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The Stellantis vehicle assembly plant in Brampton, Ont., on Oct. 15. The automaker announced in October that production of the Jeep Compass will be moved to Illinois from Brampton.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
Federal politicians blasted Stellantis NV STLA-N for failing to appear on Tuesday at a parliamentary committee hearing to examine the agreement that provided millions of dollars in taxpayer funding for the automaker’s since-mothballed assembly plant in Brampton, Ont.
Members of Parliament on the standing committee on government operations and estimates were provided redacted copies of the funding agreement and were to ask questions of Stellantis and industry department officials behind closed doors.
But no one from Stellantis was present on Parliament Hill, and technical difficulties prevented their appearance by video, to the frustration of politicians from all parties.
They are seeking reasons for Stellantis’s decision to move planned production of the Jeep Compass to Illinois from Brampton, and an accounting of the agreement that provided up to $529-million in public funding for retooling at the plant near Toronto and another assembly plant in Windsor. An agreement with Ontario provided as much as $513-million for the projects.
Funding agreements key to Ottawa’s potential legal battle with Stellantis
After Stellantis announced the move to Illinois, the federal government threatened to sue the automaker and triggered a review to determine if the company has breached the agreement.
Vince Gasparro, a Toronto Liberal MP, called the automaker’s no-show on Tuesday “unacceptable.”
It is “stupefying that they would not appear,” said Kelly McCauley, the committee’s chair and a Conservative MP from Edmonton.
Teresa Piruzza, Stellantis’s director of external affairs and public policy, was available but unable to connect remotely despite help from the committee’s technical team, LouAnn Gosselin, a Stellantis spokeswoman, told The Globe and Mail.
Politicians at the meeting were given for-their-eyes-only copies of the funding agreement for the plants. Information deemed commercially sensitive by Stellantis and government officials was blacked out, prompting criticisms from some MPs.
“This is taxpayer dollars,” said Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, a Bloc Québécois MP. “What about the jobs? What about the commitment?”
Federal MPs question Stellantis executive about moving Jeep production from Brampton
The committee is not releasing the agreement publicly. It called for Stellantis to appear before it by Dec. 4 or face a summons to do so.
Philip Jennings, deputy minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, said some information was withheld to protect the company as well as the government, which needs to shield some of its practices from other countries that also use public aid to encourage private investments.
“We do not discuss the actual terms of the contract in a public setting,” Mr. Jennings said. “The agreement we’ve had with Stellantis is that we would share the redacted version” with the committee “and have discussions of it in a closed-door session.”
The Brampton plant closed almost two years ago and some 3,000 workers were laid off. Stellantis, maker of Chrysler, Dodge and other brands, began retooling the plant to make the Jeep with aid from the federal and Ontario governments. The worked halted in February as U.S. President Donald Trump outlined plans to place 25-per-cent tariffs on imported cars.
Stellantis said in October it would move production of the Jeep from Brampton to Illinois as part of its plan to boost auto production in the United States by 50 per cent over four years.
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Ms. Gosselin said in an e-mail, “We continue to work constructively with government partners and other stakeholders on a plan for Brampton to find viable solutions that build a sustainable, long-term future for automotive manufacturing in Canada.”
Ottawa and Ontario also provided Stellantis and LG Energy with up to $15-billion in aid to build the NextStar Energy battery plant in Windsor. That plant began production in October, employing 1,100 people. According to the federal agreement, the plant is to employ a total of 2,500 people in a year.
