Ottawa says Stellantis is in default of Brampton plant funding deal
Industry Minister Mélanie Joly has formally notified Stellantis that she considers the carmaker in default of its federal funding agreement for retooling its plant in Brampton, Ont. Retooling means changing a factory's equipment so it can build a different vehicle.
Joly gave the company 30 days to meet the terms of the 2022 agreement, including naming a car to be built at the Brampton plant. Only after that period would she require repayment of the taxpayer aid, according to the Globe and Mail. She sent the notice in a letter to Trevor Longley, the chief executive of Stellantis's Canadian division.
The Brampton plant was idled in 2023, which means production stopped. About 3,000 workers were laid off while the plant was retooled to build the Jeep Compass. That work was halted after the United States placed a 25 per cent tariff, a tax on imported goods, on Canadian-made cars in early 2025.
Later in 2025, Stellantis said the Jeep would instead be built at an idled plant in Belvidere, Ill., and not in Brampton.
Stellantis and Roshel Inc., a maker of armoured vehicles, have finalized the sale of the Brampton factory. The price was not disclosed.
A heavily redacted copy of the federal contract, obtained by the Globe and Mail, shows Ottawa offered Stellantis as much as $529 million for work on plants in Brampton and Windsor, Ont. Redacted means parts of the document were blacked out before its release.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said he expects more European partnerships with Canada's auto sector to come from Ottawa's relationship with the European Union. He also said Chinese investment in the auto sector will be discussed when he meets China's President Xi Jinping in Shenzhen next week.
