Ontario Premier Doug Ford is expected to attend a high-stakes meeting with international automaker Stellantis, on Thursday, as the province reels from the sale of the Brampton auto assembly plant that could put thousands of people permanently out of work.
Unifor, which represents more than 9,000 Stellantis workers across the country, said the meeting between Ottawa, the province, the manufacturer and the union will take place at a downtown Toronto hotel.
Prime Minister Carney, who derided the company’s decision to sell the idled Brampton plant to Roshel, a Canadian defence manufacturer, emphasized that Ottawa plans to “enforce our rights, absolutely, in protection of those workers,” suggesting an action plan would be the subject of discussion at Thursday’s meeting.
At the heart of the issue is whether Stellantis is obligated to hold up its end of a funding agreement that saw millions in taxpayer dollars being given to the company to retool its facilities in Brampton and Windsor.
In 2023, Stellantis was promised a $1.5 billion joint commitment between the federal and Ontario provincial governments over 10 years as a performance incentive, to revive an electric vehicle battery facility in Windsor and prevent it from being moved to the U.S.
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The agreement required Stellantis to maintain its footprint in Ontario through 2035, which includes the Brampton plant.
That agreement was on top of a billion dollar pledge from both the provincial and federal governments to upgrade its production lines and prepare them for electric vehicles. Ontario pledged $132 million for the Brampton re-tooling plans.
Stellantis told Global News ahead of the meeting that it recognizes that “Canadians expect accountability for public funding and that is why Stellantis has offered to voluntarily return the government support received for Brampton Assembly’s original retooling plan.”
“Confidentiality provisions in our agreements prevent us from disclosing further details,” it said in a statement.
Public records show Ontario’s Ministry of Economic Development paid FCA Canada (now Stellantis) a total of $55.4 million between 2022 and 2025. It’s unclear how much of that was specifically for the Brampton upgrades.
The plant’s sale has also been condemned by Unifor, which said the Roshel takeover will jeopardize the jobs of more than 2,000 laid-off Brampton workers who have been waiting to return to the plant since it halted operations in 2023.
Ahead of the sale, Stellantis workers also voted overwhelmingly in favour of a strike mandate in October, with 97.3 per cent voting yes. Unifor said a strike would be a last resort but bargaining has been at an impasse over several key issues including job security.
The financial terms of the sale to Roshel have not been made public.
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