{"id":926251,"date":"2026-10-09T07:12:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T07:12:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/926251\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T07:12:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T07:12:19","slug":"future-of-automaker-stellantis-remains-unclear-in-brampton-along-with-thousands-of-jobs-tied-to-a-cornerstone-economic-driver-for-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/926251\/","title":{"rendered":"Future of automaker Stellantis remains unclear in Brampton, along with thousands of jobs tied to a \u2018cornerstone\u2019 economic driver for city"},"content":{"rendered":"

As workers prepare for a strike vote<\/a> and automaker Stellantis considers selling its Brampton plant to defence manufacturer Roshel, local industry insiders warn the company\u2019s potential exit from the city could have far-reaching economic impacts.<\/p>\n

Thousands of workers at the Brampton assembly plant have been on layoff since Stellantis halted production at the facility in December 2023 to retool for the production of the next-generation Jeep Compass. They have been receiving income supports and health benefits under their collective agreement.<\/p>\n

However, Stellantis announced in October 2025 that the vehicles would no longer be produced in Brampton,<\/a> leaving workers and businesses that rely on automotive production at the facility uncertain about their future.<\/p>\n

After exploring a range of options for the facility, Stellantis signed a memorandum of understanding with Roshel<\/a> in September 2026, outlining a potential sale of the plant to the Canadian defence manufacturer.<\/p>\n

Unifor has expressed opposition<\/a> to the proposed deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis decision will impact more than 2,000 high-paid, union workers and hundreds of supplier firms, employing thousands in proximity to the plant. There is no comparable economic replacement for this work. Canada\u2019s economy will be worse-off as a result. I cannot state this in any clearer terms,\u201d said Lana Payne, the national president of Unifor, in a letter to Industry Minister M\u00e9lanie Joly.<\/p>\n

Currently, talks between Stellantis and Unifor are at an impasse as the union demands the company keep the Brampton assembly plant active.<\/p>\n

Vito Beato, the president of Unifor Local 1285, which represents workers at the Stellantis plant, has pushed back on the suggestion a Roshel operation could replace the economic activity generated by the automotive plant.<\/p>\n

No replacement for auto plant jobs<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no replacement for an auto plant in any community, especially in Brampton where we have 3,000 members \u2026 working in the plant,\u201d said Beato.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn top of that, you have your independent part supplier base that feeds the plant \u2026 let alone the other spinoff jobs in the community regarding businesses, truck drivers \u2026 as far as how important an auto plant is to a community like Brampton \u2026 So many thousands of jobs come from the plant,\u201d added Beato.<\/p>\n

Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers\u2019 Association<\/a>, an organization representing Canada\u2019s suppliers to the global automotive sector, testified before a parliamentary committee<\/a> in October 2025 that about 9,000 to 10,000 Ontario supplier jobs depended on production at Stellantis when it was operating at full capacity.<\/p>\n

According to Invest Brampton,<\/a> \u201cevery auto job in Brampton generates five to six spinoff jobs \u2014 supporting machinists, suppliers, logistics professionals, local small businesses and countless others. This multiplier effect makes the sector a cornerstone of local prosperity and community stability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not a nail in the coffin<\/p>\n

However, Jaipaul Massey-Singh, CEO of the Brampton Board of Trade, does not see the potential sale as the nail in the coffin for those jobs, but as something that can revive the idle plant and offer employment to those who rely on production at the facility.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s be clear. The plant is closed \u2026 and it has been for over two years. The staff has been furloughed and nothing has happened inside that facility for some time \u2026 So the economic impact of that plant closure is not a hypothetical,\u201d said Massey-Singh.<\/p>\n

\u201cRoshel is going to be producing light armoured automotive vehicles \u2026 among the reasons they are so interested in that facility is not simply because it\u2019s a convenient facility geographically, but because it is a facility that is designed for automotive production and among the things that the leadership team at Roshel is interested in is conversation with the former employees of Stellantis, recognizing that those individuals bring many of the same skills that Roshel would require for their operation,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Roshel CEO Roman Shimonov has said in public statements that laid-off Stellantis workers would get first consideration for jobs<\/a> if Roshel were to become the plant\u2019s new owner.<\/p>\n

Volpe stressed that while Roshel, as a Canadian company, should be supported and build in Brampton, it is not a meaningful economic replacement for automotive production.<\/p>\n

Volpe argued that defence manufacturers operate at a much smaller production volume than automotive manufacturers, meaning it will generate far fewer orders from suppliers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not gonna buy enough UVs (utility vehicles) to make up a week\u2019s shift, never mind a month,\u201d said Volpe.<\/p>\n

Volpe stated in the past that Stellantis had produced 500 to 1,000 vehicles per day. Shimonov, in a public statement<\/a>, said Roshel\u2019s production rate is 120 units per month.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, Massey-Singh said he believes that \u201cright now, any impact would be a positive impact because they\u2019re not getting any business and that\u2019s not just those who are in the supply chain formerly of Stellantis.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThose businesses \u2026 already pivoted. None of these businesses\u2026 are sitting around, waiting \u2026 No one has an expectation that Stellantis is coming back,\u201d added Singh.<\/p>\n

Suppliers still hopeful<\/p>\n

However, Volpe said suppliers are looking at Stellantis\u2019 recently announced five-year plan<\/a>, which outlines new investment and production through 2030.<\/p>\n

Several products have yet to be assigned to specific facilities, he said, leaving open the possibility that a future vehicle could be assigned to Brampton. He added suppliers sometimes maintain their capacity even when they are not producing parts because they know future programs are coming and costs can be built into the prices of parts they are selling.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the auto business you can wait another year, you can wait two years. It is worth it for us as a community for that bet to pay off. It doesn\u2019t cost anything for us to wait,\u201d said Volpe.<\/p>\n

Volpe stated he fears that there will be job losses among suppliers if the sale is completed, but remains hopeful about the future of automotive production in Brampton.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re gonna be making cars here again in that plant with these supplies with those profit margins because that\u2019s who we are,\u201d said Volpe.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026, Mississauga.com. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

Bridget Potasky, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Mississauga.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As workers prepare for a strike vote and automaker Stellantis considers selling its Brampton plant to defence manufacturer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":926252,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194339],"tags":[51759,49,48],"class_list":["post-926251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brampton","tag-brampton","tag-ca","tag-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926251","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=926251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/926252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=926251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=926251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=926251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}