[ad_1] The multi-million-dollar deal at the heart of a high-profile fight between the Canadian government and one of the world’s biggest carmakers contains multiple clauses about the company’s footprint in Ontario, according to a copy obtained by CBC Windsor. The contract for up to $529 million in public funding bars Stellantis from closing its assembly plant in Brampton before 2035 — but with some exceptions, including circumstances beyond the automaker’s “reasonable control” that have made the facility “commercially unviable.”The terms of the deal, inked in 2022 to help Stellantis update its facilities in Brampton and Windsor to support electric vehicle production, have been the subject of sharp scrutiny in Parliament since Stellantis announced last October that it was shifting production of a Jeep model to the United States. The move — widely seen as a response to industry uncertainty related to U.S. tariffs — left Brampton’s roughly 3,000 workers without a vehicle to make. The partially redacted 98-page agreement, obtained through an access to information request, also suggests a separate $15 billion deal for a Windsor battery plant was tied to Brampton remaining operational.Opposition MPs have accused the Liberal government of doling out taxpayer money without adequate protections for Canadian autoworkers, while top federal officials have insisted the funding came with firm guarantees — and have said they would serve Stellantis with a notice of contractual default.The Brampton Assembly Plant is pictured on Oct. 15, 2025 — the day Stellantis announced it would be moving vehicle production to the U.S. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)The federal industry department, which oversees the funding, did not respond directly to questions about the details of the agreement or the ongoing dispute process, calling them “commercially confidential.”“The government continues to assess all of the commitments made by Stellantis related to this project, and how those commitments are impacted by the company’s current plans,” a spokesperson wrote. Stellantis, meanwhile, has said the Brampton factory is on an “operational pause.” The company declined an interview request, but said in a statement that it “continues to engage with the government in the dispute resolution process under the agreement." “We are working towards our shared objective of securing a long-term, sustainable future for automotive manufacturing in Canada, including in Brampton,” a spokesperson said. “The process is confidential and so we cannot comment further.”Inside the dealThen-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier Doug Ford were among those in Windsor, Ont., on May 2, 2022, for an announcement with Stellantis. (Michael Evans/CBC)In May 2022, top government officials and Stellantis executives gathered in Windsor to announce the original deal. Ottawa would provide up to $529 million through its Strategic Innovation Fund toward the company's $3.6 billion investment in Ontario. That investment included retooling both the Windsor and Brampton assembly plants, and expanding the company’s research and development facility in Windsor. One of the conditions of the deal was that the automaker maintain “an average of 4,475 [full-time employees] in Canada” during the projects’ work phases. It’s unclear why that number was chosen. Windsor’s assembly plant alone employed roughly 4,000 people at the time.Stellantis also set an "aspirational target" of hitting 4,875 full-time employees at any point during the contract's term as part of the deal. The agreement said the company and government could potentially amend the contract should Stellantis review staffing numbers at the end of the work phase and find they needed to be adjusted.The contract says Stellantis “shall maintain production” at both plants — and operations at the research facility — until the end of the lifespan of the agreement, or Dec. 31, 2035. It also says that there would be a “[r]eview of operations” before or at the end of the projects’ work phases.There are several other company commitments to Canada, including research and development spending, co-op student terms, collaborations with universities, capital expenditures, and inclusive hiring practices.The 2023 amendmentsThe following year, the federal government and FCA Canada Inc. — Stellantis’ Canadian arm — agreed to two amendments to the contract. They signed the first on July 5, 2023 — the same day government officials announced a separate deal with Windsor-based battery maker NextStar Energy worth up to $15 billion in production subsidies. The recently built NextStar Energy battery plant, pictured on Feb. 9, 2026, in Windsor, Ont. (Emma Loop/CBC)Late last year, Ontario Chronicle discovered copies of that funding deal and an earlier one with NextStar within documents the government previously released in response to an access to information request.Up until recently, NextStar was a joint venture between Stellantis and South Korea’s LG Energy Solution aimed at making EV batteries. Since that market has slumped, NextStar has decided to focus on batteries for energy storage systems, paving the way for Stellantis to sell its stake earlier this year.The July 2023 amendment to the Windsor-Brampton re-tooling contract says the parties agreed to change it "[a]s part of the consideration for the contribution provided under the [NextStar deal]."The amendment added a definition of the NextStar deal to the re-tooling one, as well as a new scenario that would be considered an event of default under the contract: closing the Brampton factory before the end of 2035.But there are exceptions. One is a closure caused by plant upgrades — which the company started in Brampton that year, then halted early last year. The other is a closure caused by "circumstances beyond the Recipient's reasonable control" that have made the plant "commercially unviable." In that case, Stellantis must “produce substantial evidence that it has promptly taken all reasonable commercial efforts to secure alternative mandates” for the plant. The amendment then adds a clause requiring Stellantis to repay the government should there be a default — but subsequent details are fully redacted. The government cited sections of the Access to Information Act dealing with commercially sensitive information provided by third parties in making the redaction.Industry Minister Mélanie Joly has said all three contracts — two with NextStar, one with Stellantis — are connected through the amendment.Industry Minister Mélanie Joly speaks before the House of Commons' industry and technology committee on Nov. 3, 2025. (ParlVu)“There are jobs guarantees in all of the different contracts,” she told a parliamentary committee last November. “But I must say also that you absolutely need to make sure that you see not only the contract that is linked to the investment through the Strategic Innovation Fund for the Windsor and Brampton facilities, but also its amendment — and we'll make sure that's the case.”A second amendment, signed in December 2023, is more heavily redacted, but changes the statement of work for the Windsor upgrades — which have since been completed — as well as cost breakdowns for all the projects.The industry department has said it's working on releasing an additional record it discovered while preparing its response to CBC Windsor's access to information request, but provided the 2022 re-tooling agreement and two amendments in a partial release. [ad_2] Source link
