A senior Industry Canada official has acknowledged he misled MPs about the terms of a multibillion-dollar agreement with Stellantis, conceding that his previous testimony to a Commons committee was false.Blacklock's Reporter says Deputy Minister Philip Jennings told the government operations committee he “regrets” leaving MPs with what he called a “mistaken impression” during earlier testimony about the 2022 contracts that saw Ottawa pledge $15 billion in aid to the automaker. Jennings insisted no one directed him to lie but admitted his claim that Stellantis demanded secrecy over the contracts was untrue.Jennings’ reversal follows a fierce push by MPs to get unredacted copies of the agreements after Stellantis announced on October 14 it would cut 3,000 Canadian jobs. The committee ordered Industry Canada on October 20 to hand over the documents. Jennings defied that instruction, telling MPs on November 25 that Stellantis required key terms be censored — a claim the company flatly denied..Pressed repeatedly by Conservative MP Kelly Block, Jennings maintained that he acted on his own and not under political orders. Block challenged his explanations, reminding him that it is Parliament’s authority, not the bureaucracy’s, that determines what information must be disclosed. “It is your job to comply with the will of parliamentarians,” she said.The committee has since voted to release partially censored versions of the contracts. They show Stellantis was obligated to keep an average of 4,475 employees in Canada. Jennings said the deal allowed “some flexibility” owing to retooling periods typical in the auto sector.MPs were also provided with complete, uncensored versions for private review. .Conservative MP Kyle Seeback told the committee the hidden portions did not involve trade secrets or sensitive commercial information. Instead, he argued, the government was trying to shield itself from embarrassment over the commitments it made.“The only thing they are trying to do by not releasing these documents is to protect themselves from the embarrassment of what is in the contract,” said Seeback, calling the agreement a political liability. “This contract is an embarrassment. These Liberals are going to probably seek to stop production of this contract to protect themselves from the very embarrassing decisions they made.”
