The automaker has agreed to bring pickup truck assembly back to its Oshawa, Ont. plant starting in January 2022 if the deal is ratified. The plan would see the company invest up to $1.3 billion in the plant and hiring between 1,400 to 1,700 new workers at the facility. It would also invest $109 million for engine and transmission production at its St. Catharines, Ont. plant and $500,000 for its Woodstock, Ont. distribution centre. Union members are expected to vote on the labour agreement on November 8. (The Logic)

Talking point: The deal breaks a pattern in the Detroit Three automakers’ labour agreements signed with Unifor in Ontario this fall. In September, Ford announced a $1.8-billion investment, including contributions from the provincial and federal governments, to build electric vehicles at its Oakville, Ont. plant. Fiat Chrysler followed suit less than a month later, with up to $1.5 billion to retool its Windsor, Ont. plant for plug-in- or hybrid-vehicle manufacturing. An industry insider familiar with GM’s negotiations told The Logic last month that the last of the automakers to negotiate its labour agreement was unlikely to offer EV investments in the province, in part because GM is already heavily invested in the vertical in the U.S. GM reported better-than-expected earnings on Thursday, driven by an uptick in pickup-truck sales. In a statement on its labour agreement, GM noted that its pickup division is the “largest and most important market segment” in North America, and helps fund the company’s “transition to … electric, autonomous and highly connected” vehicles.