Stellantis announced that it will graciously repay 24 million Canadian dollars in government funding meant to retool its Brampton, Ontario assembly plant. There is just one minor mathematical discrepancy: Ottawa believes the actual tab runs into the hundreds of millions.
Following tense meetings with company executives, Ontario officials, and the Unifor union, Federal Industry Minister Mélanie Joly made it abundantly clear that the government is done playing nice. In a formal letter sent to Stellantis Canada head Trevor Longley, Joly officially pulled the plug on friendly negotiations, accusing the automaker of breaching its 2022 funding agreement and slapping the company with a strict 30-day ultimatum to get back into compliance.
If Stellantis fails to deliver, Ottawa seems prepared to terminate the contract entirely and claw back massive sums of taxpayer money, and Joly wants to discuss it face-to-face with the group’s CEO.
While Stellantis claims the $24 million covers the initial Brampton retooling phase, federal records tell a much pricier story. The broader 2022 agreement pledged up to $529 million CAD to modernize both the Brampton and Windsor facilities, with roughly $220 million already disbursed in Ontario grants.
Meanwhile, the Brampton assembly lines have been collecting dust since 2023. Originally paused to prepare for next-generation Jeep Compass production, the project wentfrozen in early 2025 before Stellantis quietly shipped Compass assembly off to Belvidere, Illinois, in October of that year.
Stellantis announced on November 9, 2026, its plan to sell the Brampton factory to Roshel, a Canadian manufacturer of armored vehicles, with an option to lease back part of the facility. Longley pitched the sale as a golden opportunity to restart manufacturing, though Unifor president Lana Payne sharply questioned why Ottawa waited until a sale resulted announced to bare its teeth.
Caught in the crossfire of this corporate tug-of-war are the workers. The 2023 shutdown sidelined over 2,000 employees, and roughly 1,800 remain laid off today, surviving on 70% of their regular wages plus benefits. While Roshel has outlined its vision for building armored rigs on-site, how many autoworkers will actually get their jobs back remains anyone’s guess. Over the next month, Stellantis will have to decide whether to cough up some serious cash or brace for a full-blown legal showdown with the Canadian government.