Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said Stelco could face financial penalties or even a forced sale of their assets in Canada if they proceed with layoffs of up to 500 workers.
Speaking to reporters after an event in Ottawa on Wednesday, Joly said the federal government is continuing to work with the company on a solution, but “everything is on the table,” including legal action.
“We expect Stelco to follow the undertakings that they’ve committed to, to the Government of Canada, and right now, a business decision or even a change in market conditions cannot be used to not follow the commitment. So we’re reviewing the Stelco letter,” Joly said.
“A few possible outcomes of a court process can lead to financial penalties towards a company, forcing them to abide by the commitment, and also a forced divestiture, so forcing them sell their Canadian assets. Everything is on the table.”
“I’m always open to sit down with the company and find a solution, but we’re looking at everything that is possible to keep jobs in Canada.”
Stelco’s letter to Joly, obtained by Global News, was dated Oct. 9 in response to one sent by Joly on Oct. 5, in which she gave the company an ultimatum and five days to respond.
Joly’s letter to the company expressed “extreme disappointment” and claimed the layoffs constitute a direct breach of the company’s commitments under the Investment Canada Act.
Stelco maintained in its response that it hasn’t done anything wrong and claims the accusations from the federal government are “false.”
The Ontario-based steel manufacturer announced last month that pressure from U.S. tariffs forced it to concentrate steel production at its Lake Erie Works plant in Haldimand, and halt production at its plant in Hamilton. Although the company said some of those workers would be offered positions at the Haldimand facility, hundreds are still expected to be out of work.
U.S. President Donald Trump levied tariffs on steel products from Canada of up to 50 per cent under its Section 232 duties about a year-and-a-half ago, with other products like aluminum and autos also facing tariffs.
Here’s where things stand.
What is Ottawa saying?
Joly claimed in her letter to Stelco on Oct. 5 that the market dynamics surrounding Trump’s tariff policies do not excuse Stelco from its commitments under the Investment Canada Act, and that the federal government would be using the “full force of the law” if those jobs are not preserved.
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Joly told reporters last week that the chief executive of U.S.-based Cleveland-Cliffs, which acquired Stelco in 2024, has supported steel tariffs and therefore cannot characterize the company’s plan to lay off up to 500 workers due to tariffs and market pressures as beyond its control.
“He’s in favor of these U.S. tariffs against steel,” she said, referring to Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves’ public support of American steel tariffs.
“They cannot say that this is now an act of God or force majeure.”
The government says Cleveland-Cliffs made a series of commitments when it acquired the Ontario steelmaker, including preserving jobs and the Stelco name, maintaining and expanding its Canadian operations, generating cost savings, broadening its customer base and supporting unionized steel jobs.
In a release from 2024, Cleveland-Cliffs announced the agreed acquisition of Stelco and said they would “maintain significant employment levels in Canada and Canadian representation on the management team.”
Business lawyer Nassira El Hadri said the government appears to have moved past asking Cleveland-Cliffs to justify the layoffs, and is also asking for a plan outlining how it will comply with all of its undertakings.
“They are not asking for an explanation,” said El Hadri, founder of Hadri Law in Toronto. “They’re saying, ‘You have to give us a plan on how you are going to comply.’”
“These undertakings are not goodwill gestures,” El Hadri said. “They are binding.”
If the company responds by simply reiterating that the layoffs are necessary because of U.S. tariffs, she said the dispute could end up in court.
According to the federal government, the binding undertakings in the agreement from 2024 include:
- To respect Stelco’s historic brand by carrying on operations under the name, “Stelco, a Cleveland-Cliffs Company”;
- To maintain Stelco’s head office in Hamilton, with responsibility for Stelco’s day-to-day operations;
- To continue to employ at least the same number of unionized employees and the vast majority of non-unionized employees as were employed when the transaction was announced;
- To honour all existing collective bargaining agreements and Stelco’s employee benefit and pension commitments;
- To make significant capital and research and development expenditures in support of Stelco’s operations; and
- To ensure Stelco’s Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emission intensity do not increase and continue to be at least 25 per cent below the global average for integrated steel mills.
Stelco's claims
Stelco’s letter in response to Joly from Oct. 9 was authored by Stelco’s president, Paul Simon.
According to the seven-page letter, exports of cold-rolled and coated steel to the United States have plunged 58 per cent from pre-trade-war levels as foreign imports continue to undercut Canadian-made steel.
Simon also claimed in the letter that the company was open and transparent with the federal government for several months about its struggles.
“Our early September meetings with several senior government officials, including representatives from your office, led Stelco to believe that the government understood the market realities confronting Stelco’s Hamilton Works finishing lines,” the letter said.
“Stelco submitted its annual report confirming its compliance with the employment undertakings in November 2025. That report highlighted that Stelco was facing significant challenges due to the unforeseen consequences stemming from unprecedented U.S. tariffs and Canada’s failure to advance an effective ‘Fortress North America’ trade regime.”
“Your representation that Stelco’s planned layoffs cause it to breach its undertakings is false as the undertakings do not stipulate a commitment to avoid layoffs.”
In the letter, Simon described an industry upended by U.S. tariffs, weakening demand and continued foreign steel imports.
“Stelco cannot continue to produce cold-rolled and coated steel products without incurring significant losses that are not sustainable,” Simon said in the letter. “As such, we will continue with the idling of Hamilton Works.”
What happens next?
Over the weekend, Joly issued a statement in a social media post acknowledging she had received the letter from Stelco, and maintained the federal government’s stance.
“The Government of Canada continues to expect Stelco to meet its legally binding commitments to employees. These commitments were agreed upon as undertakings under the Investment Canada Act and do not cease to apply because of changing business strategy or market conditions,” said Joly in the statement.
“As our legal team reviews the Stelco letter, all options are on the table.”
– more to come
– with files from Global News’ Sean Prevail and the Canadian Press
This response is really going to attract investment in Canada. Come to Canada and lose money! Joly might win the battle, but lose the war. Besides, the contract clearly states that the company is off the hook if there are unforeseen circumstances beyond their control, i.e., a trade war, Carney unable to make a deal to reduce tariffs.
Just use the liberal playbook. Seize bank accounts.
Who would want to do business in Canada when you have to deal with this government.
Grant a government loan to the employees to buy the operation and encumber the assets accordingly. Align their interest with the profitable operation of the company and let them take the risk NOT the taxpayer.
Lol Trump rocks
Jesus, Cleveland Cliffs.
Just ask for a bailout. Canada Feds are eeeasy.
The federal government and it’s Representatives like Joli are huberistic and arrogant. When will they learn it’s easier to attract with honey than with vinegar.
No market ..no jobs . Car plants will be gone too . Good job Carnage ..elbows up ! 51 maybe..Just saying.
Yes this Gov action should inspire all kinds of foreign investment. Where words like nationalize business are always welcome. Once again joly leading a charge as joly has done in the past..how did those go so far?
Joly will screw it up. Liberal govt is not capable.
Or hear me out the “Brilliant Banker” funds Canadian works by buying Canadian steel to build a Canadian pipeline across Canada instead of buying Chinese steel for Billions iirc 25-33 billion…
Unfortunately the United States has become a grifter they have no problem in using anybody they can to posture themselves and then become braggards of how powerful they are. And they have no issue in going back to where they once negotiated fairly however power housing with what they believe is an upper hand. We have the agreements use those agreements and take Canada back to the Future
Its time for Canadá to shine…We got this..Lets take back our future ..Without a doubt we can attract both in house and international investment to reboot our Steel industry back without the USA attempting to bully or suffocate our Elbows Up potential ..
I just read a number of the comments and if anyone is killing Canada it’s the negative nellies I see posting here. The Conservatives and interferring Americans are sore losers.
The Americans are playing games. Immeadiatly seize the assets and continue operating the plant. Canadian companies are asking for those steel products. Don’t let these assholes do this to those employees.
This should bring in lots of new investment into Canada for sure. If you had $500 million to invest would Canada be your choice right now?
So, who else sees the “Canada For Sale” sign in our near future?
Insignificant country
Don’t force them to sell, take it. They get no money.
@I am Gen X. I’m Gen Z. Respectfully, could you not get your point across without being ageist? Canada has a bright future!
There is no future for Boomers and there will be no future for those that vote liberal.
Dear weak fucks. It is your lives on the line if you keep voting for this.
Chinese stell nuff said
If Csrney would keep his election promise and get a deal done with the USA none of the theatrics with Stelco would be required. Csrney has totally dropped the ball.
Trudeau regime caused Alvin’s to lose money and become more uncompetitive when they forced Algoma to make more “green steel” which made input manufacturing costs the skyrocket. Carney has done nothing to lower costs of goods and groceries for that matter.
The Liberals are an authoritarian Govt. We also know that they like to sieze assets and freeze bank accounts to get their own way. The courts decided when they called the EA, they didn’t have proper authority to do that either.
Stelco can’t compete with China as Carney is allowing cheap steel from China to be dumped into Canada. Why does Carney hate Canadian manufacturers so much. Carney expects private companies to take a loss? They are not the Govt.
Lmfao
Why invest in Canada if your business cannot be profitable, good message to send out.
Ben you continue to blame the private sector on aspects of the LNG project, even the 2023 refusal to sell to Germany and Japan. Misinformation indeed.
The misinformation coming from some commenters is laughable. Carney has no control what steel the LNG project uses because it’s a private company. Furthermore, Canadian companies don’t make that kind of steel. With respect to Stelco, it’s high time corporations, when they have been found to have broken an agreement, are held responsible.
Stelco must live up to the employment conditions in deal they signed. It’s not signed in pencil.
Why dont they levy these same fines against Brookfield for leaving?
The liberals wont do a thing
Joly never even read the contract
Its all theater whenever any liberals are involved
The liberals 100% created this mess for stelco and everyone else
Baahhhhhaaa…tick tock Canada..
– Joly & Carney will sue Stelco.
– The suit will go on for 5 years.
– Govt lawyers will bill over $50 Million to taxpayers.
– Stelco will shut down in Canada & walk away.
…and another great Elbozo story to tell your grandkids!
So Carney expects private companies to pay because of his screw ups? He is the one that betrayed Canadians by not delivering on his election promises.
Have all Stelco management and hourly labor apply for physician-aided death. Imagine the headlines.
I am a 🤡 who does not know the difference between you’re and your.
Anonymous @9:16pm.
Your such a loser.
No wonder Canada has one of the worst performing advanced economies in the OECD. The crony capitalism of Carney is outrageous.
Trump gonna shat down jolly’s throat
Jolly only good for one thing, uuuuug , GET OUT!
So reading between the lines the Liberals dropped the ball when they approved the sale of Stelco, now Joly is backtracking on her 5 day ultimatum give it another week and the story will disappear from being news and the next Liberal debacle will begin the incompetence starts at the top and we know who the PM is.
Elbows up suckers
So what criminal law was broken to fine them? Nada. If there was a clause that they had to employ n people for a given period of time, then there can be the penalty that is in the agreement. If not, it is simply wishful thinking on the Liberal’s part. They could force a sale, but it would be very messy, even if they could find a buyer. – sounds like a Trans-Mountain thing, where the government made a mess of things, and ended up the taxpayer paying 10 times what it would have been if Liberals stayed out of it. – should be fun to watch it unfold. It will not be quick or easy.
Canada wants to scare any foreign investment away. Carney so far has been an awful PM.
Joly is power tripping. Her f8cking boss is using CHINESE STEEL INSTEAD OF CANSADIAN AND PLANTS NOW HAVE TO LAY OFF BECAUSE OF IT!
Once again, if we protest it, they threaten us. F*CK YOU JOLY! F*CK YOU CARNEY!
Because Carney can’t land a trade deal, Canada lost over 100,000 jobs in August/September
to hell with the liberals, but you ameriboos/trumpkucks wouldn’t be happy with anything other than being finally being picked by the americans, which will never happen lmao
Canada has one of the poorest performing economies in the G20. Perhaps Liberals should stop thinking they can manage an economy by central planning in Ottawa. This is a poor look for Carney.
Stelco seems unimpressed and they do have teams of lawyers
What did the so-called lawyer Joly miss this time?
How much longer are we to tolerate these absolute zeroes Eastern Canada?
I’m glad Stelco and Stellantis are both in your yard there in the East
Karma
The Americans out and then the Chinese can buy into Canadian steel manufacturing, produce their inferior steel and flood it into the US as Canadian steel once we finally get a deal done. In the mean time the inferior Chinese steel will be used in Carney’s fast track projects, like LNG. Anyone with open eyes can see what their plan is.
I guess Carney want to tell the world Canada is “closed” for business. He is acting like a total authoritarian who has no clue about business.
Ottawa should mind their own business..they have enough problems already without trying to manage Stelco who I am sure have brighter minds than JOLY….
Nail them to the wall..
Total amateur hour with Joly and Carney. They feel the rules don’t apply to them. This is like ad-hoc law. No wonder Canada is in such a mess.
LIBERALS:
1) if it moves tax it
2) when it slows down, subsidize it
3) when it stops moving, buy it over with taxpayer money
Canada is dead, thank a liberal voter
Stelco will probably simply declare force majeure due to Carney’s (intentional) failure to make a deal with the US to avoid/reduce the tariffs.
We know Carney Liberals like too seize assets and freeze bank accounts. Carney regime is draconian.
Ben, when were all the details of that trade deal made public? Why was it run by Harper seeing how he hasn’t been a politician in a decade, and what exactly was Harper’s comments?
So what no a company is expected to remain fully operational and lose money all because Carney can’t get a trade deal done with the USA. That is quite rich.
The Poilievre conservatives are against this company being held responsible. Why?
Liberals gotta hop off them high horses as they are too old to run and are fit for nothing more than glue.
Literally “the Canadian left’, would rather you be dependent on them for dental care or childcare, than fund the education that’s cost is limiting your ability to pay for dental care and childcare.
I fully appreciate lifting up people that need help. It is a value I share. Racism, and so many of what harms humanity every day is ignorance.
I think that film critics are the original click-bait, but Liberals pretending to promote education is a definite contender.
If it were the NDP, it might be believable only because they have never held the power to prove the statement wrong, but let’s be clear, Union workers and terrorists are rarely University educated.
When I was growing up, I warned against what seemed like an obsession with ensuring people held University Degrees over experience in trades. I thought, why pick a winner? What good is a degree in a society that has no tradespeople?
One can invent the most efficient source of energy using their applied sciences but they will never build it. That requires different skills.
If Liberals were responsible for fitting an Escape Earth Ship to prolong the human civilization it would be top heavy with dreamy academics, one plumber, one welder, one carpenter, and they would forget all about hunters because they are vegan and the thought of primal survival never crossed their mind.
I am running out of words to emphasize how looney this situation is.
Liberals failed to negotiate free trade with the business’ home country and largest market, but also believe they have a sound contract in demanding Stelco continue to employ the same number of employees under the financial duress the Liberal failure created?
Liberals think they can just ask business to pay for and employ more thereby creating further tax revenues and government is there to merely redistribute it instead of making the process ever more efficient along the way.
You can’t claim to fight inflation when the bank is raising rates and you are spending more or cutting taxes. It doesn’t math. Stop pretending it does.
If Liberals truly wanted to redistribute wealth it would only need to cover education at every level one might seek it as.
They are the ones that claim to support education while simultaneously having limited desire to see a more educated populace no matter how many times they come to office for the simple arithmetic that the more educated a population is, the less dependent it becomes on government to solve its problems.
Liberals are multi-cyclical frauds. Extraordinarily so. Like it’s their only focus.
Here is the part that will be deemed to infringe on the businesses rights (there are probably others) :
“To continue to employ at least the same number of unionized employees and the vast majority of non-unionized employees as were employed when the transaction was announced;”
Sorry, what? A pound of flesh? How can any business reasonably agree to such a thing without violating another group?
What is reasonable would be a ratio, not a specific number of employees. Right? Otherwise it is too great a potential to not be deemed a breach of fiduciary duty, duty to shareholders, creditors and too vast a group.
I cannot employ 100 people just because I did on such and such a date. If I have no projected revenue to pay for them, they must be let go, otherwise the contract is prescribed bankruptcy that will cost even more jobs, and more tax revenues as various parties extract what they are legally entitled to through government, taxes, and a prolonging of the effect which represents: A Completely Ineffecient System of the Type we Take a Wrecking Ball to.
Carney and Joly are all bark and no bite. Nothing will happen.
Fines, maybe. Nationalization. No, no we will not allow that.
You cannot force me to sell you my business.
So Joly says they could force a sale of Canadian assets the problem with that is finding a buyer to buy a company that isn’t making any money isn’t going to be easy unless Carney & Joly has China in mind to buy it Also a forced sale could mean more layoffs or even closure All this could have been avoided if Carney had of just dealt with Trump on the tariffs.
The government is so stupid. Get off their buttons and get. Back to trade talks. You can’t force a business to not layoff or terminate employees. If they have no profit then how can they keep employees. The liberals are destroying Canada because they are acting like petulant spoiled children.
The conservatives are demanding the government force a private entity, LNG Canada, to buy Canadian steel. Isn’t that communism? Also forcing said private entity to do this would cause capital flight. Secondly, specialized steel is required for this entity that is not made in Canada.
Great news! We should fight against Trump’s illegal tariffs. Note that the trade deal offered by the USA and Trump, which was shared with the Premiers and former PM Harper, was a non starter. All of them said no, it was a bad deal that would, amongst other deleterious things, gut our manufacturing over time and reduce us to a vassal state of the US with Trump as our leader. A hard no.
Stelco CEO says they can’t compete as Carney is allowing China to dump steel in Canada. Canadian steel producers have higher input costs and also industrial carbon tax.
Over a trillion dollars in foreign investment capital fled Canada between 2015 and 2024, and we can’t even find private investors for a West Coast pipeline because of the rotten Sunny Ways business climate Mark Carney economically advised Trudeau into, slamming into the wall of socio-economic reality.
In fact, our libero-fascist Sunny Ways future was so dire before MAGA 2.0 resurfaced, future Prime Minister Carney’s Brookfield’s HQ along with their trillion dollars of globally managed assets fled klepto-socialist Canada and relocated to business friendlier USA in 2024.
But let’s Elbows Up and blame Trump anyway.
Maybe Carney should get a trade deal
Done with the USA like he promised back in July 2025.
Carney was never really into Canada and intentionally torpedoed the US trade deal to hand Canada to the EU as penance for losing the UK to Brexit.
So, without consultation, debate or our consent, backdoor dealing Carney has surrendered Canada’s sovereignty to the EU.
With the stroke of a pen, we will become subjected to the questionable “benefits” and the crushing burdens of regulatory restrictions imposed on us by the foreign controlled EU parliament.
Imagine the economic and energy superpower Canada could have been if we didn’t have a lost decade of Trudeau and his party of fear, loathing and division laying (Carney guided) economic waste to Canada to appease, Quebec, Aboriginals, and all manner of intellectually stunted “free” stuff voters.
That kind of Canada would have not only been Trump proof, he’d probably would have loved doing business with it.
Canada has enough oil going to China. What we need is a pipeline through Quebec to eastern Canada to replace the blood oil Canadians and Europe buy from the Middle East and Africa.
We need Quebec to unleash it’s 22 trillion cubic meters of natural gas (NG) reserve to supply the Maritimes and replace the blood natural gas Europe buys from Russia.
But Quebec won’t go along with either because being an economic drain on the rest of Canada is how they inflate their sense of self-importance, keeping the NG in the ground protects Hydro Quebec’s electric heating monopoly, and the revenue generated from the sale of NG would move them from being a $28.5 billion a year transfer payment recipient to becoming a transfer payment contributor, and being “ripped off” by the rest of Canada like Alberta, is unacceptable for them.
Who cares it’s Ontario. We have a corrupt government in BC to get rid of ok?
Vote BC Conservative!
Did Canada not but steel from China for a west coast project?
First Stellantis, now Stelco.
What is Joly doing to fix it?
Very simple….nothing! They leave. Replaced with nothing because no company in their right mind or without massive subsidies is going to invest while Liberals are in charge. Liberals crying about this, shut up. Elbowzos you did this to Canada
Stelco candidly describes Canada dumps chinese steel
And how do these government threats help foster foreign capital investment? This is why the investment summit last month was a dud. This country is a horrible place to do business.
Did Joly actually read this contract because we all know she never looked at the Stellantis contract.
Ben what exactly was the offer from the USA? The public has not seen the facts. We don’t believe Carney.
And provide proof that Harper supported the rejection.
@Ben 151 pm you post your drivale from parents basement. Did your parents drop you repeatedly because of your ugliness
@Ben 151 pm. Just shut up. Be a man and switch to the conservatives.
No insufferable Ben,
Liberals are the ones that failed to reach a deal. You can talk all you want about how bad the Trump Administration’s offer was but you don’t get to play stupid and claim negotiation is a one way street.
Every other nation has negotiated deals with the Trump Administration except the country that needed to the most.
Carney was not the right man to stand up for Canada against Trump and he has in fact done the exact opposite, tucked his tail between his legs and run to Europe when they have nothing to offer our economy financially.
This is on the LPC. They approved this acquisition just two years ago, back when they completely ignored our resource and manufacturing industries. They were so vested in carbon pricing as Carney called it back then in his book “Values”, that they thought very little of the hard working people who made a living in manual labour. They thought our economy could survive on office jobs and unicorns and pixie dust.
And in the meantime Canadians are losing their jobs not only in the steel industry because of these tariffs and Carney not getting a deal. Don’t be surprised if this company and others don’t decide to completely leave Canada especially if they can’t sell their products. I noticed the EU and other countries aren’t rushing to buy Canadian steel like Carney said they would.
Sadly very tough for me to believe anything this government has to say, they should release the actual contents of the agreement so Canadians know what was actually agreed to…
Canada doesnt need to manufacture steel. The CCP stooges in the Liberal Party will just import it from China
“He’s in favor of these U.S. tariffs against steel,” she said, referring to Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves’”
And yet the LPC allowed this takeover to happen. Would be hilarious if not so pathetic. They got what they voted for!
Alberta out!!!
Layoffs caused by the illegal tariffs from Trump and the USA. The Canadian government rightfully rejected the “offer” of a deal from the US. All of the Premiers and even former PM Harper said it was good that Canada didn’t sign the deal.
Sarah Roger’s, isn’t that called communism?
Maybe the Feds will seize the plant and keep it running? And then sell the steel to whom?