‘We either save two thirds, or we don’t save anything, and I believe in saving the company,’ the premier said
Premier Doug Ford said he knew layoffs were coming at Algoma Steel ahead of Monday’s announcement.
It’s among the key reasons the provincial government loaned $100 million to the company this fall, along with the $400 million provided by federal government in a large enterprise tariff loan.
“The CEO told us that there’d be a dramatic change if we didn’t put it in — it’d be a lot more than a thousand people,” Ford told reporters Wednesday.
“We had two choices: the Titanic was sinking up there. We either save two thirds, or we don’t save anything, and I believe in saving the company.”
On Monday, Algoma Steel announced layoffs for 1,050 employees, with company and union officials pointing to U.S. tariffs and market conditions as the reasons.
Algoma Steel is transitioning to make steel using electric arc furnaces a year or two ahead of schedule. Those employees will be out of work in late March 2026.
Ford called on the federal government to start ramping up procurement for defence and infrastructure projects, which he hopes will result in business for Algoma Steel.
“We want to allocate all that steel, no matter if it’s for the military or for the pipelines, over to Algoma until they can have a full staff there,” he said.
Similarly, Vic Fedeli, minister of economic development, job creation and trade, said he wasn’t shocked when the mass layoffs were announced at Algoma Steel.
“The investment that we made in Algoma was necessary, first of all, just to keep the doors open,” said Fedeli.
“We saw the president of Algoma say if it wasn’t for that investment, they wouldn’t be here today. They would be completely shut down.”
“The fact that these 1,000 people were going to be laid off eventually because of the electric arc furnace is known universally, and it did come faster because of the Trump tariffs,” Fedeli said.
Moving forward, Fedeli said the province plans to work with Algoma Steel for infrastructure and defence in Ontario.
“The important thing is that they’re here today, and that we’re looking, along with Algoma, in investing in making I-beams for all of the infrastructure that we’re going to be building in Ontario,” he said.
“We’re going to be investing in making plate steel for defence with Algoma. We see a great future, primarily because they have the electric arc furnace.”
Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles asked Ford about the layoffs during Question Period.
“A thousand families got the rug pulled out from under them just before the holidays,” Stiles said.
“This is going to be really devastating for that community. These are workers who are ready to roll up their sleeves.
“To the premier: why didn’t you have a plan to protect those jobs?”
Stiles, who met with Algoma Steel workers in November, will return to the city later this month to meet with workers impacted by the layoffs, according to a statement from her office.
— With files from Brandon Walker and Charlie Pinkerton