For most of its life, the sprawling assembly plant in Brampton, Ontario, had one job: turn out rear-wheel-drive Chryslers and Dodges. Today its most valuable output might be a signature.

Stellantis wants to close Brampton Assembly and has signed a memorandum of understanding with Roshel, the armoured-vehicle builder, about a possible sale. We covered that proposed deal last week. The more revealing detail is in the bargaining room. According to Unifor, Stellantis has offered "only conditional agreement with the economic pattern settlement tied to the closing of Brampton."

A wage deal for thousands of people who still build things is being linked to the union's consent to shut a plant that hasn't built a car since 2023.

That tells you where the real obstacle is. Selling the building isn't the hard part. Anyone can sell a building, and Stellantis already has an interested buyer. What it can't do on its own is make the promises attached to the building go away, and those promises are what this fight is about.

A plant that was supposed to be the future

Brampton has always been an odd fit for the company that owns it. American Motors built it in 1986, and Chrysler picked it up a year later when it bought AMC. From 1992 on, it became the home of Chrysler's big sedans: first the LH cars, then the Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger and Dodge Challenger. The last of those Hemi-era sedans and coupes rolled out of Brampton in December 2023. By Stellantis's own count, the site covers 2.95 million square feet on 269 acres, with a stamping plant next door.

The end of the muscle cars was supposed to be an intermission. In May 2022, Stellantis announced a C$3.6 billion investment in Windsor and Brampton. Brampton would get a complete modernization starting in 2024, a new flexible vehicle architecture and at least one all-new electrified model. Taxpayers helped pay for that plan. Ottawa committed up to C$529 million, and Ontario provided money too. The chosen product was the next-generation Jeep Compass.

Then the ground moved. Retooling started in 2024 and was paused in February 2025, when, in Stellantis's words, the company "reassessed its North American product strategy." In October 2025, Stellantis announced a US$13 billion U.S. investment plan. That plan included more than $600 million to reopen Belvidere Assembly in Illinois for the Jeep Cherokee and Jeep Compass starting in 2027. The release doesn't mention Canada anywhere. Federal briefing documents later noted that those two Jeeps were the vehicles "initially planned to start being manufactured in 2026 at the Brampton, ON facility."

Story Continues

Canadian discount department store Zellers is reviving its long-standing presence at Shoppers World in Brampton, Ontario, as the retailer prepares to return to the mall after closing its doors there 14 years ago.

Zellers is set to return to the Brampton mall, according to a site plan shared on property owner RioCan's website, with a Zellers retail space shown on the layout marked "coming soon."

Avid Shoppers World-goers will remember the Zellers that first opened in the mall in 1998, replacing the big-box department store Kmart, and operated there for the next 14 years, serving the local community's needs for discounted apparel and home goods.

The longstanding store eventually closed in 2012, after Hudson's Bay Company decided to wind down operations of Zellers locations across Canada, making way for an ill-fated Target expansion into the country and its takeover of former Zellers real estate throughout the province.

Although the multi-million-dollar deal was signed and sealed, Target never opened in the former Zellers location at Shoppers World, and even the Target stores that did open elsewhere in Ontario didn't last long.

But now, Zellers is preparing for its much-anticipated comeback, taking over a large strip in a central location of the mall. It will replace the now-closed Ardenes, right across from guest services.

This move is part of the retailer's recent expansion project to bring Zellers back to the Canadian market, with only three other stores currently open in the country, with one active location in Toronto.

The announcement has already sparked online buzz, with Zellers fans taking to social media to express excitement about its return to Shoppers World. "Finally! Zellers has come back," someone wrote in a Reddit post, while another user said, "Zellers is coming back to the mall, wild."

Beyond the excitement, the size of the upcoming store has many noting that it's been downsized from its original Shoppers World location. "It's crazy that the entire lower left side from this drawing used to be Zellers, and now it's relegated to a small part of the inner mall," a Redditor points out.

While many may feel it is disappointing that Zellers now occupies less square footage than when it first joined the mall's directory of businesses in 1998, shoppers should note that Zellers now operates under a new store-concept strategy.

Les Ailes de la Mode Inc., Zellers' owner, calls its latest lineup of openings "Zellers 3.0," with stores purposely smaller than their original locations from the '90s.

With no opening date confirmed, shoppers will need to watch for more information and details on this news.

Shoppers World is located at 499 Main St. S. in Brampton, Ont.

The Brampton Steelheads will invoke a dearly departed Ontario Hockey League club when they play a pair of neutral site games later the month.

The Steelheads will be participating the OHL’s Seaway Shootout on Friday, October 16, and Saturday, October 17, an event bringing major junior hockey back to the city of Cornwall, Ontario. To mark the occasion, the Steelheads announced on Thursday, October 1 that they’ll wear replicas of the jerseys worn by the Cornwall Royals, who competed in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League and the OHL to 1969 to 1992.

The jerseys feature the Royals’ original logo on the front of the white jersey, with four blue stars outlined in red above. The collar and shoulder yoke are solid blue, with the Steelheads’ logo on the right shoulder and the Seaway Shootout event logo on the left. Both the waist and sleeves feature a broad blue stripes flanked by narrower red stripes.

“Cornwall holds a special place in the history of major junior hockey, and the Royals built a legacy that still resonates in this community more than three decades later. The Seaway Shootout is a celebration of that history, and seeing the Royals colours back on the ice at the Civic Complex is a fitting way to honour the players, fans and volunteers who made Cornwall one of the great junior hockey markets in the country.”

— Bryan Crawford, Commissioner, Ontario Hockey League

The jerseys also appear to have the logo of the Xposed Ball Hockey League — an organization based in Orillia, Ontario, that organizes ball hockey leagues for youth and adults — on the chest, opposite the OHL logo. Neither the OHL nor the Steelheads mentioned the XBHL in their press releases.

Jerseys seen in photos and videos accompanying Thursday’s announcement weren’t crested with numbers or names on the sleeves or back. But original Royals jerseys had blue numbers with a red outline on the sleeves.

When the team based in Cornwall — located along the St. Lawrence River, about 45 kilometres from the Quebec border — first joined the QMJHL in 1969, it got hundreds of entries in a contest to help create a new identity. The winner was a 15-year-old high school student named Roger Healy, who won a transistor radio so he could listen to Royals games when they were on the road.

The Royals’ intellectual property is now owned by local businessman and hockey historian Marty Benson, who gave the OHL and the Steelheads permission to use the logo in the Seaway Shootout.

The Royals played in the QMJHL until 1981, when they transferred to the OHL. While in the QMJHL, they won the Presidents’ Cup three times (1972, 1980, 1981) and, after each one, went on to win the Memorial Cup.

The Royals moved to Newmarket, Ontario, in 1992, keeping the Royals moniker but redesigning the logo. They only lasted two years there, though, before relocating again and becoming the Sarnia Sting in 1994.

The Steelheads will play two games as the Royals during the Seaway Shootout: Friday, October 16, against the Ottawa 67s and Saturday, October 17, against the Kingston Frontenacs. Game-worn Royals jerseys will be auctioned off following the weekend, with proceeds going to OHL Assists, “the league’s charitable foundation and philanthropic arm intended to enhance community-driven initiatives that brings the league and its communities together.”

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Memorandum sets a framework for a potential deal with Roshel for the idled Ontario auto factory

Stellantis NV signed a memorandum with a Canadian armored vehicle manufacturer that outlines steps toward the sale of an idled car factory near Toronto — a move that represents yet another ripple effect of U.S. tariffs on the Canadian auto sector.

Roshel Inc., which is headquartered near the Stellantis plant in Brampton, Ontario, is trying to get a Canadian military contract worth as much as C$4.9 billion to build light utility vehicles. The company has told Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government it could reactivate the facility quickly if it lands that contract.

Roshel CEO Roman Shimonov said his company is the only serious potential buyer for the facility and described the memorandum as the first step in a “very complicated” process.

“It’s a document that clearly specifies the plan, the responsibilities, the framework and everything else,” Shimonov said.

LouAnn Gosselin, a Stellantis spokesperson, confirmed the two companies have signed the document.

“Following consideration of a number of potential opportunities, Stellantis believes that Roshel represents a strong path to restoring sustainable operations at Brampton Assembly, preserving the site’s strategic role in Canada’s advanced manufacturing sector and helping to avoid a prolonged period of inactivity,” Gosselin said in a statement.

The Stellantis plant employed about 3,000 unionized workers when it was making vehicles, but it hasn’t been in production since late 2023. A plan to build the Jeep Compass SUV there was scrapped last year after President Donald Trump announced plans to impose tariffs on foreign-made vehicles.

The canceled production sparked a furious reaction from the Canadian government, which had given hundreds of millions of dollars in financial help to Stellantis. The automaker is currently at the bargaining table with Unifor, which represents the plant’s workers.

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Unifor said last month it’s been informed Stellantis may close and sell the plant. The mayor of Brampton, Patrick Brown, told Bloomberg News recently that his office has received a number of inquiries about the plant, including one from China’s BYD Co.

Gosselin said Stellantis has a 100-year history of operations in Canada and remains “committed to supporting Canadian jobs, innovation and the long-term competitiveness of the country’s automotive sector.”

The company won’t comment further due to the bargaining with Unifor, she said.

On Sept. 11, the union said it had reached an “impasse” in its Stellantis talks, citing the Brampton plant and conversations with Roshel as a central cause.

“The persistence of the company’s proposal to close and sell the Brampton plant has hindered the bargaining process,” Unifor said in an emailed statement, adding that the proposed facility closure and sale threaten compensation for its members. “There is no economic substitute for automotive assembly in Canada, including the extensive supply chain, regional economic activity, and high-quality, union jobs connected to it.”

Flavio Volpe, president of Canada’s Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association, said he wishes Roshel the best as a company but does not support the plant being sold to them. The scale of a Stellantis vehicle production line pales in comparison to what Roshel can do, he said.

“That plant is the nerve center of 60 years or so of volume automotive manufacturing,” he said. “That means 500 to 1,000 vehicles a day. That means 3,000 people in the plant, and 9,000 to 12,000 people outside the plant in suppliers and supporting services.”

He said Stellantis still has unassigned production lines for its future vehicle plans, and it can still eventually use the plant again.

“I really think we need Roshel in this country, and we need a lot of Roshels, but we don’t need Roshel in Brampton at that plant,” Volpe said.

Roshel’s pitch is that it would still work with partners in the automotive sector to bring new vehicle business to the plant, alongside its own plans to build armored vehicles there and attract other defense work.

“This proposal is not about creating a substitution to an automotive plant but rather adding defense on top of the automotive production capabilities,” Shimonov said.

Contract negotiations between Stellantis and Unifor, the union representing its Canadian workers, have “reached an impasse” with the news that the automaker has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to sell its idled plant in Brampton, Ontario to Roshel, a Brampton-based company that builds armoured vehicles.

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The union said the automaker “has yet to confirm forecasted plans” for its facilities in Windsor, which build the Chrysler Pacifica and Dodge Charger; nor for its Etobicoke Casting Plant in Toronto.

The Brampton plant was built in 1986 by American Motors Corporation (AMC). The Chrysler Corporation bought that company and acquired the plant the following year. It was the only facility making the Chrysler 300, and Dodge Charger and Challenger, before they were discontinued and the plant idled at the end of 2023.

It was slated to produce gasoline and electric versions of the all-new 2026 Jeep Compass, but in October 2025, Stellantis announced that vehicle would move to its plant in Ohio. While the automaker didn’t state it, the move was apparently due to the Trump administration placing tariffs on vehicles made outside the U.S. Stellantis said it had “plans for Brampton” and added a third shift to the Windsor plant. In late 2025, the Canadian government said Stellantis was “in default” on some $529 million in taxpayer funding to help retool the plant.