Canada's automotive capital is bracing for the worst

This translated article is appearing here as part of an Election 2025 collaboration between Le Devoir and Canada’s National Observer, to share news across the language divide.

Workers at the Stellantis plant in Windsor passed through the imposing steel turnstiles for the last time on Friday before a two-week suspension of operations, which is reassuring no one in the city dependent on auto jobs.

“The damage is already done. I don't think we'll recover. Canada has already lost so many factories... We'll see what happens,” says Peter, a Stellantis employee for 25 years, lunch box in hand, ready to start his last shift before the forced break. He asked that we not publish his surname.

His employer, the car manufacturer of brands such as Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep, announced on Thursday morning, as well as to some 3,200 of his coworkers in Windsor, that they will have to stay at home until April 21. “At the moment, nobody knows if we will really come back. We have to take it one day at a time,” says his colleague Paul, who also prefers to withhold his surname, as he arrives at the factory. ”At least it's going to be nice weather. I'll be able to do some cycling.”

It's exactly three o'clock, and it's time for the shift change at Stellantis. A human tide pours out of the austere gray, windowless building and disperses towards the numerous parking lots. The engines of the Ram pickups roar as they leave the parking lot, after having let through the latecomers who are trying to rush into the factory before the bell.

“The shutdown will probably last longer. Tariffs are good for no one,” says Paula, cap perched firmly on her head. “Donald Trump is bipolar, so you wonder if the stock market crash will make him back down. It's really up to him.”

The manufacturer's spokeswoman, LouAnn Gosselin, confirmed to Le Devoir that operations at the huge 400,000-square-metre plant would be suspended at the end of the last shift on Friday, April 4, a decision justified by the news of US President Donald Trump's new tariffs. “Stellantis continues to assess the effects of the recently announced US tariffs on imported vehicles,” the company said in a statement. Workers in Mexico and the United States are also being laid off.

Windsor at risk of suffering

The Windsor plant assembles the Chrysler Pacifica minivan and the Dodge Charger electric model. Most of these new cars then head for the United States. Denis Desaulniers, 53, knows the plant like the back of his hand.

“Donald Trump has started a world [trade] war,” says Desaulniers, who has 32 years of service at the plant, built in 1928. ”We've been building cars for [almost] 100 years, we haven't stolen American jobs!”

He says he is grateful that the federal government has eliminated the one-week waiting period before he can collect his employment insurance benefits. This temporary measure came into effect as recently as this week. “If the auto industry leaves, there won't be much left in Windsor,” Desaulniers says with regret, worried that the plant shutdown will be prolonged.

Ryan Larocque agrees. The owner of Anchor Coffee, a small restaurant located halfway between the tunnel to Detroit and another car factory owned by Ford, Larocque says his customers are talking about the unfortunate uncertainty in which his city has been plunged.

“We're really in a state of speculation and waiting. I feel like at the beginning of [the pandemic of] COVID-19,” he tells Le Devoir, between two customers in his café, which is still as crowded as ever.

Automotive capital

Windsor, a city of 230,000 inhabitants, is located in the very south of Canada and is separated from Michigan, in the United States, by the Detroit River, which is about one kilometer wide. Visitors are greeted by a sign that reads: “Canada's Automotive Capital — the place to be!”

“The automotive sector is huge in Windsor. These are well-paid jobs, so if someone loses their job at Chrysler, they will spend less in the community,” says Marine Lefèvre, who worked as a translator for the car manufacturer during her 19 years in Windsor.

The federal government has retaliated with a 25 per cent tariff on certain vehicles imported from the United States, those from a minority of models that do not comply with the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).

With Canada in the midst of a federal election campaign, all political parties have made promises aimed at protecting the automotive sector and its workers. Stellantis still expects its employees to return to work on April 21, one week before the election.