“We Are Strong”: Canadian Minister Joly Thwarts Trump’s Threats Amid Difficult Economic Times

Under Section 40, offers options through a court process. First, making sure that they're obliged to comply with the commitment. Second, financial penalties. And third, a potential forced divestiture, so forcing them to sell their Canadian assets. And so we're looking at all of these options, and I'm always ready to sit down again with Stelco to find a solution but it's not true that they will keep that they will cut the jobs in Hamilton and continue to ship their steel from the U.S. to Canada meanwhile no way so we we have less than five minutes left so but i do want to try to get into more questions um what is the government's timeline to either resolve this conflict at Stelco or to pursue legal action It's a question of days. Of course, we're working also with the union, with the workers. We're doing everything to make sure that this, not only to protect the jobs, but that this capability that is so key to our industrial base, that is so key to the Hamilton community, continues to operate. And so that is why it's really, really important. I have a strong sense of urgency. Okay. You talk about a wide range of industries in your speech, but there are many others in Canada as well. We have telecom. I'm sorry, Victor, we're not talking about telecom. But what about the other industries? What are your plans? What can people expect? You know, I was talking to Victor Dodds from TELUS a bit earlier. I was saying, please, we're not talking about telecoms in this speech, but it's coming. It's coming. So, indeed, I'll have multiple announcements this week. Again, Spacebound is happening, so we'll talk about space this week in Ottawa. We're coming up also with a venture cap strategy to increase the pool of capital in this country that is from Canadian sources. and we're looking at a speed to space strategy also because we need to have the right telecommunication infrastructure. We're coming up with a commercialization of life science strategy as well. Why I say that is because we're in the midst of a big industrial transformation and we need to be able to address all that while dealing with the issues of the day because if we don't do it, we will be vulnerable and we will be even more in a state of dependency and that cannot be the position of the government right now. All right, I'm just going to screw one last question in. As a journalist, I have pessimism down pat, but I think people are desperate for optimism. So what keeps you optimistic or what gives you optimism during these very difficult economic times? Well, I think we can be extremely proud of ourselves. Absolutely. We are. We can be. I think that, yes, there's a threat. And yes, when the American administration talks, they actually mean what they say. And that should be something we compute. But we are strong. We are in control of our country and of our economic levers. And so we can do this. And that's why I'm convinced that this can be also a very optimistic time, because we can do great things and big things together. Demain nous appartient. Just wondering, how do you react to being called a bully by the CEO of Cleveland Cliffs in his interview last night? I'm just doing my job. I'm protecting Canadian jobs. And I just want to make sure that not only does he understand that when he has a commitment with the Canadian government, he needs to abide by it, but also that we're sending a message for foreign companies that, of course, we're open for business. But if you come and invest in our country, well, you have to abide by commitments. And so that's why I'm very aware of the fact that we cannot set a precedent with Cleveland Cliffs. And that's why we need to abide by the letter, but also the intent of the law. He said that actually the, what you call bullying, were actually discouraged from Cleveland Cliffs. Well, I was just in London, Ontario, this morning with Minister Filidea, and we announced a $500 million project in Hitachi, which will be building press boards for their transformers. So, half a billion investment, 100 new jobs, great news for southern Ontario, great news for London, and that's just an example of a fantastic Japanese company investing in Canada. You've been talking about the potential for legal action for a little while now. What's the holdup? What's keeping you from pulling the trigger? We hired the best lawyers in town over the week and so we're working with them to make sure that we are looking at all options possible and of course we've engaged with Kingsland Fliss as well. As I mentioned two weeks ago, we offered them support. We were there to say to them, you know what, if you have some issues, no problem, we'll work together and they said no. So that's why this was a decision of their own making, and we're reacting to their decision. Just to clarify, have you hired an external counsel? Exactly. When's the last time you spoke to him in person? My team has been in contact. I spoke to the CEO two weeks ago. I was the one personally to offer him support through the different programs we have because I thought it was important to offer that option. And we're doing that with Algoma, we're doing that with El Paso, ArcelorMittal, Interpro, all the steel plants. That's what we're doing.