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Ontario Premier Doug Ford and federal Industry Minister Mélanie Joly are calling on Stellantis to produce a new model at its idled Brampton, Ont., assembly plant after the automaker said it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on its potential sale.
Stellantis announced last Friday that it signed an MOU with Canadian armoured vehicle maker Roshel on a potential sale of its Brampton plant.
Speaking to reporters at an unrelated news conference in Toronto Wednesday, Joly said Canadian workers will be protected with “any potential sale of the plant to any other company,” but she’s been clear that the federal government is pushing for more from the automaker.
“We want a new model from Stellantis at the Stellantis plant and we’ll put maximum pressure to make that happen, and if they don’t, we’ll get our money back,” she said.
Ford said he agreed with Joly’s calls.
“We need a model, a new model, to go in there. We have some of the best auto workers in the entire world,” Ford said.
Stellantis employs over 11,000 employees in Ontario, and the province wants to “continue building on that,” he said.
CBC News has reached out to Stellantis for comment.
Industry Minister Mélanie Joly says when it comes to the potential sale of the Stellantis plant in Brampton, Ont. — which had gotten federal funding to retool before the Canada-U.S. trade war — the car maker must come up with a new model for that plant or ‘we’ll get our money back.’
Ottawa had threatened automaker over commitments
Stellantis’ Brampton plant has been idle since 2023, initially in order to be retooled for Jeep Compass production before the company paused the plan in early 2025. It later announced it was moving production of the vehicle model to the U.S instead.
The automaker’s decision to move Jeep Compass production south of the border drew a harsh response from the federal government, which threatened legal action if Stellantis didn’t honour commitments it had signed an agreement on with the federal and provincial governments.
Those commitments included fulfilling a production mandate at the Brampton plant in return for a $15-billion performance incentive from Ottawa and Ontario.
Automaker Stellantis announced it’s moving production of the Jeep Compass from Brampton, Ont., to Illinois as part of a larger expansion in the U.S. It’s the latest blow to Canada’s auto industry since the start of the trade war.
The future of the assembly plant, given the recent MOU with Roshel on its potential sale, has drawn concerns from Unifor, the union representing workers at the plant.
The current collective agreement between the automaker and union is set to expire Sept. 20 at 11:59 p.m., and talks are currently at an impasse, according to a letter sent by Unifor National President Lana Payne to Joly.
The letter, dated Wednesday, said a potential sale of the plant would impact more than 2,000 workers.
“It is incumbent on the federal government to do everything possible to prevent this outcome,” Payne’s letter said.
“The Stellantis proposal to sell the plant to a non-automaker never should have been considered in the first place and should be met with fierce resistance from the federal government.”
