A House of Commons committee on Monday approved a study of the contracts Stellantis has signed with the federal government for billions of dollars of subsidies to see if they included provisions to protect Canadian auto jobs.
The Conservatives pushed for the study after Stellantis last week said it would be moving planned production of its Jeep Compass from its plant in Brampton, Ont., to Illinois, threatening 3,000 workers at the Canadian facility.
The shock announcement continued to dominate the political debate in Ottawa on Monday, with both the Conservatives and NDP requesting an emergency debate in the House of Commons.
“Families that cannot afford groceries or homes are paying to subsidize the export of our jobs to the United States of America,” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said, calling the Stellantis move “part of a larger phenomenon” of lost auto jobs and investment.
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However, House of Commons Speaker Francis Scarpaleggia denied both parties’ separate requests, but acknowledged the issue was “of great importance to many members” and that he would revisit the request “if the situation warrants.”
In his request for the study at the government operations and estimates committee, Conservative MP Garnett Genuis said Stellantis has received over $10 billion in federal subsidies from the Liberal government over the past several years to boost the automaker’s Canadian footprint.
His motion called for the production of copies of any contract, memorandum of understanding or other agreement signed between the government and Stellantis since November 2015, when former prime minister Justin Trudeau and his first cabinet were sworn in.
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Liberal members of the committee raised concerns about releasing unredacted contracts containing commercially sensitive information.
They argued that could threaten future foreign investment in Canada at a time when the country is seeking to bolster its economy in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, including on the auto sector, which have been directly blamed for Stellantis’s decision.
A Liberal amendment that would have redacted sensitive information was defeated, before the study was ultimately approved with conditions that the government will be allowed to suggest redactions before public release.
The committee will still get to review the full, unredacted versions of the documents before any redactions are made.
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Poilievre pressed Industry Minister Melanie Joly in question period on whether the contracts signed with Stellantis included a “guarantee” for every job at its Canadian plants, but Joly did not directly answer.
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“When this government negotiates contracts, they’re good ones,” she said. “My colleague will have the chance to see these contracts.”
1:37
Carney says Stellantis looking for new model for Brampton plant
Prime Minister Mark Carney said last week that he spoke with Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa shortly before the company’s announcement and reminded him of its “commitments” to the federal government under recent funding deals, which include upwards of $14.6 billion in financial support for a battery plant Stellantis is building with LG in Windsor.
Carney said there are potential consequences for the company if it doesn’t meet its obligations, which include keeping the Brampton plant open.
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“There is exposure of the company if they were not to follow through with those commitments for Brampton,” Carney said.
“I reminded the global CEO of those undertakings.”
Carney said Filosa told him the automaker is looking at finding a new model to fill the Brampton plant, but that such a decision likely won’t come until finalization of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on free trade (CUSMA) after next summer’s scheduled review.
He said Filosa also gave him assurances the company would provide support for the 3,000 Canadian workers affected.
Joly wrote a letter to the company expressing her “extreme concern” about the move and said the government was considering all options, “including legal,” to hold Stellantis accountable.
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She said the company had agreed to maintain its full Canadian footprint, including Brampton operations, in exchange for substantial financial support over decades. It refers to the 2009 government bailouts of the auto sector during the financial crisis when Stellantis was on “the brink of bankruptcy” — a time when the Conservatives were in government.
“Anything short of fulfilling that commitment will be considered as default,” Joly wrote in the letter, which was obtained by Global News.
Joly said Monday she met with the heads of Stellantis Canada and Unifor and her ministerial counterpart in Ontario earlier Monday and assured they were taking a “Team Canada approach” to ensuring auto manufacturing jobs stay in Canada.
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“We will make sure to put full pressure on the company,” she said in question period. “These jobs need to stay in Brampton, these jobs need to stay in Canada, and ultimately the future of the auto sector is bright and we will continue to fight for it.”
4:39
‘A punch to the gut’ says Brampton mayor about Stellantis announcement
The automaker announced the move of production of the Jeep model as part of a US$13-billion investment that will see it boost U.S. production by 50 per cent over the next four years.
Unifor national president Lana Payne told the House of Commons international trade committee later on Monday that Trump’s tariff policies and push to move investment and manufacturing from Canada to the U.S. had made CUSMA a trade agreement “almost in name only.”
She said Canada “must play hardball” in trade negotiations with the Trump administration and with companies themselves to protect those jobs in vulnerable sectors.
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“If we allow these corporations to shift production to the United States without applying equal pressure to keep production in Canada, the jobs will go,” she said.
“If Trump’s end goal here is to dismantle Canada’s industrial sector, what exactly is CUSMA for?”
Payne said Unifor had pushed for job commitments to be included in any federal deals with Stellantis and other automakers, but noted she has not seen the final versions of those contracts.
She praised Joly’s letter to Stellantis as the right kind of hardline approach Canada needs to take to stand up for workers.
“More of that, please,” she said.
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