Carney and Ford set to announce support for workers amid trade war

Prime Minister Mark Carney will be with Ontario Premier Doug Ford in Ottawa on Wednesday as the two are set to announce support for tariff-hit industries and workers.

Carney will begin the day with a meeting of the Liberal caucus and then with Ford, his office said in his itinerary.

Following his meeting with Ford, the two will “make an announcement to protect workers and strengthen Ontario industries.”

Later in the day, Carney will depart for Turkey.

The announcement comes as workers at an Ontario-based steel manufacturing plant are facing imminent layoffs.

Stelco 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. Some employees would be offered transfers, but many would be out of work.

A resolution of the standoff between the federal government and Stelco is a “question of days,” Industry Minister Melanie Joly said on Friday.

The federal government believes there have been “multiple breaches of the commitments” that Stelco made under the Investment Canada Act.

Stelco is facing financial penalties and “a potential forced divestiture,” which would force them to sell all their assets in Canada, Joly said.

Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said on Tuesday that the federal government would release its federal budget on Nov. 5, two days after the U.S. midterm elections.

Champagne announced the date during question period on Tuesday.

The budget will be second as Carney, who changed the schedule for how federal budgets are released by moving them from spring to fall.

Carney’s second budget date comes after the Parliamentary Budget Officer trimmed the 2026 and 2027 outlook for economic growth.

The PBO now projects gross domestic product growth of 0.9 per cent for this year and 1.5 per cent for 2027, down from 1.1 per cent and 1.6 per cent respectively.

–with files from Global’s Sean Previl