OTTAWA – The federal government was actively and intensively part of discussions that ended in the agreement to sell a Stellantis car assembly plant to Canadian armoured vehicle manufacturer Roshel, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the talks.
The sources said the federal government also did not stand in the way of the deal in those private discussions.
Stellantis announced the sale of the Brampton, Ont., car assembly plant to Roshel on Monday. The plant has been idle since 2023, with more than 2,200 workers on lay-off pay.
Roshel has said it will re-tool the plant for both auto and defence manufacturing. The company also said it will need a sizeable workforce and will prioritize re-hiring Stellantis workers, but it has not said how many people it will hire.
On Tuesday, Industry Minister Melanie Joly expressed disappointment in Stellantis and Prime Minister Mark Carney called the sale a “betrayal.”
“The situation in Stellantis, in the Brampton plant, is unacceptable. It violates the obligations that Stellantis has under several agreements,” Carney said. “It’s a betrayal of the workers, as it is a betrayal of the obligations to Canada and, by extension, to all Canadians.”
Despite the public dismay conveyed by Carney and Joly on Tuesday, sources said the federal government had been engaging directly with both companies, knew the terms of the proposed sale and did not stand in the way of it.
Two of the sources said there were more than a dozen meetings between the government and the companies in the last several months. One of the sources said the government was initially opposed to the sale when discussions began.
Given the scope and nature of the government’s private involvement, the three sources were surprised at the federal government’s reaction following the announcement of the sale.
A senior government official said Stellantis presented multiple proposals to the government, none of which Ottawa endorsed.
They added that the government expressed its concerns to Stellantis about the proposed deal, with the message conveyed by multiple levels. The source said the government had not received a satisfactory response from Stellantis on its overall approach and noted that the 2022 funding agreement between Stellantis and the government sets minimum employment expectations.
CTV News is not identifying the official or the sources because they were not permitted to disclose details of the confidential discussions.
In an interview with Vassy Kepelos on CTV Power Play Tuesday, Roshel CEO Roman Shimanov said he has no doubt the deal will go through.
“We prepared the plan. We shared it with the government,” he said. “We have a very specific plan that is not only about defence, the plan is talking about attracting other automakers from other countries.”
In a statement to CTV News, Joly’s office said it could not comment on discussions that happened “under the seal of confidentiality.”
“The government heard many proposals,” Joly’s spokesperson Mathis Denis said.
“The government of Canada never advocated for a deal between Roshel and Stellantis,” he added. “We remain unsatisfied with the plans we have seen but will not discuss what was exchanged in confidence.”
Asked for a response to the reporting from CTV News on Tuesday, Stellantis declined to comment.
Stellantis offered to repay $24M to feds: sources
In 2022, the federal government committed up to $529 million to Stellantis to retool both its plants in Brampton and Windsor, Ont. Records show $222 million had been paid out as of March 2025, however, no breakdown was provided to detail how much went to each plant.
In a statement shared Tuesday, Stellantis said it has offered to “voluntarily return the government support received for Brampton Assembly’s original retooling plan.”
Stellantis spokesperson LouAnn Gosselin did not disclose how much money that was. Three sources said it amounts to $24 million for the Brampton plant.
The federal government did not respond to a request for comment on the sum.
Separately, Shimanov told BNN Bloomberg that as part of the yet-to-be-released deal, Stellantis has agreed to lease back 25 per cent of the existing plant. Two sources told CTV News that part of the plant could be used for other electric vehicle-related product assembly.
Stellantis declined to comment on the lease back plan.
“Yesterday’s news was about announcing the sale of the facility to Roshel. We have no further details to share,” Gosselin said.
With files from CTV News Toronto’s Chris Fox
