“We cannot let that happen. You don’t save Canada by allowing American investors to dismantle steel production in this country piece by piece,” said Lewis.
The federal government should take over Stelco’s operations to avert announced layoffs blamed on U.S. tariffs, says NDP Leader Avi Lewis.
In a statement on Tuesday, Lewis said nationalizing the plants would “protect the jobs and industry our country depends on,” and provide more immediate relief than threatened legal action against the company’s U.S.-based parent company.
“We cannot let that happen. You don’t save Canada by allowing American investors to dismantle steel production in this country piece by piece,” said Lewis.
“It’s time for the Liberal government to take back control of our industry by nationalizing Stelco.”
Stelco began issuing layoff notices this week after announcing plans to lay off up to 500 workers at its Hamilton and Lake Erie facilities.
The federal government said it had offered financial assistance to avoid the job losses, and Industry Minister Melanie Joly sent a letter last week demanding a plan on how American parent company Cleveland-Cliffs will honour its legally binding commitments made at the time of its acquisition of Stelco in 2024.
She said “everything is on the table because there were clear commitments that were made under the Investment Canada Act” but the company has not abided by them.
Cleveland-Cliffs’ takeover was contingent on a number of mandatory, five-year commitments, including maintaining at least the same number of unionized workers and most non-unionized employees as when the deal was announced.
However, the Investment Canada Act does have a loophole of sorts for non-compliance.
It says where the inability to fulfil a commitment is “clearly the result of factors beyond the control of the investor,” they won’t be held accountable.
Stelco called the layoffs this week “unfortunate but necessary” to ensure its survival, noting U.S. tariffs have significantly shrunk the market for its cold-rolled and galvanized products.
Prime Minister Mark Carney expressed his disappointment at a news conference last week, saying workers have been “betrayed by the company” and noted that Cleveland-Cliff’s CEO “applauded” U.S. President Donald Trump for implementing those tariffs.
On Monday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre urged Carney to sue the company, but Lewis said that would “take years to resolve.”
“If we’re serious about saving these jobs and the Canadian steel industry, we need immediate action. That action must include nationalizing the plant,” he said, noting the U.K. government nationalized British Steel this past summer to help protect jobs.
University of Ottawa economics professor David Gray called Lewis’ proposal “absolutely preposterous” and said Cleveland-Cliff had a strong legal argument because of the loss of the U.S. marketplace, Canada’s top destination for steel exports.
“If they continue to produce steel, where can it be sold? The fact of the matter is that Canada is at least temporarily screwed by these very very oppressive tariffs, and there really isn’t a lot that can be done about that, other than pursuing legal recourse in the United States or waiting for political pressure to build.”
More to come…
with files from the Canadian Press