Keep Canada Refining: Protect Mississauga Jobs and Domestic Base Oil Supply
Every industrial machine and value-added production in Canada rely on specialized lubricants and greases to run. From mining haul trucks in northern Ontario to combines harvesting crops across the Prairies to conveyor belts and consumer safe packaging systems for food, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals, these products keep Canada moving. For 45 years, workers at the Mississauga Lubricants Centre have supplied those critical fluids.
Today, that entire domestic supply chain is at risk. American energy giant HF Sinclair has announced plans to shutter Canada’s only large-scale base oil refinery in Mississauga by 2027.
This shutdown is not happening because the plant is losing money. It is happening because a foreign corporate owner wants to cut costs, outsource production overseas, and export Canadian jobs to line shareholder pockets.
What is base oil, and why does it matter?
You might not see base oils every day, but modern Canadian life stops without them. Base oil is the essential ingredient in engine oils, heavy equipment greases, food processing machinery lubricants, and packaging fluids for medicines and cosmetics.
The Mississauga refinery produces 15,600 barrels per day of premium base oils, roughly 2.5 million litres every single day. It is the only facility of its kind in Canada, supplying domestic manufacturers and exporting to more than 80 countries worldwide.
If this facility closes, Canada will lose all domestic capacity to refine its own base oils. Every single drop required to keep our trains, trucks, food processing plants, and mining equipment running will have to be imported from abroad.
Profitable plant, corporate neglect: the “run-to-fail” model
Instead of reinvesting earnings into plant maintenance and equipment upgrades, HF Sinclair used a classic “run-to-fail” strategy: run the equipment into the ground without necessary upgrades, take the profits, and then walk away when major maintenance comes due.
Now, their restructuring plan will outsource refining to South Korea and the United States, ship the finished product back into Canada, and slap the Petro-Canada Lubricants label on the bottle.
Even worse, HF Sinclair plans to keep its research centre in Mississauga. That means Canadian taxpayers will continue funding the scientific research, while foreign plants reap the manufacturing rewards and profits.
Why this affects every Canadian
Shutting down Canada’s only base oil refinery hurts far more than one workplace:
- Good union jobs disappear: 150 dedicated plant workers face layoffs simply because an American corporation wants a cheaper footprint.
- Higher costs across our economy: Canadian manufacturers, farmers, and transit systems will be forced to buy imported oils at volatile international prices, leaving Canadian industries vulnerable to price spikes.
- Supply chains we don't control: When global trade disputes or shipping bottlenecks hit, Canada will have zero domestic supply of the lubricants to keep critical infrastructure running.
What needs to happen now
Canadian governments cannot stand by while foreign corporations buy up our industrial assets, extract profits, and abandon domestic capacity.
Unifor is calling on the federal and Ontario governments to take immediate action:
- Mandate domestic content: Implement domestic content rules, so the base oils and industrial greases used in Canada are refined right here in Canada. Domestic content is also a climate tool. Importing fuels generates far higher carbon emissions than using Canadian oil products directly to make lubricants and greases, so refining here cuts emissions while cutting foreign dependence.
- Designate the Mississauga Lubricants Centre as critical infrastructure: Treat base oil refining as an essential domestic industry that cannot be shuttered at corporate whim.
- Review foreign investment commitments: Enforce the net-benefit commitments made under the Investment Canada Act, the federal law that reviews foreign takeovers of Canadian companies, when foreign owners acquired this facility.
- Tie public research to Canadian jobs: Stop allowing corporations to take Canadian public research dollars while offshoring manufacturing and production.
