Industry Minister Mélanie Joly is issuing a fresh warning to Stelco’s American owner, saying it must protect Canadian jobs or face the prospect of being forced to sell its assets in Canada.
Speaking at the Canadian Club in Toronto on Friday, Joly took aim at Cleveland-Cliffs for supporting U.S. tariffs, describing it as “the elephant in the room,” adding that they are directly harming its Canadian operations, while putting hundreds of jobs at risk at Stelco’s Hamilton plant.
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“Cleveland Cliffs must uphold its commitments. Full stop,” Joly said.
“We will apply the full force of the law and every tool in the toolbox to ensure that this strategic capacity remains operational, and they must keep the jobs in Canada or face the prospect of having to sell their Canadian assets,” she later added.
The warning comes just days after more layoff notices were handed out to unionized workers at Stelco’s Hamilton plant as the company moves ahead with plans to idle its cold mill and coating departments.
Last month, Cleveland-Cliffs announced it would shut down part of the Hamilton operation across the Hamilton and Lake Erie facilities, axing up to 500 jobs. At the time, the company cited low steel prices and tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Joly has repeatedly said that Ottawa “continues to expect that Stelco meet its legally binding commitments.” She most recently made a post to social media on Saturday, echoing that same rhetoric.
Ottawa insists that the decision violates commitments Cleveland-Cliffs made under the Investment Canada Act when it acquired Stelco in 2024, including a pledge to protect Canadian jobs.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Joly had said “everything is on the table,” including financial penalties and a potential forced divestment of the company’s Canadian assets.
“We expect Stelco to follow the undertakings they’ve committed to the government of Canada,” Joly said at the time. “And right now a business decision, or even a change in market conditions, cannot be used to not follow the commitment.”
On Friday, Joly sharpened that message, accusing Cleveland-Cliffs of supporting the very trade measures threatening its Canadian workforce.
“Stelco’s Hamilton plant produces steel essential to our advanced manufacturing industrial base,” she said.
The comments however, stopped short of explicitly saying Ottawa was prepared to take an ownership stake in Stelco.
‘Bullying and harassment’
In an exclusive interview with BNN Bloomberg this week, CEO of Cleveland-Cliffs, Lourenco Goncalves said the company’s decision to issue hundreds of layoff notices at the Stelco plant in Hamilton, Ont., was a “business decision to concentrate production.”
“Stelco is having a great year, we are making money, the Canadian market continues to react positively to things that we are doing,” he said adding that Joly’s comments are “bullying and harassment.”
Goncalves later added that his company is prepared to go to court to defend their position and that they had not violated the deal they made at the time with former industry minister Francois-Philippe Champagne.
He maintained that he intends to rehire the laid off workers, calling the job cuts “temporary.”
With files from The Canadian Press, CTV News’ Joe Van Wonderen and Senior Correspondent Heather Wright.
