Evidence of meeting #19 for Industry and Technology in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was workers.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ben Carr
Good morning, everyone. We decided that the rest of the meeting would be held in public. We therefore continue our meeting.
There are hands up.
I have Madam Dancho, Madam O'Rourke and Mr. Guglielmin.
Madam Dancho, go ahead.
Conservative
Raquel Dancho Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Of course, I think Canada was quite shocked to see that we had another 1,000 job losses in the steel sector this week. Again, this is the industry committee for Canada, so I do believe it's incumbent on us to take this very seriously. This is now the second tranche of 1,000 job losses in the steel industry.
In order to deal with that, I do think the committee should be seized with this and should be looking into it promptly. I will move the following motion:
Given that:
Algoma Steel's CEO has publicly confirmed that the Liberal government knew in advance that the company's restructuring plan “always” included major layoffs and nonetheless approved a $400-million federal loan days before 1,000 workers were told their jobs were gone.
Time and again, the Liberal government hands out massive taxpayer-funded subsidies without demanding job guarantees, letting corporations take the money and still lay off workers by the hundreds and thousands.
The committee:
Report to the House that it condemns the lack of job guarantees included in the Liberal government's financing agreement with Algoma Steel, and stands in solidarity with Canadian steelworkers.
Immediately invite the following witnesses to appear before the committee in relation to the funding agreement; prioritize their appearances above all other matters before the committee; and work with House of Commons administration to schedule additional meetings to accommodate their appearances as necessary: the Minister of Industry; the Minister of Finance; the Minister of Jobs and Families; the CEO of Algoma Steel; representatives of United Steelworkers; and any other relevant witnesses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ben Carr
Thank you, Madam Dancho.
We have a motion that's been moved. I'm going to suspend very briefly to allow for the distribution of the motion in both languages. It had not previously been put on notice, so out of fairness to members of the committee, I'm going to give them a few moments to review it.
We're going to suspend briefly.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ben Carr
Colleagues, we've had an opportunity to circulate in both official languages the motion that was presented by Madam Dancho a few moments ago. I think an adequate amount of time has been given for consideration of this motion. We will now enter into debate on it.
Ms. Borrelli had her hand up. That's the only hand I have currently on my speaking list. I also have Madam O'Rourke.
Liberal
Liberal
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ben Carr
Mr. Falk, I assure you there's plenty of time for everybody to speak, so we'll get to you.
I have Ms. Borrelli, Madam O'Rourke, Mr. Falk and Mr. Guglielmin.
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ben Carr
Okay, Monsieur Ste-Marie.
Thank you, everyone.
Madam Borrelli, the floor is yours.
Conservative
Kathy Borrelli Conservative Windsor—Tecumseh—Lakeshore, ON
I'd like to speak in favour of the motion.
We've seen time and time again cases where the government has entered into contracts with companies and handed out billions of taxpayers' dollars in subsidies without securing guarantees for Canadian workers. Taxpayers are demanding transparency and workers deserve job guarantees. The government needs to answer for its incompetence with the contracts.
Thank you.
Liberal
Dominique O'Rourke Liberal Guelph, ON
Thank you, Chair Carr.
We hear it in the House of Commons every day, and we have known that we are in a trade war. The Government of the United States is attacking our core industries with impunity, and attacking us particularly egregiously in the steel sector. Every independent sovereign country needs to have its own steel industry. That is what is egregious in this context.
It's clear—and I believe that some of the leaders in Sault Ste. Marie have said so—that the federal government investments are actually improving a situation that would have been far worse and allowing Algoma Steel to retain roughly two-thirds of the jobs. Federal government support is also helping Algoma Steel to transition to a new way of manufacturing, a way that is green.
Nonetheless, it's awful for 1,000 families to receive layoff notices just a couple of weeks before the holidays. I don't think there's a Canadian who doesn't feel for them. I'm more interested in looking at how we can provide supports immediately. In fact, a report to the House at this point would take up some of the time remaining before the holiday break. In that time, what we need to do is pass the budget, which has a number of measures that will actually help these families immediately. These include several new employment insurance provisions that combine permanent enhancements and temporary measures that respond to economic uncertainty, sadly, for these exact situations.
The federal budget also has a number of measures to support tariff-affected industries so that they can sustain if not all of their workers then some of their workers. It creates a path. We are ramping up on major projects in this country that will require steel, aluminum, lumber and workers. What we need to do is support people. The Government of Canada and all of the parties in the House of Commons need to be supporting these workers and these industries through what is a really difficult time.
Some of the things we find in budget 2025 that we should pass before the holidays, that we should make use of House time for, and the members could speak to these challenges in the context of the debate on Bill C-15, which is the budget implementation act.... One of these things is faster access to EI benefits. The one-week waiting period for EI claims has been waived for claims that will be filed to allow workers to receive their benefits immediately. How critical is this for these families who want to know how they're going to pay their rent, their mortgage and their groceries? This improvement and the faster access to EI benefits are really important.
Also, there are changes wherein severance or vacation pay will no longer delay EI, and that is important as well. I don't begin to understand what the union agreements are or what the severance payments will look like. I hope they are generous, and I hope that Algoma is thoughtful in how it cares for these families and these workers, who have been loyal to them and who are highly skilled and are, hopefully, ready to go back to work should there be an increase in production.
There is also an increase in EI. Those EI benefits will increase. Those benefits will rise from 55% to 60% of insurable earnings for regular benefits. The maximum weekly benefit will increase from $650 to $720. There will be expanded eligibility for part-time and self-employed workers. I don't know what the mix is for the workers at Algoma Steel, and whether there are part-time workers there as well.
There is also workforce support in budget 2025. This is so important not only for the steel workers but also for all Canadians who are in sectors that are currently being displaced by these American tariffs. The Conservatives want to point at the Liberal government. The assault here is coming from the United States. We should be unified in supporting the workers who are affected.
That labour market development is $70 million over three years to retrain and upskill up to 10,000 steelworkers, plus income support for displaced workers, and also work-sharing programs. I know that the Minister of Industry is working with Algoma Steel and with the leadership in Sault Ste. Marie to try to find supports immediately for those workers and also for the sector.
A number of things in the budget will not only support the workers immediately; they will also strengthen our steel sector in the coming years. We heard just last week—it was very well received in Hamilton from the steel sector—about new changes around tariff rate quotas and around anti-dumping, which has been a challenge in this country for a long time. We will end the temporary tariff remission.
The buy Canadian policy will be helpful. Infrastructure and housing activities and freight rate reductions are really important in terms of getting that steel across the country. The strategic innovation fund has over $1 billion committed to help steel producers modernize their facilities, expand their capacity and diversify product lines. There's also the large enterprise tariff loan facility, which was the $400 million that was received by Algoma Steel. We're looking for the long-term competitiveness of the sector.
Mr. Chair, I think we could get more information. We could potentially have a future conversation. In this urgent moment, I think it's more important for the House of Commons to be focused on how we help these workers and affected sectors.
Liberal
Conservative
Ted Falk Conservative Provencher, MB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to speak briefly in favour of the motion. I think it's imperative that this committee undergo this study, at the moment, with the ministers and with the CEO of Algoma Steel and then report to the House. There are 1,000 workers, 1,000 families, who don't have income right before Christmas.
The things that the Liberal member across the way just mentioned are just subsidies from the government again. I think we need to find out why this Liberal government keeps giving away hundreds of millions of dollars without job guarantees. The assault may be coming from south of the border, but the incompetence is right here, across the aisle. It's for those things that we need to find out where the problem really is. We have incompetency here.
We know that the Minister of Industry lied previously, when it came to Stellantis, about the redacted documents. When the Stellantis CEO—
Liberal
Liberal
Karim Bardeesy Liberal Taiaiako'n—Parkdale—High Park, ON
I think that's quite a serious allegation to raise in this context without any supporting evidence. I'm just wondering how this is relevant to debate on the motion at hand.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ben Carr
Mr. Falk, we do treat the committee the way we would the chamber. We try to keep in line with what we would call parliamentary language. I'll offer you an opportunity, before we continue, to maybe consider rephrasing some of the words in reference to how you are contextualizing what occurred.
I'll give the mic back to you.
Conservative
Ted Falk Conservative Provencher, MB
Well, certainly the House and this committee are very well aware that the minister misled the House and this committee when she said that Stellantis had requested—
