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Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said Ottawa had issued Stellantis
a formal notice alleging breaches of its funding agreement,
giving the automaker 30 days to address the violations or face
legal action.
“We sent a notice of default and, basically, they have 30 days
or else. Of course, we’ll sue them,” Joly told reporters in
Toronto.
Joly said Stellantis violated the agreement by abandoning
production at Brampton without identifying a replacement
vehicle.
Trump’s tariffs have put pressure on Canada’s auto industry,
which is deeply integrated with U.S. manufacturing. Trump has
repeatedly pushed automakers to move production south of the
border.
Stellantis, the world’s fourth-largest carmaker, abandoned plans
to build the Jeep Compass at its Brampton plant and shifted
production to Illinois, leaving more than 2,000 Canadian workers
without jobs.
Canada committed up to 529 million Canadian dollars (US$380
million) in 2022 to help Stellantis retool its Brampton and
Windsor plants for electric vehicle production.
“Stellantis is on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars,”
Joly said.
A message left for a spokesperson for Stellantis was not
immediately returned.
Stellantis announced Monday it had agreed to sell the Brampton
plant to Canadian armored vehicle manufacturer Roshel. The
company offered to repay government funding received for the
Brampton project but declined to disclose the amount.
Prime Minister Mark Carney accused Stellantis of betraying
Canadian workers, calling the sale a partial solution that
failed to fulfill the company’s obligations.
Joly said federal and Ontario officials plan to meet with
Stellantis’ global chief executive.
Unifor President Lana Payne said a meeting Thursday involving
Stellantis, the union and both governments failed to produce a
resolution.
“The time to stop that was last week, the week before and the
week before that,” Payne said. “Now we’re going to a different
situation. We can’t stop the sale. The sale has occurred, so we
would have to reverse it, which is doubly difficult, obviously.”
Autos are Canada’s second-largest export and Carney has noted
the sector employs 125,000 Canadians directly and almost another
500,000 in related industries.
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