Your World Tonight - Wildfires in Canada and Europe, Cancelled expansion of Toronto's island Airport, The Odyssey on IMAX, and more

Episode Date: July 25, 2026

The list of evacuation orders continues to expand as wildfires rage in B-C and across Canada.Meanwhile, Europe is battling fast-moving wildfires of its own. Fires have forced around 300-thousand people to evacuate their homes in France and Spain.Also: The federal government has grounded Ontario's plans for Toronto's island airport. The province wanted to expand Billy Bishop airport's runway to allow jets to take off and land from there but it faced opposition from the City and residents. And: The Odyssey is on a heroic run at the box office. But only a select few theatres in Canada can show the adaptation the way Director Christopher Nolan intended... in its ideal format.Plus: Alberta insurance, Nigeria's investigation into American tech giants, A Ukrainian soldier's story, and more.

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We are seeing significant increase throughout the afternoon and into the evening. And at times it's just unsafe for any resources to be fighting the fire direct, BC continues to battle wildfires and Alberta keeps coping with the smoke. Hot and dry weather isn't helping, but community members are trying their best to. This is your world tonight. I'm Stephanie Scandaris. You'll also hear about the wildfires tearing through Europe, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee in France and Spain. Also on the podcast? The priority is for us to have a place where we can recreate.

Jets are not the priority. After public opposition, Ottawa stops Ontario's plans for Toronto's island airport before the project can take off. As wildfires rage in British Columbia, the list of evacuation orders is expanding, and Canadians to the east of the province are feeling the fire's effects. Thick smoke is blanketing much of Alberta. Stephanie Cram brings us the story. I can feel it. Oh, my God, Millie. A family vacation to Canada, turns out of Canada.

turned into a wild escape. Richard Slade Williams, originally from Wales, had to navigate the fiery road leaving Echo Ranch in Clinton. William says as his family was escorted out, conditions changed so rapidly that the road was flanked by flames. An evacuation alert was issued Friday night for the Thompson-Nicola Regional District and the village of Clinton. That's seen all too familiar for British Columbians living in the area.

stay calm, get organized. This is our third rodeo, so trust us and just go with the flow. Clinton Mayor Roland Stanky says his community faced similar conditions in 2009 and 2017. Now the village is being threatened by two nearby wildfires. We went from the emergency alert to an evacuation order, simply because of the Pear Lake wildfire becoming more aggressive than it. had been in the past and the 59-mile creek fire that is up by Big Bar. It is heading towards the highway up north and there's there's some concerns that the two of them may merge.

But the community is rallying together. Yesterday, Nicholas Kosick, co-owner of Stagecoach Cafe, prepared food for those having to flee. We just had a declaration of an evac order and so now all residents are expected to evacuate and we are making sandwich. And we are making sandwiching. which is so that they have something on the road. To the south, the wildfires in Boston Bar continue to rage. Seeing fire behavior increase as the wind increases and we're still dealing with very hot and dry summer conditions right now. Morgan Blois is with BC Wildfire Service.

She says a variety of crews are deployed in the area, fighting the fire from the ground and the sky. Aviation resources are bucketing on the fire's edges where it's hot and safe to do so to try and keep fire behavior as low as. possible throughout the day. The wildfire smoke now blanketing neighboring Alberta. On Friday, Calgary's Air Quality Health Index was one of the worst in the world measuring at 10 plus. And Jreta Vari said it made it hard for him to breathe. I was playing a pickleball and I was really feeling very like heavy in my chest. BC Wildfire Service says there is no precipitation in the

near forecast, making it hard to say when Western Canada will get a break from the fire and smoke. Stephanie Cram, CBC News, Edmonton. Europe is battling fast-moving wildfires of its own. In France and Spain, fires have forced around 300,000 people to evacuate their homes and burned a record-breaking amount of land. The European Union is now helping, deploying a fleet of airplanes and helicopters to assist the firefighting efforts. Alexander Silberman has that story.

In southwestern France, raging wildfires tear through brush and trees dried out from scorching temperatures. A wall of flames, spreading closer to the city of Bordeaux, a mere 30 kilometers away. Nearly 200,000 people have been forced to evacuate from the suburbs in surrounding areas. Many displaced residents, now sleeping on cots in emergency shelters. I don't understand. I'm in tears because we feel belittled, says 88-year-old. old Nicole Taifel. I took my medicine, that's it. And then I had to leave at three in the morning. Europe is seeing fiercer and more frequent wildfires this summer, after hotter and drier weather

fueled by climate change. Bordeaux-Mare Toma Kazanav says the evacuation is continuing, including for vulnerable residents of nursing homes. The blaze is now at the gates of the metropolitan area. The French armed forces are deploying military aircraft equipped for firefighting, helicopters, drones, and 1,500 soldiers to support the response. In the Gérond region, officials say more than 32,000 hectares of land have burned, three times the size of Paris. In neighboring Spain, the country declared its first national emergency over a wildfire. The country's interior ministry announced,

One person has died in a fire near Valencia. But the country's firefighting resources are more focused on the region of Madrid, where two fires merged, engulfing homes west of the capital. More than 80,000 people have been evacuated or confined to their homes. I had to run from my house. It was a ball of fire, says evacuee, Enrique and Martin, who is now staying in a shelter after fleeing the village of El-Tayette. If I'd left five minutes later, it would have wiped us out.

The fires, moving so quickly, Spanish authorities evacuated the Madrid-area town of Sainis Yentos, the site of a command center, and where the country's Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, had given a news conference just hours earlier. Sanchez, announcing more resources are on the way to help, including equipment and cruise from Greece, Italy and Portugal. Alexander Silberman, CBC News, Montreal. Berlin police say at least one person is dead and several others are injured after a vehicle drove into a crowd at the edge of the city's pride parade.

Police say they're looking for suspects. Hundreds of thousands of people were attending the celebration, which is known as Christopher Street Day in Germany. It is one of Europe's largest pride celebrations. Still ahead, the Odyssey continues its heroic run at the time. the box office this weekend, but only a few theaters in Canada can show the film in its ideal format. One of them is in Halifax, but it meant dusting off some equipment that hasn't been used in 14 years. That story is still ahead on Your World Tonight.

The federal government has grounded Ontario's plans for Toronto's Island Airport. The province wants to expand Billy Bishop Airport's runway, allowing jets to take off and land. Ontario says the expansion would benefit the local economy, but it faced opposition from the start, from the city government and residents. Philip Lee Schenach reports. I'm relieved. Medi She lives along Toronto's waterfront, which over two decades has tripled in population to 30,000 people.

And like many in this neighborhood, she worried about plans to expand Toronto's island airport, known as Billy Bishop, to accommodate jets. But I can't believe that this park, that I walk my dog every day, it will be a part of the airport. I can't imagine how loud it will be. Currently, turboprop planes are the largest that can use the airport.

In the spring, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and the Toronto Port Authority announced plans to lengthen the runway for commercial jet aircraft. They said increasing traffic from 2 million to 10 million passengers annually would contribute an additional $8.5 billion to the Canadian economy. Resident Bill Gerardy wasn't buying it. There's plenty of planes here. The uptrain goes from you into Pearson for Pearson Airport. Expand there outside the city, but don't ruin the little green area. Lakefront we have, don't ruin it for big money.

Federal Transport Minister Stephen McKinnon says Ottawa received more than 87,000 responses to the plan. An overwhelming majority, 87% opposed the changes. Thank you for listening. Thank you for stopping the expansion. Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow says she still wants clarification. from the province about its intentions for the airport. Ontario Transportation Minister Probmeet Sicaria posted to social media that the province still plans to expand Billy Bishop, but he did not explain how it would do that.

The province also passed legislation to take over city-owned land on the waterfront and on the Toronto Islands. What I do want is to have our land back from the provincial government. If you're not expanding the airport, why do you need the land? The province is still touting the best of the best. benefits, thousands of jobs, improved connectivity for millions of travelers, and billions of dollars in economic spinoffs. There is very little support for expanding Billy Bishop. Sanford Borenz is a professor of strategic management at the University of Toronto. He questions

the province's economic benefit estimates. If Billy Bishop isn't expanded, the traffic would be at Pearson. So if the passengers are going to be at Pearson, there's no difference in terms of the overall size of the GTA's economy. Pearson International Airport announced its own expansion plans, which will increase capacity by 15 million passengers to roughly 16 million annually. That would be completed in the same time frame as the planned expansion of Billy Bishop. Fulte-Shanock, CBC News, Toronto. Corporate health plans in Alberta are bracing for impact. Starting this fall, workplace insurance must cover senior staff medical business.

before the province pays a dime. The move is expected to drive up business costs. It's also causing discomfort for public health care advocates across Canada. Christine Birak reports. With these new changes, it does impact how we plan for this. Peter Hurd Walter runs a small business in Calgary. He's worried a change in Alberta law will force all businesses to pay more for health insurance. This could increase costs for employers, which then we'd have to pass on to our clients,

and it can make hiring more expensive and could decrease growth. In a Canadian first, Alberta is offloading primary health coverage for workers 65 and older directly onto businesses. That means if an older employee fills a prescription for insulin, the company, not the province, is now the first in line to pay. I'd be really surprised if the other provinces and premiers weren't watching this really closely. Ken McDonald is with Hub International in Calgary, a major insurance brokerage, advising companies on workplace benefit plans. Industry estimates show employer health and drug bills could jump 2 to 5% on average. Nationally, 15% of those aged 65 and older are in the workforce.

In Alberta, it's 17%. While Alberta's Bill 11 bans employers from cutting benefits for active staff 65 and up, the move will pile on new costs. Whether or not your employer decides to pass on some of those costs to employ needs is really going to be up to the employer. The cost of health insurance comes out of the wages of employees. Erin Strump is an economics professor at McGill University in Montreal. She says employees are now facing indirect risks, like higher co-pays and reduced or capped

coverage for all workers and lower wage growth. Basically, as insurance and health care costs go up, wages grow more slowly over time. Because employers have to find that money somewhere. To manage costs, companies may hire fewer older workers or switch full-time staff to benefit-free contracts. Strump says the changes in Bill 11 are creating a lot of uncertainty. There are a lot of things in here that make me wonder if they don't really conform to the Canada Health Act and if there may be some legal challenges. By shifting public costs onto private insurance, Alberta is paving the way for two tracks of health care.

Some experts say once that first domino falls, other provinces may soon follow. Christine Beirak, CBC News, Toronto. In New Delhi, protesters celebrate into the night over the resignation of India's education minister, Darmendra Pradhan. He stepped down after weeks of youth-led protests. They were sparked by the leak of a medical school entrance exam. A retest was ordered and several people who had already taken the exam died by suicide. The demonstrations grew to be one of the largest acts of public dissent against Narendra Modi's government in recent years.

In Congo, striking health workers at an Ebola treatment center stage a protest, as they demand two months of unpaid salaries and warn they can no longer respond to the scale of the outbreak without more government support. The job action comes as the official number of Ebola cases has reached nearly, 3,000 with more than 1,200 deaths. But those numbers are almost certainly much higher, as health officials admit the disease is spreading faster than they can track. Nigeria is taking a page from Canada and investigating allegations that American tech giants

are siphoning profits from Nigeria news publishers. The inquiry was launched after a petition from the country's media industry. Freelance reporter Kunli Babs has more from Abuja. Spend a whole lot of money trying to produce content, trying to put out news. Journalist Fidelis Umba says it is expensive to produce news. But he says American tech companies are undermining Nigerian news business by making big profit without sharing the cost. And when these news are put online, these technology firms just take the links or the headlines

to attract more traffic to their own platforms. Nigerian's competition regulator is now investigating big techs for anti-competition. It says alphabet, META, X, and some AI companies are all part of the investigation which was launched following a petition by the Nigerian Press Organization. The probe followed an earlier dispute between Nigeria and META. In 2024, Nigeria find META more than $300 million over data privacy and consumer rights violations. METO is appealing that ruling. The central legal issue is whether these companies are simply directing audience.

simply directing audiences to news or commercially exploiting copyrighted materials in a way that disadvantages the organizations that produced it. Media lawyer, Fulusho Adidiji, says the outcome could shape how journalism is paid for and protected in Nigeria. Platforms may need to obtain licenses before using journalistic content, negotiate commercial agreement with publishers, or compensate them when that content is used commercially. Regulators will examine whether generative AI companies are training their models on Nigerian's news without consent, licensing or payment. Publishers argue AI systems trained on their journalism could eventually compete with the very news organizations whose reporting they rely on.

The competition regulator says the inquiry does not presume the companies are guilty, but aims to determine whether any Nigerian laws have been broken. This is about ensuring the public still has access to credible, independently produced journalism. Shagwo Juni is the founder of Africa Eye News, a digital news platform. He says the financial pressure on publishers could eventually reduce the amount and range of original reporting available to Nigerians. If publishers cannot afford to pay reporters, fewer investigations will be done, fewer communities will be covered, and ultimately the public loses access to trusted information. Nigeria's inquiry reflects similar effort in Australia, South Africa and Canada. Canada's efforts resulted in Google paying $100 million to Canadian news outlets, including the CBC.

Why META has avoided paying and instead blocked Canadian news from its platforms. If Nigeria's regulator finds that its law has been breached, technology companies could face new licensing requirements. And Nigeria could become a test case for how other African government responds to the growing power of digital platforms. Kunibabs for CBC News, Abuja, Nigeria. Prosecutors in Belgium say a Canadian woman of Chinese origin has been arrested on espionage charges. She was an intern at NATO's military headquarters and is accused of surveillance on behalf of a third country and of being a member of a criminal organization. Dominic Vilitis has more. Belgian prosecutors say the woman, a Canadian national of Chinese origin,

was interning for NATO at the Alliance's military command headquarters in Mon, Belgium. She was arrested on suspicion of spying for a third country and is accused of being a member of a criminal organisation. Prosecutors haven't said how long she worked for NATO, what level of access she had, or if anyone else has been arrested in connection with the case. There is no indication yet of which country she may have been acting on behalf or what information might have been involved. The woman's arrest comes at a time when European security services are increasingly alert to espionage risks linked to military institutions, international organizations and critical infrastructure. The case could become a significant security

and diplomatic issue. Dominic Volaitis for CBC News, Bristol, England. The cycle of strikes between Ukraine and Russia continues. A Russian attack on the northeastern city of Sumi killed three people, Ukrainian officials say, that attack came one day after Russian strikes on Kyiv killed at least 10 people. Meanwhile, officials in the Russian-held portion of Zaporizia region say Ukrainian strikes on a holiday camp killed 11 people, including four children. In the four and a half years since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began, tens of thousands of Ukrainians have been killed, hundreds of thousands injured, among the wounded, a former hockey player who represented Ukraine, but also spent part of his career in Russia. Breyer Stewart spoke with him and brings us the

of how he went from center ice to the front lines. Alexander Matvechuk sips through a pile of medals at his apartment in Kiev, awards he earned throughout his hockey career, which took him all over the world. Matveitouk spent five years playing in Russia in the KHL, but since 2005, the former left winger has stayed in Ukraine. For years, he played on the country's national team, and more recently, he turned to coach. That all changed when Russia launched its full-scale invasion, and he signed up to fight.

I thought because I've been so long in sports, I'm well-trained and I'm strong, so I can learn it and I can do it. Matt Vychuk said he was offered a coaching job in Alberta but felt it wasn't right to leave. Instead he ended up being assigned to Ukraine's intelligence agency. Carrying out dangerous missions, including those that involved going over the border into Russia. He says in some ways the discipline he developed in hockey helped prepare him. You have to be fast, you have to be smart, you have to play with your partners to score a goal. That's what you do.

Last June, Matvichuk was sent with the team on a mission to help evacuate Ukrainian troops who had been surrounded by a group of Russians. When they arrived, his team ended up in a firefight. Matvechuk was shot in the face. I couldn't see what happened with my face. It was all the guys that beside me, they were bleeding so much also. He was evacuated, and in the past year he's had nearly a dozen surgeries to rebuild his face. When he come to us, the nose was destroyed.

Dr. Lila Omerova has been part of the surgical team involved in many of the operations. This kind of injury gives patients not only physical suffering, mental suffering. Matt Vichuk's face has been reconstructed, but the 51-year-old remains disfigured. He doesn't like leaving the house. I can see people, they try not to show, but I see where they look. For now, he's trying to heal and hopes he can one day return to the ice as a coach. I want to go back to it, but I don't feel free to do it. War is not over.

But now alongside his colleagues. collection of hockey medals, sit new ones, those awarded for his service to Ukraine. Breyer Stewart, CBC News, London. 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. If there is one meme to rule the internet this week, it's the phrase,

the way Christopher Nolan intended. It's a jokey reference to the groundbreaking way the director shot the film The Odyssey and the epic journey some people need to go on to see it in that format because only a select few theaters in Canada can do it. One of them happens to be in Halifax. Ben Dornan has more.

Welcome to the 70-millimeter film presentation of The Odyssey. It's Tuesday night, a packed house in... inside Cineplex's Scotia Bank Theater in Halifax. The screening of Christopher Nolan's adaptation of Homer's epic is about to begin. The movie is playing on hundreds of screens across the country, but for movie lovers, there's something special about this one. Don Mitchell is the theater's general manager.

We're only one of only 41 sites on Earth right now projecting IMAX film. That's pretty special for Halifax. The Odyssey is the first film in history to be shot in time. entirely on 70-millimeter iMacs film. But most movie theaters have pivoted to digital projection, even for movies shot on celluloid. Only 41 theaters in the world are showing the movie on iMac's film. Nine are in Canada.

Halifax's Cineplex is one of them. Okay, so this is the platter system. Film is threaded through this center device, through a series of pulleys. But before the Odyssey, it sat unused for 14 years. It's been, we call it, it been in hibernation. Yeah. Yeah, it hasn't been used for anything.

So luckily we kept it. The IMAX technicians were brought in a few times to do work on the projectors, make sure that it was in top-notch condition. Aaron Larder is a former film projectionist. With film, it was a whole process. You had to put that movie together. You had to make sure that everything was just right. He says watching The Odyssey on film is a reminder of a bygone era.

Even in the quiet moments of the movie, you could hear the projector running, and there's something different about that. With digital, it looks great, sure, but it's losing some heart, I think. Christopher Nolan's gambit to shoot on IMAX is paying off. Movie audiences are hungry for larger formats. Only about 1% of movie screens worldwide are IMAX, but, according to variety, more than one-fifth of the Odyssey's global box office take has been on premium screens.

And that excitement is being felt in Halifax. Mitchell says his theater has extended the Odyssey's IMAX run until late August, and he hopes its success means he won't have to wait another 14 years to dust off his theater's projector. Ben Dornan, CBC News, Halifax. Thinking your cell phone is a goner is horrible. And when your phone has fallen more than a kilometer down from a plane, well, you really think it's over. Just ask Regina artist Heather Klein, who uses her iPhone to take from, photos from a Cessna Skyhawk, while her husband, David Stanchuk, pilots.

It was a great day for flying. So I have a cheesy little lapel case that I stuck the phone in, and David was kind of looking at me, and I was like, no, no, this will work. I'll wear the lapel. Her pictures capture the colors and grid of the Saskatchewan Prairie. Heather uses them to make paintings. In trying to get the shot, well, she might have leaned out a little too far, and the Airstream sucked her iPhone right out of the plane. I was just sick. I was like, can you even get insurance for dropping your phone out of a plane? Like, what do you say on the claim?

Like, I'm an idiot. But the iPhone was still showing up on the Find My app, says David. So let's go home and get in the truck and come back and look for it. Well, the journey took them nearly 100 kilometers east of Regina on road. roads, trails, and eventually a canola field on foot, where they started to hear that happy sound. We walked up this washout into the middle of this canola field, and I think it's going to be, like, buried in the dirt, smashed. But there was the phone, pristine, save for a few canola strands. A lesson to get familiar with that Find My iPhone app, at least when you're on a plane.

And as for Heather, maybe we'll cable tie it to my hand. Here's more foo fighters with Learn to Fly on Your World Tonight. I'm Stephanie Skendaris. Thank you for listening. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbcbc.ca.ca.