Ottawa, Ontario working on package to persuade Stellantis to cancel sale of Brampton plant

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Ministers say they will present new scenarios, worked out with Unifor, to company’s global CEO Antonio Filosa

The federal and Ontario governments are offering new funding and production options to Stellantis NV STLA-N to persuade the company not to sell its Brampton, Ont., assembly plant, just a day after Industry Minister Mélanie Joly threatened to sue the automaker to recover hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies.

Ms. Joly said Friday the governments, along with the union representing workers at the plant, have put “an aggressive package” in front of Stellantis, adding the parties remain “in solution mode to prevent the sale” of the idled factory to defence contractor Roshel Inc.

That sale was announced Monday and is expected to close by the end of the year.

Ms. Joly and Ontario Economic Development Minister Vic Fedeli spoke at an auto-sector funding announcement in Vaughan, Ont. They said they will present new scenarios, worked out with Unifor, to Stellantis global chief executive officer Antonio Filosa. That plan came out of a meeting on Thursday between the two governments, the union and Stellantis Canada CEO Trevor Longley.

Sale of Brampton auto plant from Stellantis to Roshel leaves laid-off workers in the lurch

Mr. Fedeli said a $2.5-billion federal-provincial auto fund would be “part of the solution, not all of it.” The fund, announced last month as part of an $8.7-billion plan to help tariff-hit industries, is meant to pay for automotive capital projects over two years.

In return, he said, the governments want Stellantis to “buy some time” for the idled plant.

“When you sell an auto plant, it’s gone, it’s not going to come back,” Mr. Fedeli said. “We have new funds that we can help keep a warm plant until we look for something that we can put in there.”

He pointed to General Motors’ plant in Oshawa, Ont., which stopped building vehicles in 2019. At the time, Unifor pressed GM to keep the facility running rather than sell it. The company later brought in Chevrolet Silverado production, and Mr. Fedeli said about 1,800 people now build the pickups there.

مطلع المقال، مقتطف من The Globe and Mail (Report on Business). لقراءة المقال كاملًا، افتحه على موقع الناشر.