LILLEY: Melanie Joly playing a dangerous game with Stellantis
· Toronto Sun
The question now isn’t whether Melanie Joly can save the 2,200 jobs being lost at Stellantis in Brampton – i t’s whether she wants to chase the company’s remaining 8,800 Canadian jobs out of the country.
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Joly, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s industry minister, is acting like a bull in a china shop in the way she is dealing with Stellantis. It’s alienating people in the company and across the industry while making the wider business community question working with the Carney government.
At a news conference held at an auto parts plant near Toronto on Friday, Joly essentially threatened the entire Stellantis operation over the sale of the Brampton plant.
“Documents are clear, contracts also are clear. The Brampton facility of Stellantis is linked to the Windsor plant and also the battery investments, and that’s why I said, and I continue to say, that Stellantis is on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars,” Joly said.
She sounds like a mob boss issuing a warning: “Nice factory you got there, would be a pity if anything were to happen to it.”
Threats won’t build cars
Here’s the problem.
Documents obtained by CBC show Stellantis is likely not in violation of its agreement to keep the Brampton plant open until 2035.
The documents specifically state the company is not in violation of the agreement if the plant becomes commercially unviable due to circumstances beyond its control, provided it can show that it took “all reasonable commercial efforts to secure alternative mandates.”
The company has been in talks with the union and the government for a year trying to find a solution. It hasn’t found a solution that would make producing a new vehicle line in Brampton commercially viable.
And that’s where Joly’s argument starts to fall apart.
U.S. tariffs a factor
A big reason for that is a factor outside of the company’s control: the tariffs imposed by the United States.
Now, this is an area where the Carney government, including Joly, could play a useful role. They could put some time and effort into getting a deal to eliminate, or at least lower, the tariffs.
Instead, they walked away from talks in August, declared we are at war with the U.S., and haven’t put much effort into securing a new deal.
On Friday, CBC ’s Meagan Fitzpatrick asked a reasonable question of Joly, given the existing tariffs and the fact that Donald Trump has threatened more tariffs as early as Jan. 1.
“What is your government doing right now to end this trade war?” Fitzpatrick asked.
Joly’s response was essentially dismissive of the idea that they need to take action.
“Well, first and foremost, the most important thing is we didn’t start this trade war. This was started by the Trump administration,” she said.
“They decided to impose unjustified and illegal tariffs against our auto workers, and we’ve been fighting against these tariffs for more than 18 months, and we will continue to do that.”
Here is my statement following my meeting with Stellantis: pic.twitter.com/tAoSJejO2e
— Mélanie Joly (@melaniejoly) November 13, 2026
Fighting or just complaining?
Fighting against these tariffs how?
Being against them is fine, and it’s true that Trump started this, but fighting against them should include taking action. Walking away from talks and not fully engaging afterwards is surrendering, as is surrendering the Stellantis jobs in Brampton.
It’s great that Carney is flying around the world trying to strike new trade deals, but we aren’t going to sell the kind of vehicles made in places like Brampton, Oshawa, Oakville, Alliston, Cambridge or Windsor to the folks living in Europe, India or China.
These are vehicles designed and built for the North American market, so no amount of trade diversification will save these auto jobs.
The jobs still worth saving
To save jobs at the remaining facilities, we need the Carney government to get serious about securing a deal with Washington.
Doing that will require putting politics aside and doing what is best for Canada and Canadian workers rather than what is best for the Liberal Party.
Instead, Joly is threatening to sue Stellantis and, in doing so, threatening the rest of the jobs the company has in Canada.
Brampton is lost. Windsor, Alliston and the rest don’t have to be. But if Joly keeps swinging first and negotiating second, they may be next.