Stellantis president summoned to Ottawa over plans to send 3,000 Brampton jobs to the U.S.

Industry Minister Melanie Joly confirmed the meeting as she faced Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre who demanded the Liberal government reveal its contract with Stellantis that he said “forked over” taxpayers’ money with “no job guarantees” in Brampton. 

Joly said the Liberal government will produce the documents and emphasized the Carney government’s determination to make good on its threat of “consequences.”

“What Stellantis announced for the Brampton plant last week was completely unacceptable,” said Joly, saying the company “made solemn commitments to this government and to their workers, and they need to honour their commitments, and that’s why we will hold them to account.”

“We will make sure that Stellantis faces all consequences, including legal ones,” she reiterated.

Jeff Hines, president of Canada, Stellantis North America, met in Ottawa after Joly “summoned” him, according to a government official who spoke on condition they not be identified, to discuss next steps for the company. 

A statement from the company later said Hines was happy to accept the invitation to discuss the “long term competitiveness and economic sustainability of Canada’s automotive manufacturing industry,” and vowed to continue working with federal, provincial and union “partners” to “advance a shared agenda that supports continued investment, safeguards high-value Canadian jobs, and fosters durable economic growth.”

The meeting was also attended by Unifor president Lana Payne — hours before she appeared at a parliamentary committee — and by Ontario’s Economic Development Minister Vic Fedeli who participated virtually. 

“Our message is clear — Stellantis has a duty to live up to their promise to Brampton autoworkers and maintain their committed allocation of vehicle production in Brampton,” said Jennifer Cunliffe, a spokesperson for Ontario Economic Development Minister Vic Fedeli.

Payne told the international trade committee Stellantis’ decision on Brampton was a “line in the sand” for Unifor, and should be a major alarm for parliamentarians about what is looming in trade talks with the U.S. 

“The scenario is very real that we may face more extortion and more losses to our industrial economy,” Payne said, adding it’s possible that Trump triggers CUSMA’s six-month termination clause and “it’s also possible that the U.S. opts not to renew CUSMA in July, starting a 10-year countdown clock to the deal’s elimination.

Payne said Ottawa must improve communication and transparency with the most tariff-affected industries and unions. 

“We understand, as a union who negotiates, that certain parts of negotiations have to occur in certain ways, and that means that there does have to be these kinds of conversations that would happen between our prime minister and the president and yeah, all of Canada can’t be in the room when that’s going on,” said Payne. “But at the same time, there is the support for a negotiating position, and the stronger we can be in terms of having all of the players being part of that is critically important.”

Other warnings about the government’s trade approach were sounded Monday.

Linda Hasenfratz, chief executive of Linamar Corporation, one of Canada’s largest auto parts manufacturers, said it is incorrect for Carney to say 85 per cent of Canadian products are currently exempted from Trump’s tariffs.

Since the U.S. broadened tariffs to include products derived from steel and aluminum, more than 900 product categories are affected by tariffs, she said, stressing that “the absolute priority” for the government must be to get an interim tariff relief deal “ahead of the renegotiation” of the trilateral trade agreement known as CUSMA, or USMCA in the U.S.

 “We can’t wait six, eight, nine months to get the tariffs on vehicles, metal and metal derivative products, importantly, dealt with. They’re creating an enormous amount of cost, of course for U.S. businesses and U.S. consumers, but also for Canadian companies.”

Payne and Barry Appleton, a trade law expert at the Center for International Law at the New York Law School and a fellow at the Balsillie School of International Affairs in Waterloo, argued for a formal “co-ordinated strategy” on trade.

Appleton said Canada has lost outside expert advisory capacity to aid the government in its trade talks, while the U.S. has formal trade advisory groups that help it navigate complex negotiations.

“I worry about hopium,” Appleton said, saying the U.S. has leverage with the opportunity to kill the CUSMA trade deal on six-months notice if President Donald Trump decides he wants to end it.

“The Blue Jays have a better chance right now than we do in trade,” said Appleton. “And the reason is we’re playing the wrong game. We’re playing a game where we believe that the Americans are going to follow the rules.”

In the Commons, the Conservative leader scoffed at the federal government’s tough talk.

“That minister claims she might take legal action. She can’t do that unless there’s actually a job guarantee. So will she tell us yes or no, does every Canadian Stellantis worker have a job guarantee?”

“When this government negotiates contracts, they’re good ones,” retorted Joly. “My colleague will have the chance to see these contracts.”

Speaking in Toronto last Thursday, Prime Minister Mark Carney said he spoke to Stellantis global CEO Antonio Filosa and insisted the government expects Stellantis to honour its production promises, or face unspecified legal consequences.

The company’s retooling of the Brampton plant was in part supported by federal financing, as was its electric battery plant in Windsor, which benefited over the past two years from a range of federal and provincial production credits.

Carney said Filosa offered him reassurances that there would be a new production plan for Brampton.

But the prime minister admitted that decision depends on “the finalization of the USMCA.” 

The agreement is not up for review until next year but both countries are getting ready for a full-on renegotiation, kick-starting public consultations.