Electric vehicles might be great for bringing emissions down, but there’s growing concern among autoworkers that they might not be great for people who make cars for a living.

Driving the news: United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, who is leading the first-ever US strike against all three of GM, Ford, and Stellantis (formerly Chrysler), has highlighted the possible dangers for workers presented by the EV transition.

• “We will not let the EV industry be built on the backs of workers making poverty wages,” Fain wrote in a recent op-ed, adding that “the early signs of the industry are worrying.”

Why it’s happening: EVs have far fewer parts and require far fewer workers to build than gas-powered vehicles, raising the prospect of layoffs and pay cuts for autoworkers as EVs become more popular.

• Ford’s CEO has estimated that it takes around 40% fewer workers to make an EV than a gas-powered car.

Why it matters: The rise of EVs—encouraged by heavy government subsidies—could make auto manufacturing jobs scarce, narrowing what had been traditionally a reliable path to the middle class.

• Autoworker unions—the UAW in the US and Unifor in Canada—are negotiating aggressively with the Big Three automakers against the backdrop of this EV transition.
   
• For that reason, job security for workers building gas-powered vehicles is likely to be one of their key demands.

Yes, but: The legacy automakers say they can’t afford to ramp up pay and benefits for workers while facing stiff competition from Tesla, which is not unionized and is already making EVs at a lower cost than the Big Three.

Canada backs Ukrainian air defence. Defence Minister Bill Blair announced that Canada will provide $33 million to Kyiv for air defence systems as part of a partnership led by the UK, which also includes the Netherlands and Denmark. The funding is part of the $500 million that the feds promised in Ukraine aid back in June. (Reuters)

Tropical storm Lee hits the Maritimes. Post-tropical storm Lee hit Nova Scotia over the weekend, flooding roads in coastal areas and causing mass power outages across the province. While some areas were left with toppled trees and damaged power lines, the storm's impact was milder than what many expected. (CTV)

BMO winds down auto-finance business. The Bank of Montreal is closing its retail auto finance business as the bank continues to deal with bad debt provisions that rose to $81 million last quarter (compared to $9 million during the same period last year). The move—which will include an undisclosed number of job cuts—comes as loans in the sector rose 34% in Q3 compared to last year, accounting for 2.7% of BMO’s overall lending. (Reuters)—LA

Strike deadline for auto workers. Negotiations between Unifor—the union representing Canada’s autoworkers—and the Big Three automakers are ongoing ahead of a strike deadline tonight. Meanwhile, south of the border, the United Auto Workers are resuming negotiations with the automakers amid limited strike action at targeted plants.

Inflation week. It’s that time again: The Consumer Price Index for August arrives tomorrow, and (if the US report last week is any indicator) it could bring with it an unpleasant headline inflation number driven by higher gas and mortgage interest costs. Don’t get too freaked out if inflation ticks up, though—the Bank of Canada will be paying close attention to core metrics that look at less volatile underlying inflation pressures to guide their next interest rate call.

NASA brings back asteroid samples. OSIRIS-REx will return to Earth next weekend, marking the first time a spacecraft has collected and returned with a “pristine sample of an asteroid.” Scientists will study the sample from the asteroid called Bennu, which they believe could contain clues about the origin of our solar system. This asteroid, in particular, is important to study, as NASA says it has a “relatively high probability” of hitting Earth in the late 22nd century.

Did anyone have Tom Hanks filing a copyright for his AI avatar on their 2023 bingo card?

Driving the news: A new startup, Metaphysic, is launching a tool that will allow celebrities to build their “AI likeness” and register it with the US Copyright Office.

• The company made its name publishing celebrity deepfakes, like these incredibly lifelike (but fake) Tom Cruise videos.
   
• It’s now letting users upload their biometric data to “build a portfolio of their most valuable digital assets and AI training datasets over time” and settle intellectual property disputes.

Why it’s happening: Creators of all kinds want to protect their image from being exploited by AI. Actors, in particular, are growing concerned that they’ll lose control of their likeness—a major point of contention in the ongoing SAG strike. 

Why it matters: AI-powered tools that can make content using famous peoples' images and voices are only going to get better. Instead of trying to stop the technology altogether, some creators are instead trying to use it to their advantage. 

• Tom Hanks, Anne Hathaway, Octavio Spencer, and Paris Hilton are all reportedly using Metaphysic already. 

Yes, but: To say copyright law around AI is murky would be an understatement. Even if celebrities register their likeness using platforms like Metaphysic, it’s not clear that AI-generated art is subject to copyright protection.—LA

🥘 51%. Restaurants in Canada operating at a loss or are struggling to break even, according to Restaurants Canada, a number that has increased by almost 40 percentage points from the pre-pandemic rate. 

🔥 410 million. Metric tons of carbon dioxide that the Canadian wildfires have emitted into the atmosphere since May, roughly the equivalent of Mexico’s total emissions in 2021. 

📱 € 345 million. How much the EU fined TikTok for failing to protect the privacy of its young users. The two-year investigation into the platform found its default settings put teenage users at risk.

• A long-lost X-wing model used in the original Star Wars is being auctioned off, and the starting bid is set at US$400,000.
   
• Canada’s best new restaurants for 2023, according to EnRoute magazine.
   
• Meta could release new pair of its RayBan smartglasses soon.
   
• How TikTok plans to challenge Amazon’s Black Friday dominance.
   
• Why Starbucks is changing its iconic cup. 
   
• Watch: How the cliffs around Niagara Falls are maintained.  

What’s that over there? It’s a wild mini-crossword!