The $2.5 billion investment from federal and Ontario governments to support the country’s auto industry hit by the ongoing U.S. trade war on Canada, is likely to provide some reassurance to auto industry workers at the GM plant in Oshawa and the deadlocked Stellantis plant in Brampton.
Oshawa GM plant has seen shift cuts (see below), while contract talks between Unifor and Stellantis are at an impasse, in part, over the company’s intent to sell the plant to a defence contractor, ending vehicle production in Brampton and affecting thousands of workers in the local supply chain.
The workers’ union is also focused on securing a strong, sustainable future for Stellantis’ Windsor and Etobicoke plants as well as on calling for a solution for the idled General Motors CAMI plant in Ingersoll, Ontario.
The funding, announced as part of a joint Canada-Ontario action plan, is designed to help automakers invest in modern machinery and upgraded production lines to strengthen the sector amid tariff turmoil.
“We view this as a vote of confidence in our domestic auto sector that employs half a million Canadian workers,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne. “It also reinforces a critical message: there is a future for auto manufacturing in Canada, and we must continue to fund it and fight for it.”
Make Commitments Enforceable
The union is calling for public investments to be paired with enforceable commitments. “Multi-billion-dollar funding agreements with automakers must come with strict, long-term guarantees for Canadian production and jobs to prevent investment and manufacturing capacity from moving elsewhere,” said a Unifor statement welcoming the investment.
Unifor is further calling on the federal government to strengthen its auto industrial strategy by prioritizing Canadian manufacturing, protecting good-paying jobs and securing future production. Policies should reward automakers that invest in Canada, rather than subsidize vehicles built offshore with little or no Canadian content. The union continues to urge the government to reconsider its stance on Chinese electric vehicle imports and focus on building a competitive domestic EV supply chain.
Unifor is Canada’s largest union in the private sector, representing 320,000 workers in every major area of the economy.
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