In a heated exchange during a parliamentary committee meeting on Monday, Conservative MP Raquel Dancho confronted Industry Minister Mélanie Joly over the Liberal government’s handling of job losses at automaker Stellantis’ Brampton, Ont., plant.Dancho, who represents Kildonan — St. Paul and serves as Shadow Minister for Industry, pressed Joly on whether there were going to be any job guarantees for the 3,000 workers affected by the automaker’s decision to move production to the US..“You should be able to tell us if there is a jobs guarantee for the 3,000 jobs in Brampton,” Dancho stated.Joly responded by saying Dancho was, “falling into the trap of trying to find a problem where there is none.”Dancho countered, noting the scale of the layoffs as well as previous government investment, emphasizing the cost to Canadian taxpayers.“The problem was 3,000 people were laid off and your government committed millions, and billions, in fact, of dollars, and we’re trying to understand if there’s…”“I don’t know if you want this to be a monologue or you want me to be here,” Joly interrupted.“Because if you want this to be a monologue, I don’t have to be here.”The confrontation comes after Stellantis announced on Oct. 14 that production of the Jeep Compass will now take place in Illinois instead of the company’s assembly plant in Brampton, as part of Stellantis’ $13-billion U.S. investment plan..Liberals face backlash over $10 billion in Stellantis subsidies tied to lost Ontario auto jobs.In response to the production shift, Joly said the federal government is launching a formal dispute resolution process under its contracts with Stellantis.“Before the close of business, the government will take the next step under the contracts to recover Canadian taxpayers’ money,” Joly told the committee.“This means that we will start the 30-day period of the formal dispute resolution process in order to bring back production at the Brampton facility. This is the start of the dispute resolution process.”The federal government, along with the province of Ontario, has already pledged billions in subsidies for Stellantis, including a joint commitment of $15 billion for a NextStar electric vehicle battery plant in Windsor, Ont.
