The inside story of Ford and the EV battery plant

Plus, cutting screen time for gorillas and a record-breaking wildfire season [Get This Offer]( [The Star] First Up [By Manuela Vega] By Manuela Vega Good morning. Here’s the latest on gorillas’ fixation on phones, the Windsor EV battery plant and wildfires in Canada. DON’T MISS Richard Lautens/The Star Screen time [Humans aren’t the only ones fixated on phones — the Toronto Zoo is cutting back on screen time for gorillas]( A sign at the Toronto Zoo asks visitors to refrain from showing the gorillas photos and videos on their phones “as some content can be upsetting and affect their relationships and behaviour with their family.” Nassir the gorilla experienced the impact first-hand, Francine Kopun reports. “It was causing him to be distracted and not interacting with the other gorillas, and you know, being a gorilla,” the zoo’s director of wildlife conservation and welfare says. [Here’s what we know about the animals’ interest in screens](. - Meanwhile: The Toronto Zoo uses screens as part of its enrichment program for animals. Through it, they’ve learned the hyenas like Disney cartoons, although they’re not sure why. - Go deeper: One biologist sees animals’ interest in technology as exemplifying their need for stimulation due to boredom in captivity. Keeping them stimulated is a big challenge, even if they’re in sanctuary organizations with sprawling enclosures, he says. Canadian Press/ Geoff Robins star exclusive [The inside story of how Doug Ford finally blinked and spent billions to save an EV battery plant]( This spring, Premier Doug Ford said it was up to Ottawa to “step up” and pay the subsidies needed to keep the Stellantis EV battery plant in Windsor and the Volkswagen battery “gigafactory” in St. Thomas. On Wednesday, his government agreed to pay one-third of the cost — raising its investment from $1 billion to $5.3 billion, Tonda MacCharles, Robert Benzie and Rob Ferguson report. [With jobs and investor confidence on the line, this is how the governments finally reached a deal with Stellantis](. - Go deeper: The upside to the story is that the Windsor EV battery plant and its 2,500 future jobs will stay in Canada. But it’s also a cautionary tale: if the money isn’t here, the projects won’t be either. - More: “Yes, I was ready to pull the plug and use the alternative scenario that we always prepare for this kind of situation. It’s normal,” the top executive of Stellantis told the Star. “That’s my job — to protect the company as a whole.” Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck climate crisis [Canada’s wildfire season continues to break records]( Never before have so many people in Canada been forced to evacuate their homes, federal officials said Thursday. High temperatures and droughts from coast to coast have brought about the historic conditions and the situation is only expected to worsen due to climate change, Steve McKinley reports. [Take a look at the record-breaking impact of wildfires and the efforts to put them out](. - By the numbers: With 132 evacuation orders across the country, approximately 155,856 people have fled their homes. More than 4,500 people remain under evacuation orders, 3,400 of them from First Nations. - More: On June 27, Canada broke a 1989 record for total area burned by wildfires. The difference is that the previous record was set at the end of forest fire season, and this time, there were still three months left to go. - Watch for: “It’s no understatement to say that the 2023 fire season is and will continue to be record-breaking in a number of ways,” said Michael Norton, director general of the Northern Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service. WHAT ELSE Former prime minister Stephen Harper is [seeking closer ties with Hungary’s far-right leader](. Men still make more money than women. [This is why the gap has barely budged](. Ahead of the central bank’s rate announcement next week, why [a leading economist is calling the hikes “at best unnecessary, at worst a mistake.”]( After thousands of cancellations and delays, here’s why experts fear [air passengers are in for another turbulent summer](. TTC cell service is coming to subway tunnels this fall for some customers. [Here’s what you need to know](. A suspect is wanted for attempted murder after [a man was stabbed on the subway arriving at Eglinton Station](. [This trans Ukrainian soldier is fighting against Russia]( — and against the misogyny of her compatriots. What we didn’t know about Diana, Dodi and [the post-divorce summer fling that went down in history](. [Here’s everything you need to know about Threads]( Instagram’s so-called “Twitter killer” app. The Toronto Star’s parent company has [immediately suspended advertising on Facebook and Instagram](. Accused of fabricating crimes to gain followers, [a prominent TikToker has been arrested](. [Robert Plant and Alison Krauss put on a magical four-star show]( at Budweiser Stage. POV Canadian Press/Chris Young [Doug Ford is the master of the meaningless gesture.]( CLOSE-UP Chong Family JANE ST. AND EGLINTON AVE. W: Harry Chong tests out a tractor in 1951 at one of Toronto’s first commercial farms specializing in Chinese produce. [Here’s how the family farm thrived, despite the isolation of the Chinese Exclusion Act and Chinese Head Tax](. Thank you for reading. You can reach me and the First Up team at [firstup@thestar.ca](mailto:firstup@thestar.ca?source=newsletter&utm_source=ts_nl&utm_medium=emailutm_email=6C53B63A8E3FAD70AD4EF13004527437&utm_campaign=frst_190286). Andrew will see you back here tomorrow. TORONTO STAR SUMMER SALE Get unlimited access for: $3.33/month for 12 months [Get This Offer]( If you're not enjoying these emails, please tell us how we can make them better by emailing newsletterfeedback@thestar.ca. Or, if you'd prefer, you can unsubscribe from this newsletter by clicking the first link below. [Unsubscribe From This Newsletter]( [Sign Up for More Newsletters and Email Alerts]( [View in Browser]( [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [Twitter]( Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. 8 Spadina Avenue, 10th Floor, Toronto, ON M5V 0S8. 416-367-2000 [PRIVACY POLICY](