Stellantis offers to return C$24 million in federal support
The dispute escalated after Stellantis unveiled a deal early in the week to sell the Brampton assembly facility, in the Toronto area, to Roshel, a Canadian armored-vehicle company. Prime Minister Mark Carney said the sale was unacceptable, and Unifor, the union representing plant workers, called it a betrayal.
Following a meeting Thursday among Stellantis, Unifor and government officials, Joly said Ottawa issued the notice of default on the 2022 federal funding agreement and that Stellantis was on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars. The company has 30 days to take “corrective action.”
“The battle for Stellantis workers in Brampton is one worth fighting,” Joly said Friday in a post on X. “Bringing back the jobs is our number one priority.”
Joly said the government planned to meet with Stellantis global chief executive Antonio Filosa in the coming weeks to “secure a more acceptable solution.”
Stellantis said it will voluntarily return the C$24 million (US$16.8 million) in federal government support it received for a planned retooling of the idled Brampton plant. The company did not say whether it is prepared to defend in court the proposed sale of the plant if Ottawa follows through on a threat to use every legal option available. A spokeswoman for Stellantis also declined to say whether the company would consider reversing the planned sale.
Federal accounting records suggest officials forwarded more than C$220 million related to the retooling of the company’s factories in Brampton and Windsor, Ontario.
“We recognize the disappointment and uncertainty surrounding the future of the facility,” Stellantis Canada chief executive Trevor Longley said in a statement. “While our decision to sell the plant represents a change from the original plans for Brampton, the agreement we have advanced with a Canadian manufacturer provides a path to return the facility to productive industrial use, create new jobs with priority hiring consideration for Brampton workers and secure a long-term future for the site.”
Payne, Unifor’s national president, said it was critical that efforts be made to save the auto industry in Canada and its industrial economy. “Our position hasn’t changed in terms of where this needs to go. Unfortunately, we don’t have a resolution here,” she told reporters Thursday after the meeting.
The Brampton plant has been halted since 2024, when Stellantis began retooling the factory to produce its Jeep Compass, affecting some 2,000 jobs. The automaker changed course last year amid hefty U.S. tariffs on foreign vehicles and said Jeep Compass production would shift to a factory in Illinois. Stellantis in 2023 announced the plant would produce the next-generation Jeep Compass, but retooling was paused in early 2025.
The facility has 2.95 million square feet of floor space on 269 acres. It was built in 1986 and bought by Chrysler with its acquisition of American Motors in 1987. Stellantis said Monday it was selling the Brampton plant and associated equipment to Roshel, with a deal slated to close by the end of the year.