‘A betrayal:’ Carney says Canada will ‘fully enforce’ its rights following sale of Stellantis plant

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Prime Minister Mark Carney says that a decision by automaker Stellantis to sell its Brampton assembly plant amounts to a “betrayal” of thousands of workers.

Prime Minister Mark Carney says that a decision by automaker Stellantis to sell its Brampton, Ont., assembly plant amounts to a “betrayal” of thousands of workers.

Carney made the comment during a press conference in Montreal on Tuesday, one day after Stellantis announced that it would sell the idle plant to Canadian armoured vehicle manufacturer Roshel.

More than 2,200 workers have been on layoff at the Brampton plant since production was halted in December 2023.

During an interview with CP24 Breakfast earlier on Tuesday, the CEO of Roshel said that while his company will prioritize Brampton residents in hiring it “is not going to even consider” taking on any responsibility for rehiring all Stellantis workers.

In May 2022, the federal government agreed to provide Stellantis with $529 million in funding to retool its Brampton and Windsor plants.

In a statement to CTV News on Tuesday, Stellantis said that it has “offered to voluntarily return the government support received for Brampton Assembly’s original retooling plan,” though it said that it cannot disclose the total amount.

Appearing alongside Carney in Montreal, Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said that she will be meeting with officials from Unifor and Stellantis in Toronto on Thursday to discuss a path forward.

Joly had previously said that the decision by Stellantis to sell the plant “does not erase the commitments they made to workers in Brampton.”

“For more than a year we have been engaging with Stellantis, engaging with Unifor, trying to find a solution for Brampton but Stellantis has decided to go ahead and violate its contract, so that is why, as the prime minister has said, we will use the full force of the law to make sure we protect jobs but also bring justice to these workers that are waiting to just get a job from their employer, which is Stellantis,” Joly said.

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