Joly demands ‘concrete and credible plan’ from Cliffs as condition for meeting

Industry Minister Mélanie Joly says Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. CLF-N must come up with a “concrete and credible plan” to immediately bring back laid-off Stelco Inc. workers as a condition for meeting.

Last week, Cliffs requested a meeting with Ms. Joly to discuss ways to potentially bring workers back on the job. On Wednesday, Cliffs chief executive Lourenco Goncalves said that 175 laid-off workers could be back on the job by Christmas.

On Thursday, in her latest letter to Stelco president Paul Simon, Ms. Joly reiterated that she is willing to meet with the Cliffs boss, but the plan to recall workers must have meat on the bones.

“I expect Stelco and Cleveland-Cliffs to provide a concrete and credible plan for the re-engagement of those workers,” she said in the letter. “That plan will form the basis for a discussion regarding the other elements of Stelco’s and Cleveland Cliffs’ compliance with its undertakings.”

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Mr. Goncalves said on Wednesday that his plan to recall the workers by Christmas “will depend on Canadian customers buying Canadian steel, made by Stelco.”

It is unclear if that domestic demand will be enough. Mr. Goncalves has said repeatedly that Stelco is unable to make money in its Canadian galvanized-steel business, owing to competition from cheap imports and 50-per-cent U.S. import tariffs on the metal, which has made the American market untenable.

By laying off workers in Canada, Ms. Joly has alleged the company violated a legally binding promise around maintaining certain employment levels that it made when it acquired Stelco in 2024.

Cliffs has repeatedly said that it is not offside with its commitments and has provided data showing its employment levels are above the minimum threshold.

But in her latest letter to Cliffs, Ms. Joly said that the company’s claims around complying with its commitments fall short, saying that in several instances there isn’t enough hard evidence.

“Assertions of compliance are not a substitute for the information and evidence necessary to establish compliance,” she wrote.

Stelco said on Sept. 28 it was cutting up to 500 jobs in Canada. But Mr. Goncalves said on Wednesday that 175 is the maximum number that will be affected.

Ms. Joly has said multiple times that Cliffs could face financial penalties or be forced to divest Stelco for non-compliance with its Investment Canada Act commitments.

She also raised the ire of Mr. Goncalves by stating that there were already companies interested in buying Stelco. He countered that it isn’t her job to conduct a public auction of Stelco, and that he has no intention of selling the company right now.