Canada’s auto sector is bracing for potentially bad news out of Ontario. Unifor, the union representing Detroit Three autoworkers in Canada, said this week that Stellantis has notified it of plans to seriously evaluate closing and selling the company’s Brampton Assembly Plant — a facility that has sat idle since December 2023.
In a statement, the union said on August 12, 2026, the company informed the union of its intent to open discussions with another firm about the potential sale of the plant. Stellantis has not yet issued a formal written closure notice; under the terms of the collective agreement, the company must provide no less than one year’s notice of any such closure or sale.
A plant caught in the tariff crossfire
The Brampton plant’s troubles trace back to a retooling plan that never fully materialized. The plant was closed for retooling in 2024 and was set to reopen in 2025 to produce the Jeep Compass, but Stellantis instead paused retooling and moved production to a factory in Illinois after President Trump imposed tariffs on Canadian goods. More precisely, Stellantis put the retooling work on hold in February 2025 and then confirmed in October 2025 that Compass production would shift entirely to the U.S., leaving Brampton without an assigned product ever since.
Unifor argues that redirecting the Compass breaches both its collective agreement and commitments Stellantis made in exchange for substantial government support — support that, according to reporting on the matter, totals more than $1 billion in combined federal and provincial funding pledged to the facility. The union says that despite months of engagement between Stellantis and government officials over the alleged breach, no satisfactory resolution has emerged.
More than 2,200 jobs in the balance
More than 2,200 Unifor Local 1285 members have remained on layoff since the plant went idle, receiving income security payments that replace about 70 percent of their regular pay. Vito Beato, president of the local, pushed back hard on the prospect of a permanent shutdown: “This is not how the story ends for Brampton,” he said, adding that closure “is not an option” as far as the union is concerned heading into upcoming contract talks.
Local politicians are also moving to limit Stellantis’s options. Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown noted that city council passed a motion restricting the property to automotive use only, meaning that even if Stellantis wanted to sell the site to a non-auto buyer, it likely couldn’t do so at anything close to full value.
For its part, Stellantis has stopped short of confirming Unifor’s account. A company spokesperson said only that Stellantis is “preparing to enter the collective bargaining process” and has “nothing to announce at this time,” adding that its focus remains on finding a sustainable manufacturing solution for the plant.
Timing matters
The disclosure lands at a delicate moment: Unifor’s current contract with Stellantis, which also covers the Windsor Assembly and Etobicoke Casting plants, expires September 20, putting Brampton’s future squarely on the table just as new negotiations get underway. If Stellantis ultimately proceeds with a closure rather than assigning Brampton a new model, the move would shrink the company’s Canadian manufacturing footprint and could push future Jeep production volume into existing U.S. plants — a shift that would mark one of the most consequential outcomes yet of the tariff-driven realignment reshaping North American auto manufacturing in 2026.
