Heather McPherson, Edmonton Strathcona
“Hundreds of steelworkers at Stelco are facing layoffs. The company that bought Stelco promised to keep these union jobs for five years. The government must enforce that deal and hold the company accountable. Any public money given to the steel industry must come with strict rules to protect Canadian jobs.”
“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.”
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.
