Confidential contract between feds, Stellantis reveals Brampton factory and worker terms

The multi-million-dollar deal at the heart of a high-profile fight between the Canadian government and one of the world’s biggest carmakers contains multiple clauses about the company’s footprint in Ontario, according to a copy obtained by CBC Windsor. 

The contract for up to $529 million in public funding bars Stellantis from closing its assembly plant in Brampton before 2035 — but with some exceptions, including circumstances beyond the automaker’s “reasonable control” that have made the facility “commercially unviable.”

The terms of the deal, inked in 2022 to help Stellantis update its facilities in Brampton and Windsor to support electric vehicle production, have been the subject of sharp scrutiny in Parliament since Stellantis announced last October that it was shifting production of a Jeep model to the United States. 

The move — widely seen as a response to industry uncertainty related to U.S. tariffs — left Brampton’s roughly 3,000 workers without a vehicle to make. 

The partially redacted 98-page agreement, obtained through an access to information request, also suggests a separate $15 billion deal for a Windsor battery plant was tied to Brampton remaining operational.

Opposition MPs have accused the Liberal government of doling out taxpayer money without adequate protections for Canadian autoworkers, while top federal officials have insisted the funding came with firm guarantees — and have said they would serve Stellantis with a notice of contractual default.

The federal industry department, which oversees the funding, did not respond directly to questions about the details of the agreement or the ongoing dispute process, calling them “commercially confidential.”

“The government continues to assess all of the commitments made by Stellantis related to this project, and how those commitments are impacted by the company’s current plans,” a spokesperson wrote.  

Stellantis, meanwhile, has said the Brampton factory is on an “operational pause.” The company declined an interview request, but said in a statement that it “continues to engage with the government in the dispute resolution process under the agreement." 

“We are working towards our shared objective of securing a long-term, sustainable future for automotive manufacturing in Canada, including in Brampton,” a spokesperson said. “The process is confidential and so we cannot comment further.”

In May 2022, top government officials and Stellantis executives gathered in Windsor to announce the original deal. Ottawa would provide up to $529 million through its Strategic Innovation Fund toward the company's $3.6 billion investment in Ontario. 

That investment included retooling both the Windsor and Brampton assembly plants, and expanding the company’s research and development facility in Windsor. 

One of the conditions of the deal was that the automaker maintain “an average of 4,475 [full-time employees] in Canada” during the projects’ work phases. 

It’s unclear why that number was chosen. Windsor’s assembly plant alone employed roughly 4,000 people at the time.