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OTTAWA — Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. CEO Lourenco Goncalves said Wednesday he hopes to bring back laid-off Stelco workers before Christmas if a plan to increase Canadian sales succeeds.
He said the company is now counting on increased purchases of Canadian-made steel, rather than tighter import restrictions, to restore jobs at its Ontario operations.
“It will depend on Canadian customers buying Canadian steel, made by Stelco,” Goncalves said in a statement to The Canadian Press. “If our plan works, my intention is to call back all the 175 workers before Christmas.”
In an internal letter to employees on Sept. 28, Stelco said up to 500 workers at its Hamilton Works and Lake Erie Works operations could be affected by layoffs. The steelmaker cited U.S. tariffs, weak demand for Canadian steel and competition from imported steel products as reasons for the layoffs.
But Goncalves clarified Wednesday that only 175 workers have been laid off.
Ron Wells, president of United Steelworkers Local 1005, which represents workers at Stelco’s Hamilton plant, confirmed that 175 workers have been laid off in Hamilton, while no layoffs have yet taken place at Lake Erie Works.
He accused Cleveland-Cliffs of using the layoffs to pressure Ottawa into tightening restrictions on foreign steel imports.
“He just caused a lot of pain and grief for 175 people,” Wells said. “Obviously, we’re against using our members as pawns.”
Industry Minister Mélanie Joly put Cleveland-Cliffs on notice last week to address alleged violations of its commitments under the Investment Canada Act, including employment guarantees, or face potential legal action.
In an emailed statement Wednesday responding to Goncalves’ proposed plan to recall workers, Joly reiterated that the company must provide a concrete plan and timeline for bringing employees back before she will agree to meet with him.
“We need a real plan from them to show us they are working in good faith,” she said. “The clock is ticking.”
The layoff announcement came roughly two years after Cleveland-Cliffs acquired Stelco in 2024.
“We believed that we could sell cold rolled and galvanized steel within the Canadian domestic market, and that part did not materialize and has not improved yet,” Goncalves said in the statement.
He said since Ottawa is unwilling to further restrict imports of cold-rolled and galvanized steel, Stelco will have to rely on its own efforts and Canadian customers to restore sales, production and jobs.
Goncalves also said Stelco will not be sold for at least the next year.
“I will not talk to any buyers, real or imaginary, now or within the next calendar year,” Goncalves said. “Conversely, after we demonstrate one year of higher production numbers, and also have brought all the 175 workers back to their jobs, I will be glad to sell the company, and only if I decide to do so by then.”
Joly has warned that Cleveland-Cliffs could be forced to sell Stelco if it fails to meet its binding commitments.
Goncalves said Joly is discouraging foreign investment in Canada by publicly discussing potential buyers for Stelco and criticizing the company’s business decisions.
“If I knew — or even suspected — that I would be subjected to this type of treatment when I made a business decision within the boundaries of undertakings that I am in full compliance (with), I certainly would not have invested in Canada,” he said.
Joly and Cleveland-Cliffs have also clashed over U.S. tariffs, which Goncalves has supported and Ottawa says have hurt Canadian steelworkers and contributed to the layoffs.
Joly told reporters Wednesday the federal government is consulting its lawyers about remarks by Goncalves suggesting he bought Stelco to protect his company’s U.S. operations from Canadian competition.
“We’re in contact with our lawyers … to see what could be the consequences of such confessions,” she told reporters, referring to Goncalves’ comments during a televised interview.
Goncalves told CBC News on Tuesday that he bought Stelco because the Canadian company was flooding the U.S. market with steel and undercutting prices.
“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,” he told Power & Politics host David Cochrane.
The dispute also drew criticism from Liberal MPs on Parliament Hill on Wednesday, with Hamilton-area MP Lisa Hepfner accusing Cleveland-Cliffs of buying Stelco to undermine its Canadian operations and strengthen its U.S. business.
“They did not want that company to survive,” she said.
Liberal MP Yasir Naqvi, a former international trade lawyer, said Cleveland-Cliffs must honour its legally binding commitments regardless of its reasons for buying Stelco, calling them “ironclad obligations.”
The feud also reached Queen’s Park, where Ontario Economic Development Minister Vic Fedeli accused Cleveland-Cliffs of changing its story and supporting U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel.
“I think they’ve been disingenuous right from the very beginning,” Fedeli said. “They are on the team that has supported tariffs.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 28, 2026.
Brett Bundale, The Canadian Press
