leader of the right-leaning Liberal Party. Voters say many factors were at play. I reckon it's trust. Who would you really trust to run the joint, particularly in light of what's going on overseas? I'm reasonably happy with the status quo as it is. I'm not being at all impressed by Dutton and his performance in the elections.

Dutton and his kind of Trumpian dog whistle policies is going to fail. For Claire Minnelli, it was Dutton's policies and messaging that made her uncomfortable. I think what's scary about Trump is what the world can become very quickly if everyone goes that way and I'm really excited that Canada has not gone that way. Analysts say Trump's tariffs on Australia appeared to work in Albanese's favor, echoing the results of

Canada's election last month. I accept full responsibility for that. Dutton says his opposition unfairly tied him to Trump, calling him Doge Dutton after the US Department of Government Efficiency. We've been defined by our opponents in this election, which is not the true story of who we are. Observers see parallels between Dutton and Canada's Conservative leader Pierre Pollyave, both lost despite huge leads before Trump came to power and both lost their own seats.

Malcolm Turnbull was Australia's Prime Minister from 2015 to 2018. He says this election and Canada's should serve as a lesson for those mimicking Trump memes and themes. Canada and Australia are similar but different because of course Trump has not been threatening to annex Australia. Trump was a much bigger factor in the Canadian election. I mean he basically was the issue. In Australia, he was really the mood music. That mood caused by the Trump effect may play a factor in the elections of other U.S. allies and partners.

Voters in the Philippines, Italy and Japan will be heading to the polls over the next few months. Philippa Shannok, CBC News, Toronto. Still ahead of families decades-long fight to find out what really happened to their young boy taken to residential school and then the fight to bring his remains home. That's coming up on Your World Tonight. The Netherlands is marking 80 years since the end of Nazi occupation during the Second World War. Thousands of people line the streets of a liberated Dutch city today, waving Canadian flags to honour the returning veterans, some of them well into their hundreds.

7,600 Canadians were killed in 1944 and 1945 during the fierce battles to free the Netherlands. Our correspondent Chris Brown was at today's parade. It seemed like the entire population of Appledorn, a city of 100,000 people, came out for a celebration that happens once every five years. A commemoration of freedom from Nazi Germany and a celebration that happens once every five years, a commemoration of freedom from Nazi Germany, and a celebration of Canada and the Canadian soldiers who liberated their city and their country. People lined the parade route wearing red and white.

They waved small Canadian flags, and they draped large flags from the balconies of their apartments. And at the very front of the spectacle were the 22 Canadian veterans, most of them being pushed in wheelchairs, the youngest 96, the oldest 105. All were soldiers who served in the skies, on the sea, and on

land during the Second World War, and some of whom played key roles in driving Hitler's troops out of the Netherlands. And everything is so different now. It's built up beautiful, you know. Ninety-nine-year-old Ernie Wiles was a Canadian paratrooper who was part of Operation Market Garden, a daring effort in 1944 to drop into Nazi-held territory to try to seize key bridges in the Netherlands and speed up the end of the war. It was nice to know that people here are not letting them forget. The scenes here are really quite remarkable.

The veterans in their wheelchairs are being pushed almost through these crowds, people reaching out, wanting to touch them, shake their hands, and you can hear them saying thank you. Thank you for coming. Thank you. Thank you for coming. Thank you for being here. Among the Canadian shaking hands was William Seyfried who celebrated his 100th birthday today. He served as a reconnaissance scout as the Allies pushed westward to Germany.

Appledorn resident Ronald Grin who's 57 and his and his daughter Shana, who's 27, said every Dutch child learns about the sacrifices the Canadians made so they could be free. They deserve everything we have here to welcome them back here. To see that they were that young to die for my freedom, yeah, that means a lot to me and it makes it more real that in these times with the current situations going on around the world that we get to live in this freedom and they we got to thank them for them and that means a lot. Among the Canadians who traveled to watch this was Ellen Mole from Etobicoke. A former bagpiper she says she played and marched in a similar

parade 15 years ago and was so overwhelmed by the experience she wanted to come back. I really understood from the love and the gratitude of the Dutch people how important our place can be, how we can help the world and it was just one of the most incredible experiences of my life, honestly. The Appledorn Parade is just one of many commemorations this weekend. Sunday is Remembrance Day in the Netherlands. And Monday there will be more ceremonies to mark the occasion when a Canadian general

accepted the surrender of Nazi forces here eight decades ago. Chris Brown, CBC News in Appledorn. Russia and other post-Soviet states will mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War next weekend. To allow for celebrations, Moscow has proposed a three-day ceasefire with Ukraine, an offer that Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's president, is rebuffing, saying he'll only agree to a truce if it lasts for a month. Many Ukrainians who have been displaced by Russia's invasion use apps like Instagram or TikTok to help stay connected to their home country.

But that can also lead to doom scrolling and mental health struggles. That's explored in a new documentary called The Longer You Bleed. I'm just like scrolling it and it's like next, next. I'm feeling that like I'm a bit dead inside. I don't know. It's like I'm not so sensitive anymore, you know. It's one of four films included in the Made in Exile category at this year's Hot Docs Film Festival in Toronto, which also features documentaries from Gaza, Sudan and Afghanistan. Makti Gabri-Solasa spoke to some of the filmmakers for this story. Waves of joy and heartbreak all captured in the documentary Khartoum.

It spotlights five Sudanese citizens and the shattering effects of war. It was the only chance that we can make a cinematic civilian voice that represents the struggle and the resilience of the Sudanese people. Taimia Mohammed Ahmed is one of five directors of the documentary. After war broke out in 2023, the film's participants and the cinematic team were forced to flee the country. Yet with the help of creative tools like green screens and animation they finished the film, landing a spot

on Hot Doc's new made in exile category. You know we are watching so many things erupt around the world right now. Heather Haynes is the film festival's director of programming. More and more people are having to flee their countries because of war and displacement. So I think having a program that focuses on these very issues is urgent right now.

With the ongoing conflict in Gaza, Arib Zairer felt the urgency to finish her film Yala Parkour. Over 10 years, she followed the lives of Ahmed and his friends, who took part in the sport, flipping and leaping from bombed out buildings. For Ahmed his talent proved to be a way out of Gaza to a life in Sweden. My full attention was showing how they treat with the conditions in Gaza. How they have this spirit that I eventually ended up calling the Palestinian spirit that reminded me of my mom.

A desperate need to reveal complicated truths was also a driving force for the filmmakers behind The Longer You Bleed. The doc explores the endless stream of war images on social media and its toll on young displaced Ukrainians. I'm just watching through my iPhone. Living in Berlin after leaving Ukraine, Lubov Duvak, the producer, said making the documentary proved to be therapeutic. It gave me this feeling that I'm not alone in this, like it has like this feeling of unity which is I think very very crucial

for mental sanity and for survival. While Hot Docs says it's delighted with the success of this year's made in exile programming the future of the category remains unknown. Makda Gebre-Selasa, CBC News, Toronto. For one family in Ontario a decades-long battle to reclaim the remains of a loved one is over. Percy Onabigan was taken from his home as a boy and sent to residential school. He lived and died hundreds of kilometres from his family.

Sarah Law tells us about his long journey back home. It was just hard to believe that we were actually here and that, you know, this day has finally come. Claire Onabagon is Percy Onabagon's niece. She has spent the last 20 years tracking how her uncle ended up going from St. Joseph's Indian Residential School in Thunder Bay to a cemetery in Woodstock, Ontario. Through her research, they found out he died at the Ontario Hospital when he was 27 of tuberculosis. There was always this gap or something missing. The rest of our uncles were and our aunts, they were so much a part of our lives and Percy should have been there. Because Onabagon died when he was an adult, not a child, the family did not qualify for federal funding to repatriate his remains. After CBC News shared

Onabagon's story in the fall, the Ontario government offered to cover the costs. story in the fall, the Ontario government offered to cover the costs. And the Shnaabak Nation's Grand Chief, Linda Daboske, pushed for the province to support the family. What was shared with me was the struggle of Canada and Ontario not helping. Canada in our view has an ethical, moral, moral and fiduciary obligation to help repatriate our ancestors who were taken to residential schools without the consent of their parents. Seven family members and a pipe carrier traveled more than 1200 kilometers from their first nation to Woodstock for the Exhumation.

A traditional ceremony was held, something Onabagwan never had when he died. Riley Taylor is Claire Onabagwan's granddaughter. Seeing all the support from everybody else, that people saw our cause for once and they wanted to help and they recognized that it was important because it is important." Percy Onabagon's remains will be examined by Ontario's Forensic Pathology Service in Toronto. Percy's relative John Onabagon says he hopes other families can get the same kind of support to bring their loved ones home. With all the support we had, it was made possible. So if we can do it, daughter families can do it too. The Onabagans plan to rebury Percy in Lone Lake 58 this summer.

Sarah Law, CBC News, Woodstock, Ontario. Ontario. You're listening to Your World Tonight from CBC News. And if you want to make sure you never miss one of our episodes, follow us on Spotify, Apple, wherever you get your podcasts. Just find the follow button and lock us in. The Ottawa charge has clinched a spot in the PWHL playoffs after beating the Toronto Scepters 2-1 in overtime in their last game of the regular season. Three Canadian teams are now in the running for the Walter Cup, Toronto, Ottawa and the Montreal Victoire. The PWHL playoffs begin

Wednesday. Now, whether it's hockey, basketball or soccer, there's no doubt that professional women's sports leagues are enjoying unprecedented growth. But as Jamie Strashen tells us, profitability is another story. Jamie Strashen tells us, profitability is another story. This is not a moment for someone like myself who's worked in this business for quite a long time and has spent 12 to 15 years already working in women's sports. Amy Scheer, the PWHL's vice president of business operations, wants to make one thing clear. We've been working towards this for a really long time. Sheer was in Vancouver this week to announce the PWHL's plan to add a seventh franchise there, another piece of the continued whirlwind growth of women's professional sport here in Canada that includes a new domestic soccer league and soon a WNBA franchise. Across North America, leagues have grown

fan bases, attracted new fans and generated record franchise fees, but there's work to do to ensure women's professional sports teams become profitable. It's our responsibility to build this league and to be fiscally responsible both on the revenue and expense side. We would like to be profitable and we will get there. Haley Rosen, a former NCAA soccer player and current CEO of sports news site Just Woman Sports, says leagues need to move quickly to meet and engage fans in different ways. I think it's just really critical

that the games are accessible, that it's easy to be a fan, but that we're building this culture online that people can engage in the highlights. You know, see what's going on with their favorite athletes. Be a part of the cultural zeitgeist.

Like I don't think it's critical that these games are on tv. Sheer sa something that we spend a understand social media, of being in the conversat and Rosen also agree wom We have more fans entering the space they're asking for this you know louder and louder and so not only do I think it can support it but I think we need to get there quickly as an industry. All of these key tools to grow and entrench the excitement around women's sports to ensure that

the strength and skills seen on the pitch, ice and court is reflected in the bottom line. Jamie Strash in CBC News, Toronto. Welcome to my weather centre here in CBC. This is where you'll find me five days of the week, Monday to Friday, preparing my forecast for you. And while the weather in Atlantic Canada may be inconstant, the man who told people about it was a steady hand. Peter Cote was a forecaster for more than five decades.

His son says he has died. Cote's passion for weather began in an unlikely place, a career day at his Halifax High School where he heard about job shadowing at the CBC. Other students were into camera operating or TV presenting, It is Halifax High School where he heard about job shadowing at the CBC. Other students were into camera operating or TV presenting, but Peter had another idea, as he told CBC's Amy Smith. When I got to meteorologist, none of us knew what a meteorologist was, you see.

But I was smart enough to know that it might mean a day out of school. So I said, oh, surrrived. That's exactly what I want to do. I always wanted to be a meteorologist. He'd go on to set a Guinness World Record for longest career for a weather forecaster in 2013, though it was later surpassed. Over the years, the job changed, he told CBC's Heather Hiscox when he retired in 2016. As a start, we had a pen and ink.

We used to have to plot our own weather maps and then after we plotted all the weather maps we'd sit down and analyze the weather maps and then from that analysis we would attempt to make up a forecast for the future. Eventually computers would help with some of those maps and code would be there to warn maritime about significant and even destructive weather events like 2003's deadly Hurricane Juan. A lot of maritime is unfortunately believe that all weather travels from west to east so they're watching the Boston weather stations and a lot of them were surprised because they

weren't didn't know that it was coming up directly from the south. The Americans had no interest in Hurricane Juan because it wasn't going to affect them. So to some Maritimers, it was a surprise. But to those that listened to me and my station at that time from Thursday, we knew that it was coming. Peter Codes' son tells CBC News he had Alzheimer's and had been hospitalized since November. He was 82 years old.

This has been Your World Tonight for Saturday, May 3rd. I'm Stephanie Scanderis. Thank you for being with us. Good night. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.