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Stellantis and LG Energy Solution announced yesterday that they have halted construction on a $5-billion electric-vehicle battery plant in Windsor, Ont., “effective immediately” as they demand public funding comparable to the unprecedented sums recently committed to Volkswagen.
Ottawa committed as much as $13-billion over the next decade to VW as the automaker builds a battery plant in St. Thomas, Ont.
The federal government has expressed openness to increasing the subsidies for Stellantis and LG, to bring them closer to what is being offered to VW. Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland signalled optimism yesterday about resolving the dispute.
Opinion: Volkswagen, then Stellantis: Billions for battery plants, but little on mines for raw material
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addresses the media during a tour of the Stellantis assembly plant in Windsor, Ont. January 17, 2023.REBECCA COOK/Reuters
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Montreal fire department had stopped investigating evacuation routes years before deadly fire
In the days after a March 16 fire destroyed a Montreal apartment building, killing seven people and injuring nine, the city’s fire department quietly ended a lengthy moratorium on investigations of evacuation routes. That policy had prevented a review of the building’s safety years before the disaster, according to internal documents.
The documents show that in 2018, Geneviève Tremblay, a fire department inspector, requested a review of potential problems with the building’s evacuation routes. The request was approved by two fire department officials in July, 2018, but denied by a third in September, 2021.
B.C. government to send cancer patients to the U.S. for treatment
With growing waiting times and a backlog for treatment, British Columbia says it will send cancer patients to Washington State for radiation therapy.
Health Minister Adrian Dix said yesterday the backlog on B.C.’s growing and aging population, replacement of older machines used for radiation therapy, and human-resource shortages are the reasons the province has been forced to rely on its U.S. neighbour for help.
A Globe and Mail investigation into BC Cancer last September found that only one in five patients referred to an oncologist receive a first consultation within the recommended two weeks, and radiation waiting times are among the longest in Canada.
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Also on our radar
Ukraine says it shot down Russian hypersonic missiles: Russian President Vladimir Putin had touted the Kinzhal as a world-beating superweapon, capable of taking on NATO. If confirmed that Ukraine shot them down, it would be a dramatic demonstration of the effectiveness of newly deployed Western air defences.
Housing market rebounds in April: Canada’s housing market had a strong month of April as home sales increased across the country and prices rose in parts of Southern Ontario after higher mortgage costs triggered a year-long slump in prices.
Many Canadian children live in child-care deserts: Nearly half of Canadian children who are younger than kindergarten age live in areas where licensed child care is in seriously short supply. The problem will only worsen as the national child-care program, which promises to reduce fees to an average of $10 a day by 2025, prompts increased demand for care, according to a report.
Ontario urged to ban gambling ads: The Canadian Mental Health Association is calling on Ontario’s gambling regulator to ban all advertising for online gambling, saying that evidence shows it has a detrimental impact on vulnerable individuals and their families.
Scientists struggle to understand Sargassum conundrum: Sargassum, a brown seaweed that stretches across the ocean, is covering the beaches of some Caribbean islands. The seaweed decomposes under the hot sun, and releases ammonia and hydrogen sulphide, which can be dangerous under prolonged exposure, scientists say.
Morning markets
Markets eye U.S. debt talks: Global shares edged up on Tuesday, while the U.S. dollar eased back from five-week highs as U.S. lawmakers prepared for another round of talks to resolve the deadlock over the government’s borrowing limit. Around 5:30 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 was flat. German’s DAX edged up 0.01 per cent. France’s CAC 40 slid 0.13 per cent. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei added 0.73 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.04 per cent. New York futures were mixed. The Canadian dollar was fairly steady 74.27 US cents.
What everyone’s talking about
Campbell Clark: “... perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that some New Democrats are gnawing at the ropes that bind them to the Liberals. They are locked in an agreement that underlines the fact that the prime minister controls Parliament’s nuclear option – triggering an election. A minority prime minister can threaten the opposition that if they don’t vote for legislation that he or she considers a confidence matter, it will lead to an election. So the Liberals can slip unpalatable things into a bill and call it a confidence matter. It amounts to an ultimatum. And the NDP is, in the meantime, effectively protecting the Liberals from election threats. How galling.”
Dany Assaf, Walid Hejazi and Joe Manget: “An increasing number of Canadians seem resigned to believing that the next generation will be worse off than us. Like many parents and proud Canadians, we don’t want to accept that. It is not too late for us to change the narrative, and more importantly ensure that our living standards do not decline. It will take time and new focus, but it can be done.”
Today’s editorial cartoon
Editorial cartoon by David Parkins.Illustration by David Parkins
Living better
Food marketed to kids is lower in nutritional value, study finds
New research from the University of Toronto and the University of Ottawa has found that in most cases foods and beverages with child-appealing food packages were low in key nutrients and high in sugar.
Moment in time: May 16, 1929
Douglas Fairbanks presents Janet Gaynor with the first Academy Award for Best Actress, for her work in Seventh Heaven, as well as Street Angel, and Sunrise, at the first Academy Awards in 1929.Bettmann / Getty Images
First Academy Awards ceremony takes place
There was no orchestra, no red carpet, no suspense, and certainly no “slap”: The first ever edition of the Academy Awards was a relatively small and intimate affair whose organizers could in no way anticipate what the Oscars would one day become. Held in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, the private dinner was attended by 270 people to celebrate themselves – though the evening only existed because the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (led by studio honcho Louis B. Mayer) decided it needed to do something other than attempt to stem the tide of unionization sweeping the business. Not broadcast on either the radio or television, the ceremony itself – quasi-hosted by Douglas Fairbanks – lasted just 15 minutes, with the 20 winners (including the First World War drama Wings, which took home Outstanding Picture, as it was then known) and 20 “certificates of honourable mention” announced three months ahead of time. Notably, all the evening’s major winners were silent pictures – the last hurrah of the medium, with The Jazz Singer not even allowed to compete that year because the “talkie” was thought to possess an unfair advantage over the other nominees. Barry Hertz
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