The Conservative Party of Canada is urging the federal government to make public its agreements with Stellantis after the company declared on Tuesday that it would abandon plans to manufacture the Jeep Compass in Brampton, Ontario, opting instead for a facility in the United States.
This request was articulated in a letter addressed to Prime Minister Mark Carney, which was dispatched on Friday by the leader of the official opposition, Pierre Poilievre.
“You stated yesterday that Stellantis is required to retain jobs in Brampton, yet auto workers remain uninformed about what benefits Canadians received for the $10 billion your government pledged to the company,” Poilievre expressed in the letter.
In 2023, Nextstar Energy, a collaboration between Stellantis and LG, finalized an agreement with the federal and Ontario governments for a $5 billion electric vehicle battery facility in Windsor, Ontario. This agreement stipulates that Stellantis could earn up to $15 billion in performance-based incentives over a decade, with two-thirds of that funding coming from the federal government.
The incentives were designed to be allocated based on production volume, capped at $45 US per kilowatt hour (kWh). The agreement also stipulated that incentives would only be applicable to batteries that the company manufactures and sells.
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne played a key role in negotiating the agreements between the federal and Ontario governments and Stellantis. At the time, he held the position of minister of innovation, science and industry. ( Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
A previous agreement was established the year prior, which provided $3.6 billion for enhancements at Stellantis’ Brampton and Windsor assembly facilities to facilitate electric vehicle and battery production. During a press briefing in Kenora, Ontario, on Wednesday, provincial Premier Doug Ford remarked that the provincial government had not yet “provided them a cent for Brampton.”
Poilievre further stated that Canadians are entitled to clarity on what protections for Canadian auto workers were secured, or not secured, in the government’s agreements with Stellantis.
Calls for discussion
The letter from the federal Conservative leader comes after he announced on Thursday his intention to formally request an emergency debate from the Speaker of the House of Commons regarding the current circumstances in Canada’s automotive industry on Monday.
This announcement was made alongside a call from the party to reconvene the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology to discuss the automotive sector. Conservative MP Kathy Borrelli from Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore and a member of the committee, declined to comment when approached by CBC.
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On Wednesday, Industry Minister Melanie Joly sent a letter to Stellantis’ CEO, Anthony Filosa, warning of potential legal action if the company does not fulfill its commitments to Canadians.
Among the stipulations of the government’s agreement was the requirement for Stellantis to maintain its “full Canadian footprint, including Brampton,” Joly wrote.
Before ceasing operations in 2023 to reconfigure for the Jeep Compass production, the Brampton facility employed approximately 3,000 workers. The reconfiguration plans were paused in February, with the company announcing it was reassessing its product strategy in response to tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump on Canada’s automotive sector.
This week, Stellantis indicated that it still has intentions for the Brampton plant but would not reveal details until after discussions with the federal government. During a press conference on Wednesday, Joly stated that the government had been in dialogue with the company for several months, “aware that the Brampton facility was set to be retooled.”
On Thursday, Carney told journalists in Toronto that the global head of Stellantis had assured him the company is assessing options for the production of a new vehicle at the Brampton site.
What funds have been allocated to Stellantis?
CBC News has reached out to the federal government to obtain details about the funding that has already been allocated to Stellantis. The government of Ontario was also contacted but did not respond by the time of publication.
In July, a representative from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada informed CBC that federal funding for the Nextstar initiative includes production-based incentives alongside contributions from the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF). The spokesperson noted that as of March 31, 2024, the federal government had disbursed $268 million of the $500 million pledged to Nextstar through SIF.
According to the government representative, revealing funding figures for individual battery manufacturers’ production support could jeopardize Canada’s contractual and commercial commitments, as well as undermine the competitive stance of these firms through exposure of their production levels.
