HAMILTON – October 12, 2026 – Lourenco Goncalves, chief executive of Cleveland-Cliffs, said Sunday he is prepared to fight the Canadian government in court over Stelco’s layoffs, and that he would sell the company for a good offer.
Speaking on CBC’s Rosemary Barton Live, he disputed Ottawa’s claim that the 2024 purchase carried a binding day-by-day jobs floor. “There is no provision in the contract that I have to keep employment at a certain level every single day of the five years,” he said. “If that was an imposition of the Canadian government, I would not have accepted.” Industry Minister Mélanie Joly has said the undertakings required the company to keep at least the same number of unionized employees, and the vast majority of non-unionized ones, through 2029. Prime Minister Mark Carney said last week Ottawa would use “all powers that we have” and pursue the company to the “fullest extent of the law.”
Stelco’s reply to Joly, obtained by CBC, said the government’s reading is “false,” that the situation is beyond the company’s control, and that the layoffs will proceed. The company has pointed at Trump’s 50 per cent steel tariffs. Goncalves has also said he favours those tariffs, and Section 232, against any country that dumps steel into the United States. He expects 300 to 350 layoffs in Hamilton over three weeks, and more at Lake Erie Works in Nanticoke. He called the cuts temporary until Ottawa and Washington settle, and said the jobs will come back.
He told CBC in an earlier interview he would not have bought Stelco if he had known Canada and the United States would become “enemies in trade.” On a sale: “For a good offer, yes.” He still said the company can “continue to be a good citizen in Canada.”
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