Listen to this article
Estimated 3 minutes
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
Canada’s industry minister is asking the Competition Bureau to investigate Stelco’s parent company after its CEO told CBC News that he only bought the Hamilton steelmaker to stop it undercutting his U.S. business.
Mélanie Joly said on Friday she has sent a letter to the competition commissioner asking them to examine whether Cleveland-Cliffs’s conduct ran afoul of the Competition Act.
“If negotiations and acquisition were conducted in bad faith, Canadians deserve to know. The company needs to face the consequences,” she said in a statement.
Last week, Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves told CBC’s Power & Politics with David Cochrane “I bought Stelco because I could not afford anymore having Stelco flooding the market here in the United States to the detriment of my own company.”
WATCH | Stelco owner’s comments prompt minister to call lawyers:
Stelco owner’s live TV admission prompts industry minister to call lawyers
Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said she called the government’s lawyers after the head of Stelco’s American parent company told CBC News that he only bought the Hamilton steelmaker to stop it undercutting his production facilities in the U.S.
Joly called that a “shocking admission” and said she contacted the department’s lawyers to see if there should be any consequences.
“It is the commissioner’s responsibility to examine this matter thoroughly and, if warranted, take the appropriate measures,” she said on Friday.
Goncalves made his comments after Joly’s demand that the company reverse its layoffs at Stelco or face potential legal action.
The government says the company agreed when it purchased Stelco to keep the number of unionized employees at 2024 levels through to 2029.
Joly’s letter comes as Ottawa’s 15-day deadline ends for the company to address the alleged violation of those commitments.
Goncalves’s company maintains that it’s in “full compliance” with the obligations it made under the Investment Canada Act.
Conservative MP Michael Guglielmin, who is a former steel industry executive, urged Joly to file a lawsuit against Cleveland-Cliffs and accused her of shifting accountability to the competition commissioner.
“It has now been 31 days since Minister Joly sent her first letter to Stelco, promising legal action if they didn’t reverse their layoffs,” he said. “Today’s announcement isn’t news. Conservatives called on the minister to sue weeks ago.”
Stelco announced plans on Sept. 28 to lay off up to 500 workers at its Hamilton and Nanticoke, Ont., steel mills, citing U.S. tariffs, weak demand for Canadian steel and competition from imported steel products.
However, Cleveland-Cliffs and the union have recently confirmed only 175 workers have been laid off so far, all in Hamilton.