Federal government will protect Hamilton steel amid tariffs, Joly tells Dofasco workers

Samantha Beattie · CBC

· Posted: Jun 06, 2025 4:45 PM EDT | Last Updated: June 6

Since Minister Mélanie Joly took implicit the infrastructure portfolio last month, she and Dofasco CEO Ron Bedard person spoken each time astir however the U.S. commercialized warfare is impacting Hamilton's alloy industry. 

"I can't stress capable however determined she has been successful each gathering connected taking attraction of workers," Bedard told a assemblage of workers astatine the company's works successful Hamilton connected Friday, alongside Joly and section politicians. 

"It's dissimilar thing I've seen successful my 38-year career. And the information that she's present contiguous wanting to recognize what much she tin bash speaks volumes astir however committed she is to our manufacture and our people." 

Before Friday, Bedard had seldom spoken publically astir ArcelorMittal Dofasco's efforts to get the national government's assistance arsenic Canada's commercialized warfare with the U.S. escalates. 

Watch | Hamilton reels aft Trump's latest alloy tariff gut punch: 

Joly's sojourn to Dofasco came a fewer days after President Donald Trump signed an enforcement bid expanding tariffs of alloy and aluminum from 25 to 50 per cent.

On Thursday, Canadian alloy executives met with officials successful Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberal government, including Joly, to property for urgent assistance. 

"It is wide that the authorities is seized with the gravity of the concern facing Canadian alloy and understands the request for expediency successful responding," Canadian Steel Producers Association CEO Catherine Cobden said astir the gathering successful Ottawa successful a statement. 

Dofasco works a 'crown jewel' 

While Joly toured the Hamilton works Friday, Carney introduced new authorities to destruct national barriers to interior commercialized and alteration much infrastructure projects to beryllium approved faster. 

These projects will see powerfulness lines and pipelines, and gathering up the defence industry, each of which volition necessitate alloy that's made successful Canada, Joly said. Much of that alloy comes from Hamilton.

"This is simply a nationalist asset, the crown jewel of the manufacturing sector," she said of Dofasco's plant. "This is our accidental to not lone prevention jobs, but physique jobs." 

The national authorities is moving connected a program to assistance companies financially successful the short-term to forestall layoffs, Joly said. The authorities is also going to effort to stop "steel dumping," which is erstwhile overseas steelmakers merchantability alloy into the Canadian marketplace astatine ultra-low prices. 

"We volition person much to accidental precise soon connected those 2 issues," Joly told reporters. "These can't beryllium bare promises. We're successful enactment mode."

Mayor Andrea Horwath met with Joly Friday and said aft that she urged the curate to "get things moving rather quickly." 

'Hamiltonians are worried," Horwath said. "This is impacting radical and families." She said successful a connection earlier this week that the tariffs were putting "thousands of bully jobs astatine risk."

Joly said diplomatic efforts with the Trump medication are ongoing and expanding Canada's retaliatory tariffs connected American products is still an option. 

"Everything is connected the array due to the fact that this is simply a massive, nonstop onslaught connected steelworkers," she said.