{"id":866240,"date":"2026-08-21T13:45:03","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T13:45:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/866240\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T13:45:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T13:45:03","slug":"canadian-defence-companies-eye-idle-auto-plants-for-growth-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/866240\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian defence companies eye idle auto plants for growth plans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Roshel armoured vehicles at the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries annual trade show in Ottawa in May, 2025. The company is a finalist in the competition for a federal contract to manufacture light utility vehicles and trailers for the Canadian military.Justin Tang\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Canadian defence companies are eyeing idle automotive plants and laid-off workers for their expansion plans as vehicle makers grapple with trade friction and uncertainty about the future of the industry in Canada.<\/p>\n

Among the interested parties are Ottawa-based defence tech company Dominion Dynamics and Brampton, Ont.-based armoured vehicle maker Roshel. Both companies are working on bids to occupy unused manufacturing space in the Canadian automotive sector to bolster the production of defence goods, in hopes of fostering industrial hubs supported by an injection of federal funds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is Canada\u2019s chance to reindustrialize,\u201d said Eliot Pence, chief executive officer of Dominion Dynamics.<\/p>\n

The Canadian auto industry has been struggling with tariffs enacted by U.S. President Donald Trump starting early last year. Some plants have ceased operations or moved production, and thousands of workers have lost their jobs or been left without certainty on when they could be restored.<\/p>\n

Last Friday, the union that represents workers at a Stellantis assembly plant in Brampton said the multinational automaker had informed the union about its plans to potentially close and sell the facility<\/a>. The plant has been idle, and its 3,000 employees without work, since February, 2025. In October, the company announced it would move planned production of its Jeep Compass from Brampton to Illinois, provoking further questions about the future of the Canadian plant.<\/p>\n

Dominion Dynamics raises $139-million to scale, secure federal government contract<\/a><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Canadian defence sector is trending in a markedly different direction, with the federal government striving to spend 5 per cent of the country\u2019s gross domestic product on defence by 2035. The industry is in growth mode and companies like Dominion are sizing up the country\u2019s struggling auto plants and workers as a potential opportunity for their growth plans, pending confirmation from Ottawa of a reliable flow of defence funds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Canadian economy is at a hinge moment, where we can leverage everything our workers have learned about manufacturing to build new defensive technologies and capabilities,\u201d said Marco Mendicino, a former federal cabinet minister and current senior counsel at law firm Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP, where he advises defence companies. <\/p>\n

Dominion\u2019s pitch for the Stellantis assembly plant is one example of what this shift could look like.<\/p>\n

Mr. Pence said he\u2019d like to create a defence industrial zone at the massive idle facility. With Dominion at the helm, he\u2019s looking to join forces with a handful of other Canadian companies, many of which will likely come from the Alliance of Canadian Defence Companies \u2013 an industry association Mr. Pence helped found. <\/p>\n

Together, the coalition could buy or lease the plant, and Dominion could use it to anchor the production of its Autonomous Collaborative Platform, a drone that flies alongside crewed fighter jets, according to Mr. Pence. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Dominion Dynamics founder Eliot Pence speaks at the 2026 Toronto Tech Week Homecoming conference on May 27.Sammy Kogan\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

The Stellantis workers are part of his pitch as well, with Mr. Pence saying he could hire 1,000 of them.<\/p>\n

But first, Dominion needs a clear indication that the federal government is willing to work with the company as a partner on its Autonomous Collaborative Platform \u2013 something Ottawa has yet to confirm.<\/p>\n

Dominion isn\u2019t the only defence company in Canada eyeing idle space in the auto sector while waiting on a signal from Ottawa.<\/p>\n

Brampton-based armoured vehicle maker Roshel is a finalist in the competition for a contract with the federal government to manufacture up to 2,100 light utility vehicles and 500 trailers for the Canadian military.<\/p>\n

If his company wins, CEO Roman Shimonov said he\u2019ll need more space to scale production, and he sees the footprint created by the commercial automotive sector in Canada as a good place to start. Plus, he is also willing to rehire laid-off auto workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the opportunity for the Canadian government, both on a provincial, municipal and federal level, to repurpose some of the facilities that are underutilized,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Roshel CEO Roman Shimonov at the company’s manufacturing plant in Brampton, Ont., in January, 2025.Jennifer Roberts\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Roshel wouldn\u2019t be coming to these facilities alone. Mr. Shimonov said he has strategic partnerships with major companies outside of Canada that are looking to localize their production here, including some in the defence sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem with the Canadian environment is that we don\u2019t have the infrastructure because the whole industry was neglected for so many years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

If the federal government wants to spend billions of dollars on defence over the next several years, and it wants to spend it in Canada, it\u2019s going to have to ensure the capacity is there for companies to scale up, he said.<\/p>\n

Flavio Volpe, head of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers\u2019 Association, said his priority is pushing for Stellantis not to sell its Brampton plant but to produce its recently announced Chrysler Arrow vehicle there. <\/p>\n

Ideally, the auto plant stays in the business of vehicles, he said.<\/p>\n

But failing that, the co-location of defence companies within auto plants is an opportunity worth pursuing, Mr. Volpe said, adding that defence won\u2019t replace the auto industry. There are many differences in the way the two industries operate, from production volumes to follow-on maintenance and repair contracts to their primary customers.<\/p>\n

Yet, what defence companies can do is supplement the struggling automotive industry and tap into its existing supply chain, he said.<\/p>\n

If tariffs are eroding Canada\u2019s ability to win automotive programs, Mr. Volpe said, \u201cthen you have to do this clustering strategy to let these advanced mobility manufacturers be the supply chain for companies like Eliot\u2019s [Dominion Dynamics].\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s going to need a supply chain, and he\u2019s going to need it immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Roshel armoured vehicles at the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries annual…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":866241,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194339],"tags":[51759,49,48,6347],"class_list":["post-866240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brampton","tag-brampton","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ne-i"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=866240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/866241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=866240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=866240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=866240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}