Stellantis Canada Under Fire For Skipping Parliamentary Hearing

Canadian federal lawmakers are furious with Stellantis for failing to show up during a highly anticipated parliamentary committee meeting this week — a session focused on millions of public dollars directed toward the automaker’s Canadian plants.

The Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates was set to ask the automaker tough questions behind closed doors after receiving a redacted version of its funding agreement with Canada’s federal government. That deal included up to $529 million federally (about $385 million USD) — and as much as $513 million from Ontario (about $375 million USD) — to retool Stellantis’ Brampton and Windsor facilities.

Instead of taking the heat, Stellantis was a no-show. According to media reports, the company had planned to attend via videoconference, but technical difficulties prevented the connection. The designated representative from the firm, Teresa Piruzza — Stellantis’ Director of External Affairs and Public Policy — was “available but unable to connect remotely,” despite help from the committee’s technical team.

Liberal MP Vince Gasparro said, “This is incredibly frustrating and […] at this point, unacceptable.” Conservative Committee Chair Kelly McCauley added that it was “stupefying that they would not appear.”

“Unfortunately, despite a successful test with the Committee’s IT team, and an appropriate log-in process, in accordance with the Committee’s instructions, Ms. Piruzza was not able to connect. The Committee’s IT team assisted directly, but the issue was not resolved,” Stellantis spokesperson Lou Ann Gosselin told the CBC.

This week’s committee hearing was designed to give Members of Parliament a chance to question both Stellantis and federal officials about the massive taxpayer-funded incentive deals — money intended to keep the automaker building vehicles in Canada and protect thousands of good-paying, unionized jobs in Ontario.

That pressure intensified last month when Stellantis revealed that Jeep® Compass (J4U) production would not be returning to the Brampton Assembly Plant as originally promised. Instead, the company plans to shift that production to the United States.

In a statement, Stellantis tried to reassure Canadians, saying the automaker “continue[s] to work constructively with government partners and other stakeholders on a plan for Brampton to find viable solutions that build a sustainable, long-term future for automotive manufacturing in Canada.”

Senior federal officials say Stellantis may have breached the terms of the agreements, which they insist included job protections. Meanwhile, Conservative MPs are hammering the former Trudeau government over whether those contract guarantees were ever strong enough in the first place — or if the Liberals handed over money without securing enforceable employment obligations.

Source: CBC News / Space Cafe YouTube