OTTAWA – Industry Minister Mélanie Joly is calling on the U.S.-based owner of Stelco Inc. to provide a concrete plan and timeline to restore jobs at its Canadian steel mills before she will agree to meet with CEO Lourenco Goncalves.
Cleveland-Cliffs said late Monday it’s in full compliance with the promises it made as part of an Investment Canada Act review that allowed its purchase of Stelco in 2024.
The company also said Stelco has requested a meeting between Joly and Goncalves to talk about a path toward resuming full employment for workers who have been temporarily laid off.
Joly said Tuesday that the government wants to see Stelco’s proposed plan to recall laid off workers before she will sit down with the head of Cleveland-Cliffs.
“First and foremost, what I want is a plan to bring back the jobs and I want a timeline,” she told reporters ahead of a cabinet meeting in Ottawa.
“I’m always willing to sit down, but that’s the first condition.”
Joly has accused Cleveland-Cliffs of breaking six binding promises made when it bought Stelco, including a five-year commitment to maintain unionized staffing levels and retain most non-unionized workers.
She said Ottawa could still take the company to court to enforce its commitments, seek financial penalties or require the sale of Stelco.
Cleveland-Cliffs said it’s in full compliance with each of its 34 undertakings, and in several important areas has even gone beyond what it committed to do.
“The facts are clear,” Goncalves said in a statement. “We made serious commitments to Canada when we acquired Stelco, and we have honoured them.”
Cleveland-Cliffs announced plans on Sept. 28 to lay off up to 500 workers at Stelco’s Hamilton Works and Lake Erie Works in Nanticoke, Ont., blaming U.S. tariffs, weak demand and an oversupply of imported steel in Canada.
“For galvanized products, the imports of non-automotive galvanized steel that continue to flood the Canadian market remain problematic,” Goncalves said on Monday.
“We want to find a solution for Hamilton and its workers as soon as possible and believe common sense trade policy will make this a reality.”
In response to the company’s claims that Ottawa isn’t doing enough to curb steel dumping, the federal government has pointed to measures aimed at limiting overseas imports, including tighter quotas introduced in December 2025.
Canada also raised tariffs on certain U.S. steel imports, including galvanized steel, to 50 per cent on Sept. 8.
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne defended Ottawa’s steel import restrictions Tuesday, despite complaints from Stelco that cheaper foreign steel is continuing to undermine the company’s Hamilton operations.
He said the government is trying to balance steel production with steel consumption in Canada, which he pegged at about 13 million tonnes per year.
But Champagne said Ottawa must also ensure Canadian businesses have access to products that are not manufactured domestically or readily available in certain regions.
“There are certain types of steel, for example, that are not made in Canada (and) you have regional markets,” he told reporters. “In a country as big as Canada … sometimes you need to import steel to make sure that you would have the supply needed at the time needed in the location needed.”
Champagne added: “You need to support workers, you need support industry and you need also to have these measures to protect the domestic market.”
The steelmaker said Stelco will update its compliance report following the Oct. 31 close of the current reporting period.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 27, 2026.
