Oct 29, 2026
“Get to court. Show ’em we mean business.” That’s the message Conservative MP Ned Kuruc (Hamilton East—Stoney Creek) had for the federal government as Ottawa weighs whether to take Stelco’s U.S. owner, Cleveland-Cliffs, to court over layoffs at its Hamilton operation.
Across the aisle, Liberal MP Lisa Hepfner (Hamilton Mountain) also took aim at Cleveland-Cliffs, alleging to reporters that CEO Lourenco Goncalves “deliberately made a situation where Stelco looked like it wasn’t making any money.”
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“He took it over so that it would not do well, and then he would have a strong position with his U.S. assets,” she added.
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Stelco calls the layoffs temporary and hopes to bring the 175 workers currently off the job back before Christmas. Ottawa says the cuts break promises the Ohio-based company made when it bought the steelmaker in 2024. In the meantime, mortgages and car payments are still coming due.
Who wants Ottawa to sue, and what could a court do?
Calls for legal action are mounting. Earlier in October, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre urged Ottawa to sue as part of a five-point steel plan, saying: “Enough theatre; we need results.” Ron Wells, president of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1005, the union representing Hamilton workers, has also said he wants the federal government to follow through on its threats.
The dispute centres on the Investment Canada Act, the federal law used to review foreign takeovers of national companies. Industry Minister Mélanie Joly says the Stelco takeover came with a promise to keep an annual average of at least 1,766 full-time-equivalent unionized and full-time-equivalent 603 salaried workers. Her Oct. 22 letter gave the company 15 days to respond, a deadline that falls on Nov. 6. Before then, Stelco is due to update its compliance report to Ottawa once its current reporting period closes on Oct. 31. After that, if Ottawa goes to a superior court, a judge could order compliance, impose fines of up to $10,000 a day or force a sale of the company.
Cleveland-Cliffs says it has kept its word. In an Oct. 26 letter to Joly, the company said Stelco is in full compliance with all 34 of its undertakings and projects that Stelco’s unionized workforce will average at least 1,879 full-time-equivalent employees this reporting period. That is 113 above the required minimum, with salaried staff averaging 627 against a required 603. Joly maintains the company has broken six of its commitments.
Goncalves also said in a statement to The Canadian Press that the layoffs number 175, not 500. While he’s hoping for that Christmas deadline, Goncalves noted how it is dependent on “Canadian customers buying Canadian steel, made by Stelco.”
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Why does it matter whether a layoff is ‘temporary’?
Much of the legal fight comes down to whether a laid-off worker still counts as an employee, with Christopher Achkar, managing partner at Achkar Law, telling Global News that the key question is whether headcount holds steady during a temporary layoff.
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For workers, that distinction affects their pay. Under Ontario’s Employment Standards Act, a temporary layoff generally lasts no more than 13 weeks in any 20 consecutive weeks. It can stretch to under 35 weeks in a 52-week period if specific conditions are met, such as the employer continuing substantial payments or benefits. For unionized workers, recall rights in a collective agreement can also extend it.
Once a layoff goes past those limits, it’s treated as a termination, which can trigger termination pay and, for some long-service workers, severance.
For Kuruc, waiting out that legal timeline defeats the purpose of the federal agreements meant to shield Hamilton jobs in the first place.
“Contracts are put in place to protect our interests and protect the workers,” Kuruc told reporters. “If we don’t enforce them, then what do we have?”
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Writer and editor based in Toronto with experience in personal finance, insurance, arts and culture and branded content.
