Ontario NDP Leader slams Ford government over Diageo closure during Windsor stop

The Diageo bottling plant in Amherstburg. August 28, 2025

The Ontario NDP Leader has a busy couple of days in Windsor.

Marit Stiles came to the city on Wednesday, where she started out by meeting with former employees of the Diageo Crown Royal bottling facility - hearing firsthand the anger and uncertainty these individuals continue to face following the recent closure.

The bottling plant officially closed on February 25, putting over 200 people out of a job. Stiles met with these workers at the Unifor hall where she says the mood was a mix of frustration and disappointment with the Ontario government.

The closure was announced in August 2025. Premier Doug Ford continued to warn he would pull Crown Royal products from LCBO shelves if Diageo failed to keep the jobs in Ontario. Ford even dumped out a bottle of the whisky during a televised news conference.

In mid-February 2026, the province then struck a $23-million agreement with Diageo that kept its products in LCBO stores but did not save the Amherstburg facility. The deal included $500,000 for Invest WindsorEssex and $500,000 for community support initiatives.

Stiles says these former workers are still very upset.

“They’re angry, they’re angry at the government, they’re angry at their own local MPPs - we heard that pretty loud and clear. And I think we’re hoping that we can do more now to keep the pressure on for the government to deliver some solutions. They were just really unhappy about the so-called deal the government got... they want jobs back.”

She says the deal made didn’t save a single job in Amherstburg.

“There’s a bunch of people who weren’t old enough to qualify to retire, to get their pensions, and keep benefits... a lot of people who are in that age that I’m at... in your 40’s, your 50’s, it’s going to be hard to find another job, they don’t have benefits now, and they would’ve loved some of those dollars helping them.”

Stiles says the only ones who benefited from the deal was Doug Ford.

“The deal seems like it was a good deal for Doug [Ford], but a good deal for people? For workers? For Windsor? I don’t see it, and for Amherstburg certainly not. He used those workers with his little stunt with pouring out the Crown Royal and then he didn’t live up to it... that’s the real story here.”

Stiles also criticized local MPPs, saying they didn’t speak up when their community was being hit the hardest, and they didn’t advocate for Amherstburg workers.

Diageo had said the closure was part of a plan to streamline its North American supply chain, with production shifting to other facilities.

Stiles hosted an OSAP town hall on Wednesday night, and will be visiting the Titan Tool and Die picket line on Thursday afternoon.

-with files from AM800’s The Shift with Patty Handysides