Industry Minister Mélanie Joly says Stellantis has 30 days to correct conditions tied to a 2022 federal funding agreement after halting Jeep Compass production at Brampton and moving the work elsewhere.
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The federal government has served Stellantis with a notice of default on a funding agreement after the automaker signed a deal to sell its Brampton, Ontario assembly plant to defence contractor Roshel.
In a letter dated Thursday, Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said Stellantis breached a 2022 funding agreement by halting Jeep Compass production at the Brampton plant, failing or refusing to identify a replacement vehicle, not maintaining any production at the facility, and closing the plant. Joly’s letter said Stellantis has 30 days to demonstrate it will “correct these conditions” or she will declare the company in default of its obligations.
The minister warned that penalties could include termination of the federal funding deal and a requirement for Stellantis to repay all or part of the funding it has received, plus interest. Joly said the transaction between Stellantis and Roshel showed the company is “no longer diligently working in good faith” to resolve the federal government’s concerns.
Joly also said she may add further breaches to the notice of default related to the sale, which was announced Monday and is expected to close by the end of this year. In the letter to Stellantis Canada chairman, president and CEO Trevor Longley, Joly wrote: “At no point have I or my office indicated support for a sale to Roshel, nor given any indication that such sale would cure Stellantis’ existing breaches of the agreement. This is a clear breach of the agreement, and you were informed that I viewed any sale as a continuation of the existing breaches.”
The federal government committed up to $529 million in 2022 to help Stellantis retool its Brampton and Windsor facilities to produce electrified vehicles, while Ontario committed $513 million in provincial support. The retooling process began at Brampton in early 2024.
According to the federal account described in the letter and related reporting, Stellantis paused its plan to produce the Jeep Compass at the Brampton plant in February 2025. The company later announced it was moving Jeep Compass production to Illinois, leaving more than 2,000 workers laid off and the Brampton plant idled indefinitely.
Joly’s notice comes after a Thursday meeting in Toronto involving Joly, Stellantis, Unifor, the union representing more than 9,000 Stellantis workers across Canada, and representatives from the Ontario government.
Prime Minister Mark Carney addressed media reports that the federal government played an active role in discussions between Stellantis and Roshel before the companies signed their agreement. Carney said that “Being informed or being aware of some aspects is not the same as Stellantis providing a global solution for those workers at the plant, which is their obligation,” and he described the Roshel deal as a “partial solution.” He added: “The betrayal is not fulfilling all the obligations for all of the workers. That’s the responsibility of Stellantis.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said the federal government should have secured job guarantees if it knew about the Brampton plant sale in advance. He argued in Calgary that there should have been a guarantee tied to the “hundreds of millions of dollars” in public support.
Roshel CEO Roman Shimonov has said his Brampton-based company is willing to hire back some of the Stellantis employees who were laid off in 2023. Roshel also plans to lease about one-quarter of the site’s space back to Stellantis for automotive work.
Stellantis spokesperson LouAnn Gosselin said Stellantis would repay public funds it has received, but declined to comment on the amount, citing confidentiality provisions. Gosselin said in a statement: “We recognize that Canadians expect accountability for public funding and that is why Stellantis has offered to voluntarily return the government support received for Brampton Assembly’s original retooling plan.”
Unifor negotiations with Stellantis ended in September after the automaker signed a memorandum of understanding with Roshel to target a sale of the facility. Unifor national president Lana Payne called the sale a “worst-case scenario,” saying Stellantis “betrayed our members” and that allowing the sale to proceed was a “critical failure” of the national auto strategy and broke the federal government’s promise to protect autoworkers.
The report was first published Nov. 12, 2026.
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