Industry Minister Mélanie Joly says Ottawa is prepared to sue Stellantis to return the "hundreds of millions of dollars" the automaker received as part of a federal funding agreement after the automaker signed a deal to sell its Brampton, Ont. assembly plant to defence contractor Roshel.
The federal government served Stellantis with a notice of default on the funding agreement on Thursday. A letter from Joly said Stellantis breached conditions of the 2022 commitment by halting Jeep Compass production at the plant, failing or refusing to identify a replacement vehicle, not maintaining any production at the facility, and closing the plant.
Joly’s letter said Stellantis has 30 days to demonstrate it will “correct these conditions” or she will declare that the company is in default of its obligations. She warned Stellantis could face penalties, including termination of the federal funding deal and a requirement for it to repay all or part of the funding it has received, plus interest.
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"Basically they have 30 days or else, of course, we'll sue them," the minister told reporters in Toronto after meeting with representatives of Stellantis Canada, the union representing its more than 9,000 workers across Canada, and Ontario Premier Doug Ford.
"We tried to find a solution for a year, and unfortunately we're not able to and Stellantis has decided to go ahead with its intent of selling Brampton which is unacceptable."
oly said she intends to meet with the company's global CEO Antonio Filosa and the Ontario government to find a solution.
"To be frank, I'm fed up," she said. "This is happening at a time where other automakers are doubling down on Canada and investing in their plants."
Her letter said the transaction between Stellantis and Roshel shows “Stellantis is no longer diligently working in good faith” to resolve the federal government’s concerns since the automaker revealed a year ago it would not manufacture its Jeep Compass electric vehicle at the Brampton plant.
It added that Joly may supplement the notice of default with further breaches related to Stellantis’ sale of the plant to Roshel, which was announced Monday and is expected to close by the end of this year.
“At no point have I or my office indicated support for a sale to Roshel, nor given any indication that such sale would cure Stellantis’ existing breaches of the agreement,” said the letter addressed to Stellantis Canada chairman, president and CEO Trevor Longley.
“This is a clear breach of the agreement, and you were informed that I viewed any sale as a continuation of the existing breaches.”
In 2022, the federal government committed up to $529 million to help Stellantis retool its Brampton and Windsor facilities to produce electrified vehicles, while the Ontario government committed $513 million in provincial support.
A retooling began at the Brampton plant in early 2024, however the automaker paused its plan to produce the Jeep Compass there in February 2025 — one month after President Donald Trump re-took office and began issuing tariffs on imports from Canada and other countries.
Stellantis later announced it was moving Jeep Compass production to Illinois, leaving more than 2,000 workers laid off and the Brampton plant idled indefinitely.
Earlier Thursday, Prime Minister Mark Carney addressed media reports that the federal government played an active role in discussions between Stellantis and Roshel before they inked their agreement.
"Being informed or being aware of some aspects is not the same as Stellantis providing a global solution for those workers at the plant, which is their obligation," Carney told reporters during a visit to Ireland, where he's meeting with European leaders.
He described the deal with Roshel as a "partial solution" for the plant's workers.
"The betrayal is not fulfilling all the obligations for all of the workers. That's the responsibility of Stellantis," Carney said.
"That's the responsibility they made multiple times, including in the battery deal that they signed with the government. We will pursue all of this. A partial solution is a step. It is not a global solution. That is the betrayal."
But Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said that if the federal government knew in advance about the Brampton plant sale, it should have stepped in to ensure there were job guarantees associated with the transaction.
"The Liberals have given hundreds of millions of dollars from Canadian taxpayers to this multinational corporation, supposedly to create and protect jobs. Please tell me there was a job guarantee in exchange for all those tax dollars," he said Thursday in Calgary.
"If there wasn't such a guarantee, then that is negligence on a mass scale by this Liberal government. So it's time for Mark Carney to tell us, 'Was there a job guarantee that we got in exchange for all the tax dollars that came out of your pocket?' And if not, who's going to be fired for this reckless economic negligence?"
Roshel CEO Roman Shimonov has said his Brampton-based company is willing to hire back some of the Stellantis employees who were laid off from the plant when it halted operations in 2023. The defence company also plans to lease around one-quarter of the site's space back to Stellantis for automotive work.
Stellantis spokesperson LouAnn Gosselin has said the company would repay public funds it has received, but declined to comment on the amount, citing confidentiality provisions.
"We recognize 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," Gosselin said in a statement this week.
Collective bargaining negotiations between Stellantis and Unifor broke down in September after the automaker signed a memorandum of understanding with Roshel to target a sale of the facility.
Stellantis workers in Canada later voted to give their union a mandate to strike, with 97.3 per cent of members who took part in a vote last month in favour of authorizing a potential labour action.
Despite the overwhelming endorsement, Unifor national president Lana Payne reiterated Thursday evening that a potential strike remains the union's last resort. The union is not yet in a legal strike position — which would require it to request a "no board" report.
"The strike will come if we need to do it. But the reality is we've got a lot of work to do before we'd be in that place," Payne said.
She described Stellantis' decision to sell the Brampton plant as "the last possible outcome that we would have wanted."
"I want to be clear. The plant is sold. There are, of course, levers that both levels of government potentially could have to reverse that. We didn't hear that that would be the case in this meeting today," said Payne.
"Unfortunately, we don't have a resolution here today, so we're going to have to keep pushing."
Vito Beato, president of Unifor Local 1285 which represents the Brampton plant’s workers, said the membership feels "distressed" by this week's news.
"Of course I'm angry," he said.
"I'm a worker representing workers and we feel betrayed by everyone involved here."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2026.
— With files from Dylan Robertson in Dublin.
