CBC News Network is turning to Ian Hanomansing for live weekday prime-time coverage as an avalanche of breaking news shows no signs of abating.
The public broadcaster says its veteran Vancouver-based newsman will take over a two-hour slot following “Power & Politics” starting Tuesday, Feb. 18.
“Hanomansing Tonight” will air weeknights starting at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT, and lead straight into “The National.” It will feature interviews and the usual coverage of daily headlines, but its incoming host says he's most thrilled by the prospect of helping viewers navigate big developments as they emerge.
"The one thing we'll be able to do in a split second is drop all that to do breaking news," says Hanomansing, acknowledging a raft of recent late-day announcements involving Canada's contentious relationship with the United States and the upcoming federal election.
"Canadian audiences are showing, just from our ratings, everybody's ratings, that they're craving this. Hopefully a late-afternoon or prime-time program — depending on where you are in Canada — will matter," he adds.
He says CBC News Network ratings rise and fall depending on the news, and that tariff news over the last week and a half brought "huge" numbers for the 24-hours news channel.
"And the weekend — not this past weekend, but the weekend before — the numbers were massive. Even the simulcast we do of 'Cross Country Checkup' on News Network had, by far, probably four times as many viewers as we normally do per minute on that Sunday," he says of the radio show, which he will continue to host.
Citing Numeris data, CBC says 4.5 million Canadians tuned in to CBC News Network from Feb. 1 to 3.
CBC also says one million Canadians tune in to the time-slot Hanomansing will inherit, with the hourly reach and average-minute audience similar to its other programming throughout the day. Its top performer is the 9 p.m. ET edition of "The National."
Hanomansing says "we're not reinventing the wheel," but hosting from Vancouver means the reporting will be particularly responsive to stories from western provinces that often don't get picked up by shows in the Eastern time zone.
"It's no secret that when something happens in the afternoon in British Columbia or Alberta, it's really, really hard for national newscasts...to change course. Our program is going to be able to change course on a dime," says Hanomansing.
He says the show will be guided by an editorial team in Toronto along with a smaller group in Vancouver. It takes over a time-slot held by “Canada Tonight," hosted by Travis Dhanraj, who is on a leave.
"It is going to be significantly different because your host is different, your location is different," Hanomansing says.
For one thing, Hanomansing will roam the set with a camera in tow, as he did for his previous show, "CBC News Network with Ian Hanomansing."
"We used a Steadicam in 2012 on our program in Vancouver, and we are using the Steadicam again," he says. "So you go over, you talk to somebody, and things flow a little bit more smoothly."
The new show will also offer an alternative to live U.S. coverage offered by CNN, says Hanomansing, noting that a lot of Canadians tune into the American all-news channel when big stories happen.
He says Canadians would be better served by a Canadian perspective on issues such as the potential impact of steel and aluminum tariffs, northern sovereignty, and what Canada's response should be.
Hanomansing says the weekend that the tariffs on Canadian exports to the U.S. were expected to begin, CNN spent more time examining deadly air collisions in Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia.
"I remember watching that weekend and CBC was all over the tariffs. CNN wasn't. And when CNN covers the tariffs, of course, they have a very different perspective," he says.
"Something is going on right now in Canada, kind of like was happening in the early days of the pandemic, where people are craving information and I do think that a Canadian perspective is really critical."
He's aware that his plans to deliver the news standing upright instead of sitting at a desk may be seen as a stab at change for change's sake. He's well aware of the public backlash that faced Peter Mansbridge when "The National" tried a similar move many years ago.
"It's weird to me that the Peter standing created such a stir," says Hanomansing, who will continue to host the Sunday edition of “The National.”
"Of all the things we ever did at 'The National' that seems to be the thing that irritated or resonated with people."
He says this is the fourth time he's launched a new show and he's learned that "the basic elements of a news program don't need to be reinvented."
"You need to listen, you need to pick stories that are interesting. You need to have a little bit of fun. You need to be yourself," he said.
"I am, who I am, and a certain number of people have seen that. They know it, and that's what I'm going to do next Tuesday."
“Hanomansing Tonight” will also be available to stream any time on CBC Gem with on-demand segments on YouTube.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 12, 2025.
Cassandra Szklarski, The Canadian Press