Stellantis Offers to Repay C$24 Million to Canada but Government Says Automaker Breaching Commitments

By Robb M. Stewart

Stellantis is offering to repay some of the money that Canada's government wants to see returned for past support, but it won't say if it's prepared to defend in court the proposed sale of an Ontario plant.

The company said it will voluntarily return the 24 million Canadian dollars (US$16.8 million) in federal government support it received for a planned retooling of its idled Brampton assembly plant in the Toronto area.

Stellantis early this week unveiled a deal to sell the assembly facility to Canadian armored-vehicle company Roshel, a move the labor union for the plant branded as a betrayal of workers and which Prime Minister Mark Carney said was unacceptable.

Following a meeting Thursday between the company, the union Unifor and government officials, Industry Minister Melanie Joly said Ottawa has issued a notice of default on a 2022 federal funding agreement. Joly said Stellantis was on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars. The minister has given the company 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."

The minister said the government planned to meet with the global chief executive of Stellantis, Antonio Filosa, in the coming weeks to "secure a more acceptable solution."

The Brampton plant has been halted since 2024, when Stellantis began retooling the factory to prepare for the production of 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 be shifted to a factory in Illinois.

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."

A spokeswoman for Stellantis declined to say if the company would consider reversing the planned sale of the plant or it is prepared to defend the move in court if Ottawa follows through on a threat to use every legal option available.

The Brampton assembly 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 in 2023 announced the plant would be used to produce the next-generation Jeep Compass, but retooling efforts were paused in early 2025.

On Monday, Stellantis said it was selling the Brampton plant and associated equipment to Roshel, with a deal slated to close by the end of the year.

Lana Payne, national president of Unifor, said it was critical 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 following the meeting.

Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 13, 2026 10:45 ET (15:45 GMT)