Car maker announces asset purchase agreement for the plant
Prime Minister Mark Carney says the sale of Stellantis’s idled Brampton Assembly Plant in Brampton, Ont., betrays more than 2,000 workers laid off since 2023.
“It violates the obligations that Stellantis has under several agreements, but to be more fundamental, it’s a betrayal of the workers as it is a betrayal of the obligations to Canada and by extension to all Canadians,” Carney said in Montreal on Nov. 10, 2026, as reported by CBC News.
A day earlier, Stellantis and Roshel, a Brampton defence firm, announced an asset purchase agreement for the plant and its equipment. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2026, the companies’ joint news release said.
Carney vowed to “fully enforce our rights in protection of those workers and protection of Canadian funds.”
Ottawa weighs legal options
Industry Minister Mélanie Joly went further. “Stellantis has decided to go ahead and violate its contract and so that is why we will … use the full force of the law to make sure that we protect jobs but also bring back justice to these workers,” Joly said, according to CBC News.
A Privy Council Office briefing note from December 2025 says Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada launched the dispute resolution process under its agreement with Stellantis on Nov. 3, 2025.
Under the 2022 deal, Ottawa pledged up to $529 million for the Brampton and Windsor, Ont., plants. Stellantis could not close Brampton before 2035 unless the site became commercially unviable for reasons beyond its “reasonable control,” CBC News reported.
Statement from Stellantis
In the joint release, Stellantis said it “acknowledges its obligations to employees under the collective agreement and applicable laws” and “remains prepared to engage with Unifor to negotiate a settlement to assist union-represented employees.”
Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa said in the release: “After three years of paid layoff, we remain committed to working with Unifor on a fair resolution.”
Stellantis said the deal will “create a path to return Brampton Assembly Plant to productive industrial use.”
Roshel CEO Roman Shimonov said in the release the company plans “to create a new Centre of Excellence for advanced manufacturing.” He told CBC News, however, that “we’re not taking over responsibilities or obligations that Stellantis made in the past.”
Unifor says sale breaches collective agreement
Unifor’s Nov. 9, 2026, release said Stellantis proceeded in violation of the collective agreement and in breach of its commitments to Ottawa.
“Stellantis has betrayed our members with an underhanded deal to sell the plant and walk away from its commitments to our members,” said Lana Payne, national president of Unifor.
James Stewart, president of Unifor Local 444 in Windsor, warned of wider fallout: “If the company can tear up our collective agreement and walk away from Brampton then there are no guarantees for the rest of its production in Canada.”
HRD Canada has reported on how Unifor pressed Ottawa over its role in the Stellantis Brampton sale and how Unifor secured a strike mandate over the Brampton plant dispute.
Joly will host a stakeholder meeting in Toronto on Nov. 12, 2026, CBC News reported.
