Industry and Technology Committee on Nov. 3rd, 2025

[Philip Jennings]

What I can say is that we are working with Stellantis. We launched this already last week—talking to them about trying to release as much as we can to this committee so that you can have a full understanding of what the covenants are in that contract and so that you can make your own judgments in terms of whether there's a breach or not.

[Ted Falk, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

Do you have any answers about what protections there would be in the contract for the Government of Canada or the employees in Brampton?

[Philip Jennings]

I am aware of what's in that contract. I'm just not at liberty to share it, due to the commercial confidential nature of it. Under the contract, both parties have to be in agreement for it to be released publicly.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ben Carr]

Mr. Falk, unfortunately that's the duration of our time.

Thank you.

Mr. Ntumba, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Bienvenu-Olivier Ntumba, Liberal, Mont-Saint-Bruno—L’Acadie, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Jennings, for some time we have been talking about diversifying our various export markets to countries other than the United States. I would like to hear your thoughts on the benefits of doing so.

[Philip Jennings]

Our economy is highly dependent on our exports to the United States. Honestly, an open market really makes sense since it is such a huge market and is so close to us. The events of recent months have nonetheless forced us to consider whether it makes sense to be so dependent on a single economy. So the plan is really to diversify our export markets as much as possible.

That was the government's intention in the past and we have made a lot of progress. Since the free trade agreement with Europe was concluded, we have doubled our exports there in recent years. We want to continue to have greater access to markets. Nonetheless, companies need a lot of time to reorient themselves to those other markets, that is, to produce different products from those that are sold to the United States.

Earlier, I mentioned that programs were established in September. The most suitable in this regard is the strategic response fund, which will support companies that want to make investments to reorient their exports to markets other than the United States and create new products for the local market or markets other than the United States.

I also want to be clear that the U.S. market will always be important for Canada. So we all want to have a reasonable agreement with the United States so we can continue to have access to that market that is as free as possible.

[Bienvenu-Olivier Ntumba, Liberal, Mont-Saint-Bruno—L’Acadie, QC]

Thank you for your answer.

Mr. Vincent, Mr. Jennings noted earlier that it takes time. I know we can't buy time and just have to take things as they come. What strategies are being considered to bolster the resilience of Canada's automotive industry in reaction to unilateral decisions by multinational companies?

[Charles Vincent]

Thank you very much for the question.

It's obviously a complicated situation when you get into global marketplaces and global supply chains. I think one of the most important things that Canadian businesses are confronting right now is an understanding of a scenario that's very unpredictable for them, with a lot of changing rules and regulations, both internationally in the United States and, frankly, globally as well.

From that standpoint, I think what we're trying to make sure we do, from a Government of Canada standpoint, is to provide the supports necessary for businesses to plan, as best as possible, in a scenario that represents a high degree of uncertainty. Whether that is through trade agreements that exist and helping them make sure they can access foreign markets, or whether that's through understanding what products and marketplaces they can access most effectively, all of those things are strategies that we are working on actively right now with companies to try to make sure they're in a position not only to bridge through a difficult time but also to be positioned for a future in which they will need to make sure they can stay competitive at a global level.

[Bienvenu-Olivier Ntumba, Liberal, Mont-Saint-Bruno—L’Acadie, QC]

Thank you.

Mr. Tessier and Mr. Martel, what lessons do you draw from the situation to improve the governance of publicly funded industrial partnerships?

[Denis Martel, Director General, Innovation Canada, Department of Industry]

We are always open to learning new lessons. We have processes and have talked about the various clauses of the agreements that we want to implement. So we are on a learning curve, and we will absorb those lessons over time. We are also learning from our interactions with companies to make sure we have the information we need to implement the contracts.

[Bienvenu-Olivier Ntumba, Liberal, Mont-Saint-Bruno—L’Acadie, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ben Carr]

Excellent. Thank you very much.

Colleagues, we have five minutes left so I will just divide up the time: 90 seconds for the Bloc Québécois, two minutes for the Conservatives and two minutes for the Liberals.

Mr. Ste-Marie, you have 90 seconds.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette—Manawan, QC]

Thank you. I will be quick.

Mr. Jennings, what impact would you say the Stellantis decision has had on the automotive ecosystem in Canada?

[Philip Jennings]

We feel it has had a major impact. On one hand, investing in the assembly plant is really a safe investment, because there is a whole ecosystem around those plants. To our minds, the fact that that company has an assembly plant is important, even though it is at risk right now.

Let me be clear. The decision to move the production of the Jeep Compass to Belvidere is worrisome. Discussions with the company are ongoing, however, and it is saying that the Brampton plant will soon have a new mandate. That is what we want. That is why we are focusing so much on supporting investments related to assembly, because every job in that sector supports seven or eight other jobs, either directly or indirectly.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette—Manawan, QC]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ben Carr]

Perfect.

Ms. Dancho, you have two minutes.

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, again, for being here.

I just want to continue on this line of questioning about the breach. You mentioned, Mr. Deputy Minister, that—I'm paraphrasing what you said—we think they are on grounds such that the agreement was breached. They moved the Jeep Compass. They are leading up to a breach.

It really seems like this breach is more about the production of what was happening at Brampton and not so much with the jobs. Again, that's my speculation, by just knitting together everything that's been said today.

I'll ask you one more time, though. Can you confirm that this agreement with Brampton was about production guarantees, not job guarantees?

[Philip Jennings]

What I can say is that, for all SIF agreements—and this would be on as well—there are job commitments that are made. I think it's fair to say that there's a potential—

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

In this case, it's also production.

[Philip Jennings]

That's correct. We expect production to take place over a number of years. That's typical for an auto plant. Just to be clear, that's unique for this sector and for that type of manufacturing.

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

This is a question that I have, though, because this agreement was announced on May 2, 2022, by the Prime Minister's Office, actually. At that time, the Brampton facility was supposed to be doing an EV Dodge Charger. The Jeep Compass came later and, of course, the Dodge Charger EV version was shelved late in this past spring or early summer.

Was the original agreement for an EV Dodge Charger, and was that later amended to include the Jeep Compass?

[Philip Jennings]

The intention of the company, initially, was around EVs. Just to be clear, the intention for many of the manufacturers has been that the EV would come on stream and that the demand would be stronger than it has been.

The electrification pathway has slowed. It's still growing, but it's not at the same pace we expected, so Stellantis changed plans in terms of when the EV versions of the Dodge Charger as well as the Jeep Compass would come on stream.

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

Okay. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ben Carr]

I'm sorry, Ms. Dancho. That's your time. Thank you.

Ms. O'Rourke, the floor is yours for two minutes.

[Dominique O'Rourke, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Just to recap, we've heard from the ministry that we're talking about $42 million, not $15 billion. It's not even close.

The minister made it clear that the Government of Canada is fighting for every job and for the auto sector, not just for today in this period but also for future positioning. Despite assurances last week by Mr. Hines of Stellantis that he wants to keep production in Canada, they did not flag material changes or discuss mitigating solutions with sufficient notice to the ministry. That is my understanding.

The SIF contract that we have—just using it as a template—has a resolution process. The minister said today that she is going to embark on that process. Can you tell us a bit about what the next steps look like so that we can fight to retain those jobs, today and in the future?