CBC News: The National | Canada weighs sending soldiers to Greenland

Tonight, Canada's wings sending troops to Greenland as Donald Trump ramps up his push to acquire the Arctic island. It's a serious situation and we're concerned. We're concerned about this escalation. With Trump threatening tariffs against NATO allies, Europe is firing back, calling it a dangerous downward spiral. Nobody in Europe is backing down. Plus, as Ottawa prepares to lift tariffs on some electric vehicles from China, concerns about what it could mean for the auto sector here. It just seems to be the start of the potential of an erosion of the auto industry in Canada. And a Newfoundland community is pleading for help over a foul stench some are calling unbearable. The worst smell that you ever smelled in your life. The new damage to an abandoned factory containing vats of rotting fish sauce. From CBC News, this is The National with Ian Hanemansing. CBC News has learned that Canada is considering sending more troops to Greenland, joining other allies in exercises aimed at protecting the island as Donald Trump escalates his threat to seize it. And after Trump threatened tariffs against eight European countries which oppose his bid to take Greenland from Denmark, they've responded with the United Front warning it could undermine NATO. As one EU leader put it, there is a readiness to defend against any form of coercion. The EU as a whole is weighing trade retaliation if Trump follows through with his tariff threat. As Chris Brown explains, it's some of the most forceful public pushback Trump has gotten from allies since he took office. European shock at U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threats over Greenland has coalesced into outrage. I think he has lost his mind. I hope that there soon will be some clever, more clever people in the States who will tell him, no, no, no, it's not going to work this thing. Citing the deployment of a small number of European NATO soldiers to Greenland, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, Trump says eight European countries including Britain will get hit with a 10% tariff on February the 1st. He said the amount will rise to 25% in June and stay until there's a deal to sign Greenland over to the United States. That stark command to accept a U.S. takeover or else has effectively backed Europe into a corner. In a blistering statement, Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Europe will not be blackmailed, while other European leaders struck a similar note of resistance. Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Europe wants constructive transatlantic relations but will not be a vassal. Italy's Giorgia Maloney said imposing sanctions is a mistake, while France's President Emmanuel Macron said no intimidation or threat will influence us. And Britain's Keir Starmer wrote applying tariffs on allies for pursuing the collective security of NATO allies is completely wrong. Europe-friendly U.S. politicians were just in Denmark saying Trump needs to give up on his Greenland idea. But on the Sunday U.S. TV shows, key allies refused to criticize him. I believe that the Europeans will understand that this is best for Greenland, best for Europe and best for the United States. The Europeans believe the Americans have put them in a position with no obvious off-ramp because Greenland's self-determination is not something they can compromise on. Ian. And Chris, EU ambassadors met tonight but seem to be moving cautiously on their response. Well, for the moment, they're actually not going to do anything. They're going to wait to see if Donald Trump goes ahead with these tariffs on February 1st. And after that, they have a couple of options. They could bring in their own tariffs as retaliation or they could hit U.S. businesses in Europe with other restrictions, particularly tech companies. But both of those measures would be escalations and that is something the European Union is trying to avoid. Ian. Chris Brown in London. While Europe plans its response to the U.S. threat, Ottawa is, as we mentioned, weighing a ramp-up of Canadian troops. Prime Minister Mark Carney is in Qatar continuing to look for new trade partnerships. But as Ashley Burke shows us, Greenland was still top of mind. Fanfare for the first sitting Canadian prime minister to visit Qatar. Mark Carney back in the Middle East for the second time in months. The streets of Doha lined and lit up with maple leaves as he tries to deepen ties with another country outside of the U.S. To launch this new chapter in our relationship, I'm pleased to announce that Qatar has committed to make significant strategic investments in Canada's nation-building projects. Those Qatari investments aimed at clean energy, AI and defence industries. But no details, dollar figure or timeline, and more questions about once again doing business with another country facing human rights complaints right after a deal with China. Canada is always true to its values. And that remains true with whomever you engage around the world. And at the same time, you can develop commercial trading relationship, investment relationship. As Carney travels around the world trying to make Canada less reliant on its southern neighbour, the prime minister says he's worried about Trump's latest threat to use tariffs against other European allies resisting his takeover of Greenland. It's a serious situation and we're concerned. We're concerned about this escalation, to be absolutely clear. Two sources tell CBC News the prime minister is weighing contingency plans to send a small group of soldiers to Greenland for exercises with NATO allies. But Carney wouldn't confirm today if he'd send troops. We always will support sovereignty and territorial integrity of countries wherever their geographic location is. But as Carney stands with NATO allies, he was careful to not directly criticise Trump. Carney's wrapped up talks here and is headed to Switzerland on Monday for the World Economic Forum that Donald Trump is also expected to attend. Ashley Burke, CBC News, Doha. The prime minister says he has in principle accepted an offer to join Donald Trump's board of peace. It is tasked with helping in the reconstruction of Gaza. Carney also had questions about the board and he's not alone. The board of peace, this is a board like no other. Multiple US media outlets report the board's charter doesn't mention Gaza at all. Raising concerns it has broader ambitions and may aim to displace the UN. Membership lasts for a three-year term but can become permanent if a member pays $1 billion to the board which Trump chairs personally. When asked about the billion, Carney said he wanted more details. I mean that's one of the, look, the modalities of that, money, how's it going, all these questions. Canada wants money to have maximum impact. It's unclear who among the board's currently announced members have paid or intend to pay the billion dollar fee. The prime minister is also defending his new trade deal with China calling it an opportunity for Canada. He says Chinese companies not only want to send electric vehicles here, they're interested in making them in this country. J.P. Tasker has the details. In Canada's auto capital there is anxiety over what Prime Minister Mark Carney's deal with China on electric vehicles could mean for Ontario's battered automotive sector. It just seems to be a start of the potential of an erosion of the auto industry in Canada. In exchange for tariff relief on Canadian farm products like peas and canola, Carney agreed to lift levies on a set number of Chinese EVs. Leading Chinese automakers like BYD are state subsidized and those low-cost imports could blow a hole in domestic manufacturing says Windsor's mayor. There has to be a guardrail that if we're going to allow the sale of 45,000 EV cars from China every year it has to come with some job guarantee at some point. Now a suggestion from Carney those jobs could be coming. He says Chinese car companies are signaling they could set up shop in Canada. I do know there's interest because we've had direct conversations directly from the Chinese companies. If it happens Canada could become the first country in North America to build an EV with Chinese knowledge. It's an opportunity for Ontario workers opportunity for Canada done in a controlled way. While there is concern in Ontario in Saskatchewan canola farmers are celebrating. China is lifting tariffs that have suppressed canola prices. We're so used to having disappointment in this file that when you start seeing some progress I was ecstatic. Dominic Barton is Canada's former ambassador to China. He helped secure the release of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor detained by Beijing for nearly three years. He says it's worth talking to the Chinese especially if they're willing to put money into the auto sector. When it's going to create jobs for Canadians and have a supply chain in Canada that I think it's something we need to look at. China is by far the leader in EVs. Last week U.S. President Donald Trump said America doesn't need any Canadian-made cars and while he said that before it's put renewed pressure on Carney to craft an auto policy to protect that critical sector. A senior government official tells CBC News one is coming in February and it's expected to include a made in Canada provision. And what would that look like JP? The official tells us the government will give preferential access to foreign car makers who manufacture vehicles in Canada. It's a protectionist policy that sounds similar to what Trump himself is pursuing stateside. While the details are still being sketched out it could include Canada slapping tariffs on foreign-made vehicles if a car company has no manufacturing presence here at home. Ian? JP Tasker in Ottawa. In southern Spain at least 21 people are dead and dozens are injured after two high-speed trains collided. A train traveling from Malaga to Madrid derailed jumping onto a neighbouring track slamming into a second train going in the opposite direction. On one of the trains at least 300 people were believed to be on board. The cause of this still not known. Chile has declared a state of catastrophe as more than 20 wildfires tear through the country's south. At least 18 people have died and thousands have been forced to evacuate. Officials say at least 250 homes have been destroyed. So far the country has seen extreme heat and high winds since the start of the year. Hundreds of U.S. soldiers are on standby tonight for possible deployment to Minnesota. The Trump administration is considering calling in reinforcements for its controversial immigration crackdown. I'm crawling now with how people there are responding and the growing political fallout. Bitter January cold in Minneapolis and bitter sentiment toward the continued immigration enforcement push in this city. More than 2,000 officers from ICE and other federal agencies currently in Minnesota could soon be joined by 1,500 military personnel. Two battalions of army paratroopers stationed in Alaska have been ordered to prepare to deploy to the state after the U.S. president threatened to invoke the insurrection act over the anti-ICE protests. How will you respond if those troops are in fact deployed? That would be a shocking step. The purpose here is to intimidate. In Minneapolis, we're not going to be intimidated. For Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, soldiers in the streets is not the only threat on his mind. He and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz face a Department of Justice investigation into whether they conspired to interfere with immigration enforcement. You saw the governor and the mayor actively encouraging, encouraging criminals to go out on the street and impede ICE. That is not allowed under our law. When we did these operations in other cities across the country, we didn't see this kind of violence. The elected leaders and Mayor Frey is allowing that to happen. Critics accuse the Trump administration of exaggerating the level of violence in Minnesota's anti-ICE protests. On Saturday, demonstrators clashed with a right-wing influencer who tried to hold a rally in favor of the immigration crackdown. The Trump administration says its enforcement efforts are targeted at deporting violent criminals. The latest figures from Homeland Security show that nearly one-third of the people in custody in the nationwide immigration sweep have neither been convicted of nor charged with a crime. Mike Crowley, CBC News, Washington. Ottawa's gun buyback opens tomorrow. Owners of banned firearms have until the end of March to sign up. The program offers compensation for turning in or deactivating certain guns. But not all provinces are on board. Sam Sampson now with the rollout and the pushback. The law. Ottawa says its gun buyback program will make Canada safer. These are firearms designed for war, for killing people. They have no place in our communities. Starting Monday, gun owners have until the end of March to apply to surrender or deactivate their banned firearms for cash. Since 2020, Ottawa has reclassified 2,500 guns as illegal. Many on the list are semi-automatic weapons. Handguns are more used to commit crimes than semi-automatic rifles. That being said, those rifles are used by mass killers, as in Port-a-Pique, for example, or Polytechnique. A trial last year saw 25 guns collected on Cape Breton Island when officials expected 200. Ottawa says it learned from that, making registration easier and extending the application window. With almost $250 million set aside, Ottawa believes it can compensate about 136,000 collected firearms. But several provinces are not on board. Both Ontario and Manitoba say they won't give provincial resources to the program. If we're looking at taking away weapons from criminals, from people who are causing violence in our streets, I'm all for that. But this program doesn't look like it's going to achieve that. The buyback program will run everywhere except Saskatchewan and Alberta. Those provinces amended laws to avoid administering the program. Canadians there can still sign up, but there's no guarantee they'll be included. The magazines are in here. Some gun owners say Ottawa is punishing law-abiding citizens. You are taking personal property that they have worked hard to buy and just said to them, you can't have that anymore. Nobody's committing a crime with them, so why do we have to give them up? Ottawa is reminding Canadians, though, that these banned firearms must be disposed of before the end of October. If you're found with one after that, you could face criminal charges. Sam Sampson, CBC News, Edmonton. Leaders of the northern B.C. First Nation say it suffered a tremendous loss after a fire destroyed the community school. It happened yesterday morning in the Blueberry River First Nation. Police and firefighters arrived to find the building engulfed in flames. The community is about 80 kilometres northwest of Fort St. John. No one was injured. The school also served as a place for gatherings, including funerals. In a small Newfoundland community, a stench is getting even worse after wind damaged an abandoned building, exposing the rotting fish inside. It's prompting health and environmental concerns. Julia Israel shows us the renewed calls for help. Ferocious winds ripping the southern coast of Newfoundland are airing out a toxic issue long left shut. Rotten fish is what it is. It's just a sour, awful smell. A nauseating smell cloaks the rural town of St. Mary's. The abandoned fish sauce plant here has caused strife since it was built in the 80s. Winds this week tore off the plant's wall, leaving huge vats of fermenting fish even more exposed. I wouldn't put my clothes on a lot because the smell will go through your clothes. The worst smell that you ever smelled in your life, times it by 10, times it by 20. A 2016 Environment Canada report found the effluent inside the plant to be acutely lethal to fish. Now with the plant's wall floating out at sea, Mayor Steve Ryan's concerns are growing. We have one resident lives there just about 50 to 100 feet away from it. So we're going to evacuate her tomorrow. And another concern that I have on the opposite side that we can't do much about is the environment. For years, Ryan has been calling for support from the federal government. Why don't they have money to help a little small town in St. Mary's and Newfoundland? We have 307 residents. Like why we'd be left behind by the federal government is pretty disheartening. CBC News reached out to the federal minister of environment who did not respond in time for broadcast. For now, the community is forced to live alongside the smell. I always think of that for that plant. How it took away so much for so many people in St. Mary's. Kids couldn't play up on the field from times because there's too much of a stench and the stink. Unless you live here, you don't get it. You really don't get it. A statement from the provincial environment minister says the department is committed to cleaning up the site and it will be on the ground Monday morning to focus on the next steps. With another windstorm expected, there may be more damage to come. Julia Israel, CBC News, St. Mary's, Newfoundland. Some Canadians with service dogs say they're wrongfully being turned away when attempting to catch a ride with Uber. You feel like a failure somehow and somehow it's my fault. How the company is responding. Has craft beer peaked? The growth phase of the industry is over. Why some brewers are being forced to turn off the taps. And lessons by Kawhi Leonard. I could see the kids like eyes light up when they were looking at him. We're back in two. The mood is something I've sort of taken for granted. Now I've been staring at it a lot more and I think others are going to join us in staring at the moon a lot more as there are humans flying around the far side. That's Canadian astronaut and Artemis 2 specialist Jeremy Hansen this weekend as the first crewed mission to the moon's orbit in more than 50 years prepares for launch. The rocket's sliding into position. The earliest launch window is next month and I'll be hosting special coverage live from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida when that happens. Uber drivers are being called out by people who rely on service dogs. CBC's GO Public team spoke with several who say their animals have been refused by some drivers even though that is against the law. Sophia Harris has their story and the company's response. Good boy. Let's go. Salome Solomon is legally blind so she relies on two things to get around. Her guide dog Zurich and Canada's dominant rideshare service Uber. You don't want to take me in? Okay I'm gonna send this video to Uber. But Solomon says she's routinely turned away by Uber drivers who won't let Zurich in their car. My it's it's it's a service dog. Every rejection breaks you down. So for me it's it basically hits deep like it's like a dagger to my heart. In Canada people with disabilities have a legal right to travel with a service animal which Uber acknowledges in its own policy. But several riders told CBC's GO Public Uber drivers sometimes reject them. You feel like a failure somehow and somehow it's my fault because I'm disabled and I'm not good enough to be treated like everyone else. James Wilkinson's service dog Beau helps him cope with his autism. On the day CBC interviewed him one Uber driver picked him up but a second cancelled his ride home. You were walking across the street and the car drove away? Yeah it's happened so many times that it's just wow there goes another one. This disability advocate says inaccessible transport is a systemic problem in Canada and Uber needs to do better. Imagine the indignity of being told that your needs are not valid. We need people to be driving who are open and understanding of their obligations fundamentally. You can't deny me access. We showed Solomon's videos to Uber. It's humiliating, it's painful and it's completely unacceptable. The only acceptable ride refusal number is zero and that's the number that we're working to get to. Uber says it has taken concrete action to combat the problem like driver education, enhanced technology and banning drivers who break the rules. But the company admits its work isn't done because some riders are still being left at the curb. Sophia Harris, CBC News, Vancouver. Our GoPublic stories come from you. If you have a tip for the team to investigate send an email to gopublic at cbc.ca. An independent Canadian artist is vying for a Grammy alongside some of music's biggest icons. I can't really compete against the profile of the artist that you just named so I have to do it like a Canadian. How she got here and who she's up against. Plus new research led those trained to enter the eye of hurricanes give new insight into big storms in Canada. They have their hurricane mission but during the winter we have atmospheric rivers across the Pacific of course and they can be really helpful. The National breaks down the stories shaping our world, next. Who needs two skis to stick the landing? Not Matthijs Fenser. The Austrian freestyler lost a ski Saturday while launching off the ramp. He made three full rotations in the air then landed successfully on his one remaining ski. This spectacular move clinched a second place finish for Fenser at a free ski world cup event in Switzerland. The craft beer craze of the last few years may be slowing down. The industry's hurting and the number of Canadian breweries declining. Paula Dehachig looks at why. This beer maker says in his industry change is brewing. We've seen it across the board whether it's changing in drinking styles or just where the economy's at. We're definitely sales are down. In a five-year period the number of breweries in Canada climbed to more than 1100. But that number has flattened and last year shrank by nearly three percent according to this analyst. Seeing an end to that growth in and of itself the signal that the phase the growth phase of the industry is over. Some say it was bound to happen eventually. For years and years we saw this massive expansion that happened really really quickly within the industry and with that came a lot of new entrants and not a lot of whom had really long-term business models. Tastes and habits are also changing. Beer Canada says sales across the industry are down and it says younger generations aren't drinking the way their parents did. I know anecdotally a lot of the people that I knew actually stopped drinking altogether including myself. This former brewery owner is back to working in finance after closing his doors in 2025. He says the decision was driven by a combination of factors bad timing, funding challenges and a change in their core customer. We just had to cut our losses and unfortunately learn from it and move on. What COVID did I think has changed people's entertainment habits. And so what it's meant for breweries is they've had to work much harder to get bums in chairs. He says breweries are still finding success by learning to branch out. Obviously when we see the customer's taste change that's like a big one for us and number one so you know we had to re-evaluate what products we're making what beers are going at the door. These days one of his top sellers isn't a beer at all. It's a craft iced tea. Paula Duhacek, CBC News, Calgary. Now it's time to dig deeper into the stories shaping our world. Trained to fly into the eye of a hurricane, U.S. Air Force crews now setting their sights on the Pacific coast. We have atmospheric rivers across the Pacific of course and they can be really helpful for those. How hurricane hunters could help forecast some of B.C.'s most unpredictable weather. But first Canadian jazz singer Lila Bialy. Now a Grammy nominee alongside some of the biggest names in music. I sat down with Bialy at a Toronto jazz club where we discussed the impact of her surprise Grammy nomination and the making of her album Winter Songs which she describes as a love letter to Canadian winters. You didn't believe it when people said to you you'd been nominated. I it was so beyond fathomability if that's a word for me that it was just for about 24 hours we we just thought we'd maybe been punked. And who can blame her? Toronto singer Lila Bialy may be well known in Canada's jazz community but in terms of name recognition take a look at her fellow Grammy nominees in this year's best traditional pop Vancouver-born Bialy is an independent artist not backed by a big label. So independent that she had to fill out and submit her Grammy application on her own. It feels a little bit like a shot in the dark to say the least and in this case as you might know I had entered into jazz and they moved it into traditional pop and at that point I thought there's no way I cannot break through in this category as a nominee. You're listening to CBC Music and I'm your host Lila Bialy. The musician and host of CBC's Saturday Night Jazz is a Juno winner who's balanced her solo career with stints as a backup singer for Paula Cole and Sting. Winter Songs is her 10th studio release. It was co-produced with her husband Ben Whitman. We met up at the Jazz Bistro in Toronto. Tell me about the moment that you discovered you'd been nominated for the Grammy. Well we were sitting at home my husband and co-producer and I. We had our computers set to their broadcast which was live and interestingly they didn't announce my category as part of the broadcast so people started texting me. There was a separate feed and we didn't think it was real and Ben said you better check to make sure it's accurate before you start sharing and posting. And when you did verify it? Yeah. Then what? Oh I mean in some ways awe is a strong word to use but I had come out of such a hard season of possibly you know not really wanting to hang up my mic but just not sure about next steps a woman in midlife figuring it out. Well you had hit your head backstage at a performance and you had a concussion and whiplash it affected your voice. Yeah. You were performing less you had less of a vocal range than before. You and your manager parted ways? Canadian agent. Okay. Yeah. So I mean the nomination must have been such a turnaround. It really was. It kind of felt like a little bit of a life vest you know musically speaking because music is what I love and truly what I most want to do and want to continue to do but it's it's tough out there you know. The other nominees in the category are amazing we're going to talk about that in a moment but but let's let's focus right now on Winter Songs your album and and what should people watching know about that album? Well it's it's a love letter to Canadian winter. I wrote it at the BAMF Centre which is really my creative home and has been for 10 years now it's where I go to do most of my writing and often just in three days at a time but with Winter Songs I was gifted two weeks at this incredible studio in the woods with floor-to-ceiling glass windows and looking out on winter scenes. So it's like the snow is falling right I'm painting at the piano it's not it's not much at the piano but with the strings it begins to really expand. So you're in BAMF yeah and you're putting together pieces of Winter Songs yeah and then you're sending voice files to your husband? I am yeah so interestingly these days it I don't write anything down until the song I mean it may not be fully formed but I get quite a ways into it before I will write anything down and the first thing that happens is I record it on my voice memos on my iPhone and then I send those voice memos usually I may listen to them a few times myself to make sure I'm happy with what I'm hearing and then I'll send them off to Ben and so he'll listen to these songs he'll import them into his studio which is in our home in our basement and he begins to kind of let them marinate a little bit and he's starting to get ideas and very often we're on the same page once we actually come together in the flesh usually in our living room the upright piano Ben will bring sometimes it's your kit his kit it's like a setup like this and I'm actually about this far away it's pretty much just like this actually welcome to our living room Canada so here we go let's talk about those other nominees for a moment I'm going to throw the names out and maybe you can give me a sentence or two reaction because it is an incredible list Jennifer Hudson iconic first album in 10 years together with Common the rapper I mean she's a showstopper it's a showstopper Elton John and Brandi Carlile also iconic and two of the best songwriters you will ever come across on top of being extraordinary singers and people Lady Gaga the Queen she loves jazz so that makes her you know that endears her to me especially but what a powerhouse singer and she's fearless in everything that she does she is fearless one of my favorites now a new favorite and I listened to her album following the nomination and was quite stunned by what I heard the authenticity they call her the Taylor Swift of mid-century modern music it was my 13 year old at the time he's now 15 who introduced me to her because she'd exploded over TikTok and she's the new it girl and she deserves to be that and I saved for the last Barbra Streisand well I already used the word queen for Lady Gaga but I have the feeling that's what Lady Gaga would say about Barbra Streisand she's the OG she's the goat she's the greatest of all time I'm not saying this you said it on Instagram you're kind of the underdog in this category I am there's no doubt about it okay so how does a plucky independent resilient artist compete against these others for the vote what's what's your strategy you know that's a really good question because I have been very daunted at how to approach campaigning and how to continue to make sure that my music is heard by my fellow recording academy members and I think I just have to continue to share who I am as a musician in person my story winter songs and hope that the music the artistry speaks for itself I can't really compete against the profile of the artist that you just named and so I have to do it like a Canadian you know what I mean big no right you know but but but but I think Ben again my husband he said don't apologize that's what I always want to do I want to say this is not it doesn't make sense you know that's really what's running through my head and he says he reminds me you've got to own this you know you were you were fairly put forward and got given one of six spots by your peers by the academy so be proud yeah so I have to be careful not to hide it under a bushel as they say it's a beautiful album and one of the nice things about this nomination is that people will discover it and I mean I discovered it because of the nomination and I'm so glad I did because it's a it's a it's a beautiful thing to listen to sting is one of the many artists who are doing duets with Barbara Streisand on her album and and you worked with him you know he's a friend of yours he is I mean it feels bold to say that but he's so kind and you know we've now known one another for what is it now 16 years and he is a musician's musician and working with him like it was like getting into the sandbox together he's the consummate professional and so ridiculously talented but he just loves the process and he invites all the musicians he works with into the process and then yeah we remained we've remained friends we've continued to work together just here and there and I actually texted him when I got the nomination that day and he said you've got my vote which I thought was incredibly generous yeah well especially because he's on one of the other I know I didn't even know at that time make us all married did you learn anything from sting about fronting a band yeah yes I did so he was in terms of rehearsals he was the first to show up and the last to leave so never rest on your laurels like always be serious about the music but on top of that he's gracious so we were at his villa in Tuscany um the four singers who were working with him on his winter song let's just pause for a moment I know that's a pretty cool sentence we were at his villa in Tuscany Sting's Villa right and so I whisked off to this incredible estate it also feels like it's grand but it's also very warm and there was one song that was new to me and I was sight reading it and for some reason I mixed up like what I thought it was in treble clef but it was in bass clef and so I was singing all the wrong notes and he just let me continue carry on and it wasn't to humiliate me so he trusted me to figure it out on my own he didn't want to say oh wait hold on and that's what I noticed kind of from there forward in various settings working with him you know people would botch things and would make mistakes and he just always left space for them to sort it out themselves there was a lot of trust so you yell less now to the people you work with after seeing it I was never a yeller I know horse pads grammy night have you thought about it yeah it's it's like grammy day and night it just goes on and on and on between all the different categories and there's a pre-televised segment televised segment haven't figured out what I'm wearing yet but I'll work with a Canadian stylist Joe Jin and I'll be decked from head to toe in Canadian creations no doubt it's only been a few weeks since the nomination has has it changed anything yet mostly my internal landscape you know I just every now and then you need someone else to tell you that to tell you that they believe in you and for me that was that moment so I feel profoundly different than I did prior to the nomination I felt like I was winding down now it feels a little bit like I'm winding up again so yeah well no matter what happens grammy night two weeks from now this is a showcase for all the nominees her album winter songs is fantastic and levy who I discovered only getting ready for this interview also fantastic coming up why an American Air Force program is conducting missions off BC's Pacific coast what was once reserved for the biggest and baddest storms on earth is now being used on atmospheric rivers like this one our senior meteorologist explains how these flying laboratories could protect lives and property here at home that's next US Air Force planes flying into hurricanes to collect data now being used for a different weather threat they have their hurricane mission throughout the summer and fall but during the winter we have atmospheric rivers across the pacific hopes the information they collect will help better predict dangerous weather approaching BC we can see up to a 20 improvement in that forecast CBC News senior meteorologist Johanna Wagstaff breaks down why the evidence the planes collect is so crucial and how it's driving a major expansion of the hurricane hunter program this rain all of this exact rain falling here in Vancouver we're getting more information about these kinds of soakers than ever before with hurricane hunters what was once reserved for the biggest and baddest storms on earth is now being used on atmospheric rivers like this one and it's changing how well we can forecast extreme rain flooding and landslides sometimes days earlier in a way that's never been done before I'll explain for over 80 years scientists have been flying specially outfitted aircraft essentially flying laboratories straight into the eye of hurricanes built to handle the toughest conditions collecting data that satellites can't these planes are piloted by some of the most experienced aviators in the world crews from the US Air Force weather reconnaissance squadron famously nicknamed the hurricane hunters their reputation legendary among meteorologists but these planes aren't just chasing hurricanes anymore they're now flying into massive rain producing storms called atmospheric rivers like this one drenching Vancouver they have their hurricane mission throughout the summer and fall but during the winter we have atmospheric rivers across the pacific of course and they can be really helpful for those atmospheric rivers deliver most of the west coast rain and snow in a year but they're also behind our biggest floods landslides and thanks to climate change some of our hardest to predict weather and that's exactly why scientists are chasing them out at sea as the planes fly through the storm they release instruments called dropsons weather scanners that fall through the atmosphere measuring temperature pressure wind and how much water vapor the storm is carrying like taking an MRI of the storm itself by measuring these storms offshore forecasters can better predict how strong they'll be where they'll hit and how much rain and snow they'll unload and that means earlier warnings better flood preparation and smarter decisions before the rain starts in the western US for some cases we can see up to a 20 improvement in that forecast and then overall in some seasons we see up to like a 10 improvement in those same regions and that's a pretty huge improvement um over just a year period it often I think 10 relates to like how much a model might improve over a 10 year period and these river hunters okay that nickname hasn't stuck yet will soon be deployed everywhere this winter the reconnaissance program is going global flights are expanding into the Atlantic with more ocean buoys and international partners feeding into the weather models the goal is to extend reliable forecasts beyond that one week limit so more time to prepare for atmospheric rivers that are becoming more intense in a warming world the atmospheric rivers that affect BC typically originate in the tropical and subtropical pacific sometimes carrying water vapor from as far away as Hawaii it's estimated they contribute as much as 25 percent of the annual rainfall on BC's coast coming up Kawhi Leonard returns to Toronto you could feel the energy shift as soon as he walked through the door why the NBA superstar was leaning drills next in our moment here's a familiar face for Toronto Raptors fans Kawhi Leonard not only back in the city but also leaving some drills Leonard may not be a Raptor anymore but he was sure to highlight how much the city still means to him and this exciting moment for some young players makes our moment you could feel the energy shift as soon as he walked through the door all the kids turned around and stopped what they were doing and the parents took out their phones parents that were uh you know just as excited as the kids you only really get to see these basketball players when they're there for the game but to see him walk into more of a community-based setting um for me it felt it felt nice when somebody would wouldn't make their shot he would catch the ball and toss it back to them I could see the kids like eyes light up when they were looking at him and they were like oh I got a pass from Kawhi Leonard so it gives the kids the feeling that they're not working for nothing that the the effort that they put into the game it's going to pay off eventually I was happy for my children who were huge basketball fans it was nice to see him back in Toronto we all commemorate the the time of the championship in different ways but as a parent of basketball loving children it felt good for them so he came back apparently for a couple of reasons one is that a mural was being unveiled at that gym to mark not just the championship but of course his buzzer beater one of the great moments in sport but also his son was born in Toronto so he wanted to bring his son back to the city and show him where he was born and where he spent his first few years from all of us on the national thanks for being with us I'm Ian Hanna-Mansing in Vancouver you can join me on CBC News Network weeknights at seven eastern four pacific see you then