“Mr. Speaker, for years, United Steelworkers has warned the government that Canada’s dependence on American markets and the failure to have a good, comprehensive industrial strategy, including a national steel strategy, were putting our steel industry and Canadian workers at risk. Now at Stelco, hundreds of United Steelworker members are facing layoffs. The human cost of this decision is devastating. Workers who have spent years building this country are now facing uncertainty about their job, their mortgage and their family’s future, and the circumstances around this make it even more outrageous. Cleveland-Cliffs, the American corporation that owns Stelco and has cheered on Donald Trump and the U.S. steel tariffs, made binding legal commitments to maintain unionized employment for five years, when the federal government approved its purchase in 2024. Now those jobs are at risk. United Steelworkers has demanded an immediate compliance review and enforcement of these commitments. It has asked the government to act decisively and not simply issue press releases after workers have received their layoff notices. The government has legal tools available under the Investment Canada Act. It must use them aggressively and without delay. If Cleveland-Cliffs will not honour the commitments that secured approval for its takeover, the government must be prepared to pursue meaningful consequences, because if the Liberal government does not act, then it is telling every single corporate bad actor that agreements do not matter, that breaking legal commitments does not have consequences and that impunity will be rewarded. Today the Prime Minister and Doug Ford announced a package to support Ontario’s steel sector, and that is a good step, but let us be clear: An announcement is not a plan to protect every worker facing a layoff right now, and billions of dollars in support cannot be a blank cheque for corporations while workers are left behind. How much of this support will protect jobs at Stelco right now? What conditions will be attached to public money? Will the government finally use every tool available under the Investment Canada Act to enforce Cleveland-Cliffs’s commitments? United Steelworkers has laid out what Canada needs. We need stronger protections against dumped steel, tighter import controls, and loopholes closed, so foreign steel cannot displace Canadian production. We need buy Canadian procurement that creates reliable demand for Canadian-made steel. We need investment in modern steelmaking technology and a comprehensive industrial strategy that builds on Canadian production and reduces our dependence on the United States, and we need immediate action for workers, including retention and income supports, alongside enforceable conditions that protect Canadian jobs whenever public money is provided to industry. These are not new demands. The USW has been calling for this kind of action for years. The government should not have needed a trade war, layoffs at Stelco and mounting uncertainty for Canadian families to understand the urgency. The Liberals talk about building a stronger economy, protecting our sovereignty and creating a better future, but we cannot build a strong economy while workers lose their livelihood. We cannot build a strong Canada by weakening unions and allowing good jobs to disappear, and we cannot build a strong future by asking working people to sacrifice their security while corporations protect their profits. Workers’ rights are not separate from economic strength; they are part of its foundation. It is time for the government to act.”
Statement grade
C+
The average of Signal, Relevance, Respect and Clarity is 83. The grade is held to 69, 30 above Signal.
69 / 100, held down by Signal
A score under 50 is red. Choose a measurement to see where it lost points and why; choose it again to clear.
This view breaks the statement into its steps and names what each one does.
Mr. Speaker, Thanks · 30 wordsI very much appreciate the intervention from my colleague from Edmonton Strathcona on this very important and very timely topic at this important and timely moment for Canada’s steel sector.ThanksPositioning · 39 wordsAs I think the member acknowledges, in part at least, that what we are seeing right now is a result of unjust, unjustifiable and illegal tariffs on the sector, affecting not just workers but Canadian communities across the country.PositioningClaims · 31 wordsThese tariffs have undermined our workers by raising production costs and prices that have threatened their livelihood, and, yes, if unanswered, those impacts would result in fewer jobs and lower wages.Positioning · 6 wordsWe cannot allow that to happen, PositioningVague promiseClaims · 26 wordsbecause these products are not just important for their communities; they also anchor crucial manufacturing clusters around the country that employ hundreds of thousands of Canadians.Positioning · 69 wordsWe just cannot stand by while our workers and families remain exposed to the impacts of these illegal tariffs.There are things we cannot control, but there are many things we can control.We cannot control the actions of foreign governments, but we can control our actions.The hon. member refers to some of the tools under the Investment Canada Act.Indeed, we are looking at all those options: PositioningClaims · 38 wordsthe forced divestiture of assets, financial penalties, and requirements that the company honour its undertakings that it made sacredly through the Investment Canada Act provisions to every worker, to the government and, in fact, to the entire country.The ask · 45 wordsI want to encourage the hon. member to walk with us as we take a very strong and committed line with the company to say that it must honour its undertakings and that we are looking at all available steps under the Investment Canada Act.Procedure · 39 wordsI would also add that the member referred to the visit by Premier Ford today.I just want to highlight the really significant measures that were in today’s announcement with the Prime Minister, ministers, and the Premier of Ontario.ProcedureClaims · 26 wordsThere is a joint steel action fund, with five-year funding commitments of $3.55 billion from Canada and an additional $1.67 billion from the Province of Ontario.1Procedure · 8 wordsThe hon. member mentioned the buy Canadian policy.ProcedureClaims · 100 wordsWe intend to leverage the buy Canadian policy and the buy Ontario policy to prioritize Canadian steel and public procurement and strengthen domestic demand, a measure that was not mentioned in the hon. member’s remarks but I know is important to the United Steelworkers and is important to her.We are strengthening protections against foreign steel dumping and unfair subsidizing, through enhanced enforcement by the Canada Border Services Agency and tighter trade remedy practices and compliance measures.We have a new Canada-Ontario steel task force to coordinate the implementation of measures to support the steel sector and improve its competitiveness.4Positioning · 9 wordsThe steel sector is fundamental to our economic competitiveness.PositioningClaims · 44 wordsSteel is a product we have been making in Canada for a long time.It is something we will continue to make and continue to turn into the kinds of products that are needed by manufacturers not just in Canada but around the world.Procedure · 14 wordsThe hon. member referred to innovation and progress in the sector and government partnership.ProcedureClaims · 24 wordsI will just point her to the very innovative partnership we have made with Algoma Steel to help it improve and refine its production.5Procedure · 28 wordsWhen it comes to workers, I would point to the many tariff relief programs we have brought forward, the many tariff relief programs that are applied to business, ProcedureClaims · 72 wordsand the specific protections for workers through Employment and Social Development Canada, with $70 million over three years allocated for steelworkers through labour market development agreements with the provinces to retrain and upskill up to 10,000 steelworkers.2We have also committed $382 million over five years to create six workforce alliances, working in partnership, hand in hand, with workers, unions, Canadian businesses and those who are standing for a strong Canadian economy.3Positioning · 41 wordsWhat is being done to the workers at Stelco is a betrayal of those workers.We will not stand for it.The Hamilton caucus members on this side have been very active in working in partnership with us to defend them.PositioningPartly on pointThe ask · 8 wordsWe want the company to honour its commitments.
