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Your World Tonight
Carney’s major projects—part 2, ultraprocessed foods and cancer, the Epstein files, and more
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<p>The Prime Minister has announced the second batch of major infrastructure projects. There is a focus on mining and energy. And that is raising concerns by some about the environmental impacts.</p><p><br></p><p>And: The new study offering clues to a rise in colorectal cancer among young adults—both men and women alike.</p><p><br></p><p>Also: The day after the release of emails suggesting closer links between Donald Trump and Jefferey Epstein, the U-S President is facing a vote that could see even more files getting made public.</p><p><br></p><p>Plus: Crisis in Sudan, the fight for a strategic Ukrainian region, what Canada can learn from Scottish healthcare wait times, and more.</p>
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Their impacts will be amplified by being part of bigger national strategies to boost Canada's competitiveness to realize our country's full potential as an energy superpower. The list of projects may be getting longer, but so is the timeline. New additions to Prime Minister Mark Carney's major projects include mines, lng, but no pipeline as the federal government tries to fast track growth of an economy facing pressure right now. Welcome to youo World Tonight. I'm Susan Bonner. It is Thursday, November 13, just before 6pm Eastern. Also on the podcast, we heard a lot that was bothering them. It just shows that we are listening to what the doctors are saying. Quebec's health minister taking a step back in a standoff with the doctors. After a wave of outrage from physicians and threats to leave the province, the government reworks its controversial reforms. Hoping for a second opinion. And people should read it and think I need to decrease my ultra processed foods as much as possible. Trying to figure out why a type of cancer is hitting more young people. Researchers find potential answers in the snack aisle. It's a bet on big builds. The Prime Minister has announced the second batch of major infrastructure projects that he wants to be approved quickly. There's a focus on mining and energy, but some are concerned about the environment. Evan Dyer reports. The reason for this meeting is to announce the second group, the second tranche of major projects. Two months ago, PM Mark Carney announced the first wave of nation building projects. A mix of liquid natural gas, port expansion, a new nuclear reactor and new mines for minerals. Today, six more projects. By 2040, it's estimated the global LNG demand will rise by 60% and Canada will be ready. A new liquid natural gas terminal the silissims project on BC's north coast will be the second largest in Canada after the Kitimat LNG port. Approved in September, Silisum comprises a new gas pipeline, a new electricity transmission line and a new floating LNG export facility led by the Nisca Nation. It'll also be one of the world's cleanest LNG operations. Kearney also announced approval of new transmission lines for northern B.C. to power further development in the region. And three new mines aimed at extracting nickel, graphite, tungsten and molybdenum in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick. Finally, a new Inuit owned hydro project for Calluit, which currently burns about 15 million litres of diesel a year for power. He says the projects will help to counter the losses Canada faces from Donald Trump's tariffs. The U.S. tariffs and the associated uncertainty that they're causing will cost the Canadian people about 1.8% of our GDP. That's about $50 billion lost from our economy. It's the equivalent of $1300 for every woman, man and child in this country. Those losses will be outweighed, Carney says, by spending on new projects. A trillion dollars of investment in total over the next five years. That's $3,500 for every Canadian worker, twice what the Americans are taking away. The goal, though, is not to spend money, Carney says, but to generate future income and build projects that will spur more development. You know, the St. Lawrence Seaway being built 60 years ago or these railways being built, it unlocks tremendous opportunities. Absent from the list is any kind of oil pipeline. But there's no private proponent for a pipeline project. And major project CEO Don Farrell says the Kearney government wants to pick projects that are ready to move forward. So for many of our projects, they've been in development for quite a while and there's a lot of work as you get to the. As you get to the end of the line and you need to pull things over. Oil is not off the table, however. Carney says he's working on an understanding with Alberta and hopes for progress in the coming weeks. Evan Dyer, CBC News, Ottawa. The Quebec government says it's making a concession to the province's doctors. They are upset and even threatening to close clinics over changes to how they get paid. But even as the government backs off one element of the plan, some doctors are not convinced. Alison Northcott reports. We heard a lot that was bothering them. Quebec's Health Minister, Christian Dube says the government has heard doctors complaints about its new law and is extending an olive branch, committing not to apply. One controversial part of the law involving surveillance to monitor doctors attendance and services. It just shows that we are listening to what the doctors are saying. After months of dispute with the doctors, the government fast tracked the law through the legislature last month. A major reform the province says is needed to improve access to care and help the 1.5 million Quebecers who don't have a family doctor. The changes include tying part of the physician's pay to performance targets. Doctors who use certain pressure tactics as a way to contest the law could face fines. Everything stays as it is today. Come April 1st, our doors will close. Dr. Michael Kalin runs a family medicine group in Montreal and says the law will hurt clinics like his and force some to close. He says his clinic would face cuts to funding and revenue while taking on more patients and staying open longer hours. Our system is dying by a thousand cuts here, and if a clinic closes, it will be a guillotine. It's going to be disaster catastrophic for patients. He says. Dube's attempt to calm the waters isn't enough. What he fails to recognize is that he's already passed the law. So what are we negotiating? We want to sit down with him, but he needs to remove the law. We understand their concern, and that's why we want to discuss and explain. Quebec Treasury Board President France Helene Duranceau is urging the doctors federations to return to the table. It's a big transformation. We need to sit down, calm down and discuss how it applies. The federations have warned the law will push physicians into retirement or out of the province. Since October, nearly 300 Quebec doctors have applied for medical licenses in Ontario and nearly 80 in New Brunswick. It's a very, very difficult situation for a government that's already embattled. The ongoing public fight is a further blow for Premier Francois Legault, already facing one of the lowest approval ratings in the country. Says Daniel Belland, director of the McGill Institute for the Study of the Sense that physicians are really, really frustrated with this situation. So much so that many of them are thinking about leaving the province. That has, I think, turned public opinion overall against the government even more than it was before. The Federation of Medical Specialists of Quebec says it won't resume negotiations unless the law is suspended. The GPS federation is asking to meet with the Treasury Board president directly and maintains the law is bad for doctors and patients. Alison Northcott, CBC News, Montreal. An update now to a story we brought you earlier this week about pension benefits for military veterans. Tuesday, the Veterans affairs minister told CBC News the federal budget included revisions to how disability pensions would be calculated. Advocates criticized the measure, arguing vets would lose thousands of dollars. Now, a clarification from the finance minister's office on the proposed changes, saying they will only apply to the RCMP and not to veterans. Coming right up, the Jeffrey Epstein documents leading to more calls on the US President to fulfill a promise to release the full files. And the humanitarian crisis in Sudan. With millions fleeing a violent civil war. The UN Is warning time is running out. Later, we'll have this story. TV dinners, instant soups and even some kinds of bread. Feed them to our kids, to our teenagers, to our young adults, to everybody. White scientists are looking at ultra processed foods as they try to figure out why colorectal cancer is on the rise among young adults. People should read it and think I need to decrease my ultra processed foods as much as possible. I'm health reporter Jennifer Yoon and I'll have that story later on youn World Tonight. The day after the release of emails suggesting closer links between Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, the U.S. president is facing a vote that could see even more files made public. Katie Nicholson has more on the political pressure and calls for transparency from Epstein's victims. Reporters thronged into the Oval Office as US President Donald Trump signed the bill to reopen the government. Okay, thank you very much. I don't know if you have questions, but there would be no questions. Mr. President, can you respond to these Epstein emails? And at a signing today with the first lady. Not a mention of the story. Dominating the headlines, yesterday's release of more than 20,000 documents from Jeffrey Epstein's estate, many of which mention Trump and confirmation a House vote will go ahead next week on whether to release the DOJ's files on Epstein. Trump uncharacteristically mum before the cameras. But on social media, he accused Democrats of bringing up what he calls the Jeffrey Epstein hoax to deflect from the shutdown and suggested only a very bad or stupid Republican would fall into that trap. My direct message to President Trump is, sir, with all due respect, this is not a hoax. Epstein survivor Haley Robson wants the president to make good on his campaign promise to release the DOJ's files. The cat is out of the bag and the cat is not going back in the bag. So I'm not going away. The other survivors, my survivor sisters, they're not going away. Many, many people knew what Jeffrey Epstein was doing and no one did anything about it. Lawyer James Marsh represents some of Epstein's victims. He says after the dump of Epstein email emails, thousands of emails without context. It's crucial the DOJ files are made public. We need to see what's in the actual files from the government, the FBI, the people that were in charge of preventing this kind of activity, to actually find out who knew what when, who was aware of it and who didn't do anything. Even if the bid to release the files passes the House, it may not make it past the Republican held Senate. But the documents that are public those Epstein emails are raising more questions about Epstein's co conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, who this summer vouched for the President to the doj. I never witnessed the president in any inappropriate setting in any way. The president was never inappropriate with anybody. But in a 2011 email to Maxwell, Epstein noted Trump spent hours with the victim while at his house and called Trump a dog that hasn't barked. I have been thinking about that, maxwell responded. Donald Trump has always denied any wrongdoing in connection with Jeffrey Epstein, a friendship that started to sour in 2004, continuing to haunt the president decades later. Katie Nicholson, CBC News, Washington the need in Sudan is desperate. Aid agencies are warning. Millions of people in the African country are facing starvation with a lack of food, water and health care, while a worsening civil war is making it more difficult to deliver supplies. CBC senior International correspondent Margaret Evans has that story. The lucky ones, those who've managed to make it out of Al Fasher in Darfur with their lives and little else. The testimony they carry a heavy enough burden. 13 year old Mustafa Bachit is on crutches. He lost his leg to an artillery shell and much of his family. His father has managed to get Mustafa and his sister to a camp for the displaced far to the north. How do you feel when losing your wife, children and sisters in the same war? Says Mohilddin Bakit. Our only wish was to live a good and dignified life. Nearly three weeks after the paramilitary Rapid Support forces captured the city it had besieged for more than a year, a news blackout remains in place in al Fasher. The UN estimates 90,000 people have fled. Many more are believed still trapped. So one we are all like trying to negotiate this access. Miriam Larussie of Medecine San Frontier is in Tawila, a town about 60 km west of Al Fasher. Now overwhelmed with the weary and the wounded. The patients that we've been receiving are people who indeed suffered torture, gun wounds, a lot of malnutrition cases. Abdul Rabbu Ahmed was a lab technician at the Saudi hospital in Al Fashr, where RSF gunmen reportedly killed 460 people. The RSF has denied it. Right now, I feel extremely desperate, says Ahmed. I've lost my hope, my colleagues. The RSF now controls much of the Darfur region in western Sudan, its battle against the Sudanese armed forces already moving east. Volker Turk is the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. What I fear is, as we speak, we may see a repeat of it in North Kordofan. In what's left of Sudan's battle scarred capital recaptured by Sudan's army in the spring, refugees from the city of Bara in North Kordofan have been arriving. A young man called Khalil says RSF fighters are going house to house there, rounding up men, killing two of those he was with. They told us you celebrated with the army, he says. We have to kill you all. Both sides in the war have been accused of atrocities, and an estimated 21 million people are now living in acute food insecurity. Despite that, the UN's funding appeal for Sudan has received just over a quarter of what's needed. A forgotten war. Margaret Evans, CBC News, London. Ukrainian forces are fighting to hold on to a strategic city in the eastern part of the country as Russian troops tighten their grip. Talks to end the war remain stalled, suspended by Ukraine due to a lack of progress. Briar Stewart has more on how the outnumbered Ukrainian fighters are not giving up. A video that surfaced on social media earlier this week appears to show a small group of Russian troops in the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk. Some ride motorcycles through the thick fog. The city looks barren and bleak. Maps of the front line show that it appears to be on the brink of being encircled. There are much more Russians than there was before. Several hundreds of them are in the city. We're only identifying this Ukrainian drone operator by his call sign, Goose. For nearly a year, he's had an aerial view of Perkhovsk as Ukraine has been trying to stop Russian soldiers from pushing further into the city. Almost all of the city now is a gray zone. It is not controlled by the Ros side or the Russian side. With skies saturated by drones, it's too risky for either side to bring in large amounts of heavy equipment, which could become easy targets. So Colonel Volodymyr Pelevi says Ukrainian troops make the last part of the journey on foot. Walking around 10km into Pokrovsk, it's very difficult for our troops. The Russians have their advantages, at least in the quantity of their infantry. Polevi is head of communications for the 7th Rapid Response Corps, a unit of Ukraine's armed forces. He estimates that in Pokrovsky, Ukraine's infantry is outnumbered by about 5 to 1. At one time, around 60,000 residents lived in Pokrovsk. Now, 1,000 remain. We do our best to save the life of these citizens, but unfortunately, sometimes it's just impossible. Russia has long sought the strategic city of Pokrovsk. It was a key rail and transportation hub. Russia is trying to surround it. It's part of Moscow's quest to take a bigger chunk of Ukraine's Donetsk region. The Kremlin has already laid claim to the area and now wants full control of it. Gu says he hopes Ukraine can hold on to the city until at least the end of the year. For us to defend it means to break Putin's argument that they are winning. But he admits conditions are hard. Ukraine's top military official says Russia is amassing a round of 150,000 troops in the area for its offensive. Briar Stewart, CBC News, London. The head of Canada's spy agency says espionage teams from China and Russia are targeting Canada's Arctic. Dan Rogers of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service says they are using both cyber and non cyber intelligence on both governments and the private sector in the region. Non Arctic states, including the People's Republic of China, seek to gain a strategic and economic foothold in the region. Russia, an Arctic state with a significant military presence in the region, remains unpredictable and aggressive. Both of these countries and others have a significant intelligence interest in our Arctic and those who influence or develop its economic or strategic potential. CSIS is responding by communicating with indigenous Arctic and northern partners across Canada about what they have seen and to learn from their insights. This is yous 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. New research out of the UK suggests privatizing some surgeries can lead to longer wait times. It compares decades of data from England and Scotland years ago. The two countries took their approach in different directions and got different outcomes. Christine Birack looks at the results and the possible lessons for Canada. I just want you to look straight at the lights for me, if we can. Inside a hospital in Dundee, Scotland, surgeons perform high volume cataract surgeries. The cataract's all the way. We're just popping the lens in now. Now two new academic reports are out comparing Scotland's and England's approaches to reducing wait times for some surgeries Researchers say they could offer lessons for Canada. So we have in a way a natural experiment taking place with England deciding to pursue privatization of services and Scotland deciding not to do that. Alison Pollock is a professor at Newcastle University. She says England began outsourcing hip, knee and cataract surgeries to private for profit clinics in the 1980s, while Scotland expanded surgeries in the public system. Now, 22 years of data suggest 60% of taxpayer funded cataract surgeries in England are done in for profit clinics. In Scotland, it's just 2%. Both countries doubled the number of surgeries. Wait times became weeks shorter in Scotland than in England. But Pollock warns the shift may be having a negative impact on English hospitals. What we found was that far from helping the public sector, the public sector froze as money flowed out of the system into the private hospitals. The Newcastle University report suggests the private for profit route overall led to longer wait times for all patients and increased inequality in access to care. This is a very complicated, complicated problem. If it was a simple problem, it would be solved. Dr. David Urbach is the surgeon in chief at Women's College Hospital in Toronto. What England didn't do that Scotland did is it didn't reduce wait times for the population. Scotland, in contrast, actually improved wait times across the entire population. So that's a really important lesson for us. We have to avoid treating a lot of these decisions and reading of these papers as black and white. Dr. Sebastian Rodriguez is an orthopedic surgeon in Toronto. He welcomes for profit clinics but understands they will draw on the same healthcare workers as hospitals. This brings in a lot of questions as to where we should make investment and how. I think it's something to keep in mind as we open these centers that we don't deplete the existing human resources from hospitals where there's good work being done. All doctors say quicker access to surgeries is a must. But as provinces spend more taxpayer dollars in for profit clinics, Scotland and England's experience may offer a glimpse of what's ahead. Christine Birak, CBC News, Toronto. This may not be the story you want to hear if you're preparing an easy dinner tonight. Or maybe you should pay attention. Ultra processed foods are convenient and tasty, but they're also full of salt, sugar and many unpronounceable ingredients you won't find on any spice rack. They've been linked to high blood pressure and heart disease. Now there are possible connections to a rise in colorectal cancer. Jennifer Yoon has more. You know, you're looking at your 6 year old and 3 year old daughters every day, you know, just hoping for a miracle to happen. Fighting stage four colorectal cancer at 34 years old, Joshua Kliskovic says he often wonders why he got cancer so young. There's little things here and there and of course, you know, you're wondering, well, is this what did me and colorectal cancer is on the rise among young adults, men and women alike. Scientists have been trying to figure out why for years now. Now a new study offers an early clue tying ultra processed foods like mass produced breads, TV dinners and instant soups to early onset colorectal cancer. There's been a marked increase in the consumption of ultra processed food. Dr. Andrew Chan is an expert in the digestive system and teaches at Harvard Medical School. He's the co author of a new study published in the medical journal JAMA Oncology. It tracked thousands of American women under the age of 50 for a generation. So we found that the individuals in our cohort that ate the highest levels of ultra processed food had about a 1.45 fold higher risk of developing a colorectal polyp. Those polyps are the precursor to cancer for the majority of young patients with colorectal cancer, says Chan. Chan says it's still not clear what exactly is behind the link. Some theories ultra processed foods are tied to obesity and metabolic diseases, which themselves are risk factors for colorectal cancer. Or these foods might be impacting our gut health in a specific way. People should read it and think I need to decrease my ultra processed foods as much as possible. Even as scientists try to understand the link fully, some, like colorectal cancer surgeon Dr. Shadi Ashmala, say people shouldn't wait to take action and avoid ultra processed foods when possible. They don't contain a lot of fiber and often have bad fats and and artificial sweeteners added, Ashmala says. But he acknowledges avoiding these foods isn't always possible. They're convenient, cheap and the only foods accessible for some people. That's why Ashmala says healthcare systems should also amp up other measures like screening. We feed them to our kids, to our teenagers, to our young adults, to everybody. That should tell us that the screening ages for colorectal cancers need to come down because some of these factors are controllable, some aren't. Ashmala says preventing early onset cancer will take more than just one action. That includes eating whole foods, exercising and making sure any early symptoms aren't ignored. Jennifer Yun, CBC News, Toronto. We end tonight with one of the most courteous hijackings of all time. A Hamilton, Ontario man who took a public transit bus on a joyride but took the job pretty seriously. So we were surprised. He actually he didn't follow the scheduled route, but he was making the scheduled stop. So he would come across a bus stop and he would open the doors and let people on and off. As funny as that Sounds, Constable Trevor McKenna says when police recovered the bus, there wasn't a scratch on it. It was one of those articulated extra long buses, too, driven carefully by a 36 year old man who jumped behind the wheel while the real driver took a short break at a downtown bus terminal on Tuesday night. About 10 passengers were on board when the man pulled out of the station, but they were relieved to see he still made the stops and even denied one rider whose transit pass was expired. You kept making all the stops? Well, people kept ringing the bell. The incident has led to plenty of laughs online and comparisons to an episode of the 90s sitcom Seinfeld. Thankfully, no one was hurt. Police say they followed the driver slowly for about 15 minutes to avoid a chase because we didn't want to spook him. We didn't want to activate our roof lights. We didn't want to make this a tragedy. We wanted to just stop the vehicle safely and get everyone off. It's funny, but at the same time it's serious. We're thankful that nothing serious happened, but the potential was there a safe and happy ending for everyone else. But for the driver, the cost, it's a lot more than bus fare. He's facing some serious charges, including theft over $5,000. Thank you for joining us. This has been youn World Tonight for Thursday, November 13th. I'm Susan Bonner. Talk to you again. For more CBC podcasts, go to CBC CA podcasts.