(0:00 - 0:14) Good evening, I'm Will Dove. And I'm Hannah Bern, and these are the top stories for today, Thursday, June 19th. In today's news, Canada's public health officer, Theresa Tam, has announced her resignation. (0:15 - 0:51) A new study on immigrant populations places Canada in the top 30 countries, and China's auto industry is collapsing as their economy continues to fail. Canada's chief public health officer and national face of the country's COVID-19 response, Dr. Theresa Tam, has announced her resignation effective June 20th, concluding an eight-year tenure marked by controversy over pandemic regulations and vaccine advocacy. Throughout the pandemic, Tam became prominent for directing Canada's health response and for shifting her guidance on masks and vaccines. (0:52 - 1:38) Early in 2020, she initially advised Canadians that masks were unnecessary and could present health risks, a stance she reversed as the pandemic narrative escalated, at one point even encouraging mask use during sex. On the vaccine front, Tam pushed for widespread vaccination, including for children as young as six months, despite a lack of safety data for the experimental COVID-19 mRNA injections authorized under emergency use legislation. In 2022, following thousands of reported vaccine-related adverse effects, Tam announced that the federal government was reviewing all COVID-19 vaccine mandates while maintaining that the public health agency had never explicitly endorsed mandatory vaccination. (1:39 - 2:13) Despite this, federal workers faced suspensions and leave for noncompliance, with 1,084 federal employees, including 27 from health departments, suspended without pay after refusing to disclose or receive the COVID-19 vaccine as per a November 2021 mandate. Travel restrictions further extended federal vaccine requirements, barring Canadians from air, rail or sea travel, domestically and internationally, without evidence of vaccination. With her pending resignation, questions have been raised about the broader transparency of Canada's pandemic response. (2:14 - 2:47) Tam and 28 other senior public health agency officials, along with leaders from the Departments of Foreign Affairs, Health, Industry and National Defense, have reportedly signed a secret oath to withhold information related to Canada's COVID-19 response to avoid embarrassing the government. Recent months have seen a significant rollback of pandemic-era policies in Canada. In January, a federal judge dismissed claims that maskless workplaces posed a health danger as frivolous, signaling the end of major COVID-19 workplace regulations. (2:48 - 3:08) Additionally, Alberta recently announced an end to provincially funded COVID-19 vaccines, shifting the cost of vaccination to individuals. Tam's replacement has yet to be named. A new report reveals the percentage of population in countries around the world that are immigrants, and Canada has made the top 30 in the list. (3:08 - 3:32) In 2024, the number of international migrants, those living outside their country of birth for at least one year, reached a record 304 million, doubling since 1990 according to United Nations data. The distribution of migrants, however, is far from uniform. Select countries stand out as major destinations. (3:32 - 4:02) Qatar leads the world in the proportion of international migrants, with foreign-born residents making up an extraordinary 76.7 percent of its population. Close behind are the United Arab Emirates at 74.0 percent and Monaco at 70.2 percent. Other Gulf nations, including Kuwait, 67.3 percent, and Bahrain, 52.3 percent, also figure prominently on the list. (4:02 - 4:45) These high rankings are attributed to the region's reliance on foreign workers under the kafala system, which ties migrant workers to their employers and draws millions in search of employment, often in low-wage sectors. Europe also features several nations with large migrant populations relative to their size. Small states like Liechtenstein, 69.4 percent, Andorra, 59.1 percent, Luxembourg, 51.2 percent, and Malta, 37.0 percent, owe their high migrant shares to their roles as financial or tourism hubs as well as their small overall populations. (4:46 - 5:21) Beyond these, notable Western countries with significant migrant populations include Switzerland, 31.1 percent, Australia, 30.4 percent, and New Zealand, 28.2 percent. In Canada, international migrants represent 22.2 percent of the population, placing us 26th on the list, ahead of many European countries. The United States, while at only 15.2 percent for share of migrants, hosts the highest absolute number of migrants globally at 52.4 million. (5:22 - 6:06) Europe is the region hosting the most migrants overall, with 94 million individuals, followed by North America with 61 million. The busiest migrant corridor in the world in 2024 was between Mexico and the United States, with over 10 million people born in Mexico now living in the U.S. In related news, data from England and Wales shows that foreigners account for up to a third of convictions for sexual assaults on women, according to a recent Freedom of Information response. China's once-booming auto industry, the world's largest, is facing a severe crisis as the funds powering key car-buying subsidies have dried up in at least six major cities and regions. (6:07 - 6:40) The abrupt halt of these subsidies could bring new car sales to a near standstill in the world's second-largest economy, raising fears of a sector-wide collapse just months after a historic price war erupted among manufacturers. The crisis began in late May when BYD, China's largest electric vehicle producer, which surpassed Tesla in global output last year, slashed its prices by up to 34 percent in a desperate bid for market share. This dramatic move triggered an industry-wide price war, with other major automakers following suit. (6:41 - 7:18) By early June, the resulting deflationary pressure was already being felt across global markets, and Chinese regulators had summoned automakers to industry meetings urging them to halt the price wars due to collapsing profit margins. Wei Jianjun, chairman of Great Wall Motor, one of China's leading car manufacturers, likened the situation to the Evergrande moment for the auto sector, a reference to the property giant's 2021 collapse, which still reverberates through the Chinese economy. The analogy highlights growing concern that the industry is stretched too thin, with profitability evaporating and companies possibly heading toward insolvency. (7:19 - 7:51) The Chinese government had relied heavily on subsidies to boost consumer spending on big-ticket items, such as cars, home appliances, and electronics, to counteract sluggish domestic demand. Consumer sentiment has been low amid a prolonged real estate slump, stagnant wage growth, and rising unemployment fears. According to China's Ministry of Commerce, by May 31, there had been more than 4 million applications for car-specific trade-in subsidies in 2025 alone, clear evidence of the program's popularity. (7:52 - 8:28) The Henan government's official newspaper, Dahe Daily, pointed to widespread abuse of the subsidy system through the sale of so-called zero-mileage used cars, an industry practice in which new vehicles are sold as discounted second-hand cars to exploit trade-in benefits. This led to subsidies being consumed much faster than expected and forced the sudden suspensions. Despite promises from the National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Finance that subsidies would continue throughout 2025, there is no official word on when new funds might be dispersed, though analysts expect the next round to begin in July. (8:29 - 8:37) It remains to be seen how long the cash-strapped Chinese government can continue to prop up the economy. I'm Will Dove. And I'm Hannah Bern. (8:38 - 8:40) And those are the top stories for today.