TORONTO — Ontario Premier Doug Ford is expected to join federal officials, Unifor and Stellantis at a hotel in downtown Toronto on Thursday for talks over the sale of the Brampton Assembly Plant.Stellantis has sold the long-idled plant to Roshel, a Canadian armoured-vehicle manufacturer. The facility stopped production in 2023, and more than 2,000 Unifor members have been on indefinite layoff waiting for work to return. Unifor has called the sale a betrayal that abandons vehicle production and job security for those workers.The union represents more than 9,000 Stellantis employees across Canada. Members delivered a 97.3% strike mandate in October as bargaining stalled over the Brampton plant’s future. .Stellantis pushes Brampton sale as Unifor contract runs out Sunday.Unifor has said there will be no new contract without a resolution for the laid-off workers.In 2023 the federal and Ontario governments made a joint $1.5-billion, 10-year performance commitment to keep Stellantis’s Ontario footprint — including the Windsor EV battery facility and Brampton — through 2035. Ontario separately pledged $132 million for Brampton retooling.Public records show the province paid FCA Canada (now Stellantis) $55.4 million between 2022 and 2025; the exact amount tied to Brampton has not been disclosed.Stellantis has told Global News it recognizes that Canadians expect accountability for public funding and has offered to voluntarily return the government support received for Brampton Assembly’s original retooling plan. The company cited confidentiality provisions and declined to state the amount..Carney threatens Stellantis as Poilievre demands Joly's firing.Premier Doug Ford wrote to Prime Minister Mark Carney on November 10 urging Ottawa to bar Chinese-made electric vehicle knock-down kits from being assembled at the Brampton plant.Ford said the move would undermine Canada’s and Ontario’s auto sector, and the province remains strongly opposed. Industry groups and Unifor have also criticized kit assembly for creating fewer jobs and using little domestic content.Some reports have indicated Stellantis may lease back part of the facility from Roshel for vehicle production.Prime Minister Mark Carney called the sale a betrayal of the workers and of Canada’s obligations. “It violates the obligations that Stellantis has under several agreements, but to be more fundamental, it’s a betrayal of the workers as it is a betrayal of the obligations to Canada and by extension to all Canadians,” he said.Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said patience has limits and that Stellantis violated agreements, while Roshel said the deal would create more than 2,000 jobs and add sovereign defence manufacturing capacity at the site.
