General Motors has announced an end to production of its electric delivery van at its Ingersoll, Ont., plant just a week after Stellantis said it would be moving production planned for its Brampton, Ont. plant to Illinois.
The two automakers cutting planned production in the province in as many weeks has labour leaders and politicians signalling more aggressive efforts to push back against the companies in an effort to save the industry.
“We have to stand up and say enough is enough, we’re fighting back,” said Unifor national president Lana Payne.
She wants government to be ready to use counter-tariffs against automakers, which companies currently have a reprieve from as long as they keep their footprint and employment in Canada.
While there’s a balance to strike between courting companies and punishing them, Payne said the current approach clearly isn’t working as the roughly 3,000 workers in Brampton and more than 1,000 in Ingersoll no longer have a clear future ahead.
To stop the trend, companies need to feel pressure from more than just the Trump administration, she said.
“The only way that we can keep production in Canada, and make sure we’re keeping these jobs here and saving the auto industry, is these companies have to feel pressure from us too. That is critically important.”
Provincial and federal leaders have also signalled a shift to a stronger response, including the federal government last week threatening to sue Stellantis for breach of contract by cutting its Canadian footprint.
Federal Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said Tuesday that after speaking with Unifor and Ontario leaders they had agreed to create a response group to make a more co-ordinated fight for the auto industry.
“We need to make sure that we fight for these jobs, that there are new models coming back to Ingersoll, and that GM has a bright future here in Canada,” said Joly before heading into a cabinet meeting.
Ontario Economic Development Minister Vic Fedeli said he’s already expressed to GM his disappointment.
“The message was very clear, this is not acceptable,” he said. “But the real point is this assault on the Canadian auto sector has to stop.”
He said the province is reviewing contracts in place with both GM and Stellantis after both it and the federal government provided funding to the companies to invest in the auto plants they’ve now left in limbo.
All three parties met with Stellantis on Monday, and Payne said she was encouraged to see both governments backing up labour.
“We’re going to be working together with both levels of government to hold the feet of these companies to the fire and to say you made commitments here, we expect you to live up to them,” said Payne.
General Motors said the decision to end production of the BrightDrop vehicle was demand-related, and it wasn’t moving production elsewhere.
The company had already temporarily cut production in April before fully idling the plant in May, leaving more than 1,200 unionized workers temporarily laid off. The plant was supposed to restart operations in November with a single shift that would have meant around half that number heading back to work.
Kristian Aquilina, president of GM Canada, said in an interview that there are no firm plans in place for the plant.
“With this news just fresh, we’ll now assess the future opportunities for the plant,” Aquilina said.
“We’re very energized now as a result of this news to find other solutions, but we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. We’re looking at various opportunities.”
Aquilina said the decision to end production of the BrightDrop had nothing to do with tariffs, but others say the trade war is having an effect on the company’s decisions.
Payne said the plant was hit both by Trump’s decision to hit Canada with tariffs and to dismantle EV supports.
Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association, said that the uncertainty caused by tariffs has likely contributed to the decision to simply end production, rather than replace it with another product.
“They could have put that Equinox production back where they took it from,” said Volpe.
“They chose not to because the uncertainty around this Trump tariff war.”
The plant previously produced the popular Chevy Equinox model before shutting production in 2022 to retool the plant for the BrightDrop.
He said he’s encouraged that the company has idled the plant, rather than formally closed it, but that the federal government also needs to be prepared to use what means it has to ensure automakers to stay in Canada.
That includes both incentives like the $5 billion restructuring fund to help companies produce for the Canadian market, as well as sticks like tariffs.
“You have to use every lever that you think you have.”
— With files from Nick Murray in Ottawa and Liam Casey in Toronto.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2025.
