Canada to Claim Stellantis, GM Owe Hundreds of Millions to Government

By Paul Vieira

OTTAWA--Canada estimates that officials will aim to recover "hundreds of millions of dollars" from Stellantis and General Motors after the companies scaled back production in the country, Industry Minister Melanie Joly said Tuesday.

She told reporters she would provide more details in the coming days. Canadian officials and representatives from Stellantis have been in talks since at least November after the automaker said it would shift production of the Jeep Compass from a factory in Brampton, Ontario, to Illinois. Earlier this decade, Canada provided the equivalent of just over 1 billion Canadian dollars, or the equivalent of $731 million, to the automaker to reconfigure the Brampton plant and maintain production in Canada.

"A lot of our support was linked to production, and therefore if there was no production, obviously there was no funding," said Joly, prior to a cabinet meeting. She has previously threatened to sue Stellantis to get taxpayers' money back.

And last week, Joly told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. that she would also seek money from GM after the Detroit-based company followed through last week on its plan to cancel a third shift at its factory in Oshawa, Ontario. Last October, GM also said it wouldn't resume production of an electric van at a factory in Ingersoll, Ontario, citing weak demand. At that time, Joly said she would seek repayment from GM on about C$260 million that Ottawa provided for the Ingersoll factory.

A spokeswoman for Stellantis didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Stellantis has previously that it is working toward securing a sustainable manufacturing footprint in Canada, including Brampton. Furthermore, Stellantis said almost 240 employees from the Brampton factory accepted transfer offers to work at a company factory in Windsor, Ontario.

A spokeswoman for General Motors was not immediately available for comment.

Write to Paul Vieira at paul.vieira@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 03, 2026 11:53 ET (16:53 GMT)