Meeting 12 · November 3, 2025 · 10:58–13:00 (2h 2m)
45-14 witnesses · 242 interventions · 15,196 words
The committee studied the situation at the Stellantis Brampton facility and the broader challenges facing Canada's auto sector. Appearing were Minister of Industry Mélanie Joly, Deputy Minister Philip Jennings, Senior Assistant Deputy Minister Charles Vincent, Assistant Deputy Minister Stephanie Tanton, and Director General Denis Martel.
Minister Joly testified that Stellantis violated legally binding commitments by moving Jeep Compass production from Brampton to Illinois, and that the government is launching a 30-day formal dispute resolution process to recover taxpayer money and bring back production. She emphasized the government is fighting for auto workers, has reduced Stellantis's tariff remission quota by 50%, and is working with Ontario and Unifor, calling for national unity rather than partisan games.
Deputy Minister Jennings confirmed the government works hand-in-glove with Ontario on auto sector agreements, typically with a two-thirds Canada, one-third Ontario cost split for battery investments. He stated that Stellantis informed the government of the Brampton decision only the day before the public announcement, and that the government believes there are grounds leading toward a breach of contract, but a resolution process must be followed first. He noted the $15 billion figure is an "up to" amount tied to production, and that only about $42 million has been disbursed to date.
Senior Assistant Deputy Minister Vincent clarified that the $15 billion maximum contribution is linked to production and sale of battery cells and modules, and since the NextStar facility has not yet started cell production, the total fiscal outlay is about $42 million. He added that all strategic innovation fund agreements include regular commitments around jobs and maintenance of activity.
Assistant Deputy Minister Tanton explained that for every strategic innovation fund project, the department undertakes due diligence including technical, market, and financial assessments, and works closely with provincial counterparts. She noted all agreements include job numbers, co-op commitments, R&D obligations, and capital expenditure investments.
Director General Martel stated the department is always open to learning lessons from its interactions with companies to improve contract governance. He did not provide specific recommendations or disagree with other witnesses.
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Charles Vincent
Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Industry Sector, Department of Industry
Opening remarks
Sure. Thank you very much. What I would highlight is that in all the agreements under the strategic innovation fund there are regular commitments around jobs, around the maintenance of activity. Those are the types of—
Philip Jennings
Deputy Minister, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, Department of Industry
Opening remarks
Thank you. I guess I'll start off by framing that the automotive sector has been and continues to be a very important economic driver for the Canadian economy, contributing $17 billion of GDP last year, 125,000 direct jobs, almost 500,000 direct and indirect—
Stephanie Tanton
Assistant Deputy Minister, Innovation Canada, Department of Industry
Opening remarks
Thank you, Mr. Chair. For every SIF project, we work very closely with the company and undertake due diligence on that project. Our due diligence includes an assessment of the technical merits of the project and the market. We do a market assessment of the project to ensure there's a robust market to support the project moving forward. As well, we do a financial overview of the project. Throughout the due diligence, we also, in most instances and in the case of Ontario, almost always work very closely with our provincial counterparts to ensure we understand where their assessment of the project is moving and where they're looking, and the level of support they're looking to offer. We send a recommendation to the minister with regard to an approach and a negotiation strategy. Then we enter into negotiations with the company, which ultimately will lead to the terms that are in the final agreement. As the deputy did indicate, all of our agreements include job numbers, co-op numbers, R and D commitments, capex investments and then other benefit commitments depending on the nature of the project.
Denis Martel
Director General, Innovation Canada, Department of Industry
Opening remarks
We are always open to learning new lessons. We have processes and have talked about the various clauses of the agreements that we want to implement. So we are on a learning curve, and we will absorb those lessons over time. We are also learning from our interactions with companies to make sure we have the information we need to implement the contracts.