As workers prepare for a strike vote and automaker Stellantis considers selling its Brampton plant to defence manufacturer Roshel, local industry insiders warn the company’s potential exit from the city could have far-reaching economic impacts.
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.
However, Stellantis announced in October 2025 that the vehicles would no longer be produced in Brampton, leaving workers and businesses that rely on automotive production at the facility uncertain about their future.
After exploring a range of options for the facility, Stellantis signed a memorandum of understanding with Roshel in September 2026, outlining a potential sale of the plant to the Canadian defence manufacturer.
Unifor has expressed opposition to the proposed deal.
“This 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’s economy will be worse-off as a result. I cannot state this in any clearer terms,” said Lana Payne, the national president of Unifor, in a letter to Industry Minister Mélanie Joly.
Currently, talks between Stellantis and Unifor are at an impasse as the union demands the company keep the Brampton assembly plant active.
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.
No replacement for auto plant jobs
“There is no replacement for an auto plant in any community, especially in Brampton where we have 3,000 members … working in the plant,” said Beato.
“On top of that, you have your independent part supplier base that feeds the plant … let alone the other spinoff jobs in the community regarding businesses, truck drivers … as far as how important an auto plant is to a community like Brampton … So many thousands of jobs come from the plant,” added Beato.
Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association, an organization representing Canada’s suppliers to the global automotive sector, testified before a parliamentary committee 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.
According to Invest Brampton, “every auto job in Brampton generates five to six spinoff jobs — 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.”
Not a nail in the coffin
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.
“Let’s be clear. The plant is closed … and it has been for over two years. The staff has been furloughed and nothing has happened inside that facility for some time … So the economic impact of that plant closure is not a hypothetical,” said Massey-Singh.
“Roshel is going to be producing light armoured automotive vehicles … among the reasons they are so interested in that facility is not simply because it’s 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,” he added.
Roshel CEO Roman Shimonov has said in public statements that laid-off Stellantis workers would get first consideration for jobs if Roshel were to become the plant’s new owner.
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.
Volpe argued that defence manufacturers operate at a much smaller production volume than automotive manufacturers, meaning it will generate far fewer orders from suppliers.
“We’re not gonna buy enough UVs (utility vehicles) to make up a week’s shift, never mind a month,” said Volpe.
Volpe stated in the past that Stellantis had produced 500 to 1,000 vehicles per day. Shimonov, in a public statement, said Roshel’s production rate is 120 units per month.
On the other hand, Massey-Singh said he believes that “right now, any impact would be a positive impact because they’re not getting any business and that’s not just those who are in the supply chain formerly of Stellantis.”
“Those businesses … already pivoted. None of these businesses… are sitting around, waiting … No one has an expectation that Stellantis is coming back,” added Singh.
Suppliers still hopeful
However, Volpe said suppliers are looking at Stellantis’ recently announced five-year plan, which outlines new investment and production through 2030.
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.
“In 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’t cost anything for us to wait,” said Volpe.
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.
“We’re gonna be making cars here again in that plant with these supplies with those profit margins because that’s who we are,” said Volpe.
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Bridget Potasky, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Mississauga.com.