PM talks Canadian steel, infrastructure and innovation

With the Prime Minister in town, the city's mayor, MP and MPP have took the opportunity to get some face time with the Justin Trudeau to talk about the deepening steel crisis affecting the city.

Trudeau was in the Sault Friday morning, announcing funds available to the city to apply toward transit infrastructure while surrounded by Sault Transit employees at the bus barn on Huron Street.

But questions from local media focused mostly on the challenges experienced by local employers Essar Steel Algoma and Tenaris Algoma Tubes.

Trudeau dismissed the idea that industries like steel manufacturing and resource extraction — which is the primary customer base of Tenaris Algoma Tubes — may not be worth fighting for.

“Whether we like it or not, this is Canada and Canada will always have a foundational element of our economy built around resources and their exploitation and extraction,” said Trudeau, during the question and answer period, immediately after the funding announcements.

He suggested the previous government, under Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper, focused too heavily on commodities — like the extraction of Alberta’s oil sands — as a way of generating growth within the economy.

The problem, he said, is the boom and bust cycle common to the commodities markets.
“The challenge is how do we make sure our economies are resilient enough, that our workforce is diversified enough, to make sure we are able to absorb the blows of fluctuating commodities markets,” said Trudeau.

While some industries were reaping the rewards of a stronger commodities market during Harper’s reign, Trudeau suggests spending lagged by that government in terms of infrastructure, education and innovation.

The Liberal government’s approach is to invest in the sectors of the economy, which Trudeau said were neglected during almost 10 years of Conservative government rule.

“For all of our strength on natural resources, our greatest resource is the people standing right behind me and people like them across the company. Hard-working, driven Canadians who are innovative and creative, willing to get a good education and a better job. Always willing to deliver for their family, for their communities, for their country,” said Trudeau.

Liberal MPP David Orazietti lauded the federal government’s efforts to update the trade remedy in response to the dumping of cheaper steel from countries like China.

“They know there are 22,000 direct jobs in the steel sector and 100,000 indirect jobs in the sector that rely on the steel sector. If you broaden that up to other areas of manufacturing, that number gets bigger,” said Orazietti.

An effort by China to be recognized by the World Trade Organization as a market economy is a move Orazietti opposes.

“They are not playing by international rules,” he said.

Trudeau said the federal government is taking the issue of steel dumping very seriously, and has begun to address it in the 2016 budget after consulting with all three levels of local government and industry.

He said MP Terry Sheehan has kept the issue in the forefront within the Liberal caucus.
Sheehan said he had a brief amount of face time with the PM prior to Friday's announcement.

“In talking with him, in briefing him prior to this we, covered a number of issues. He didn’t need it. He already understood it, he already got it because of our relationship,” said Sheehan.

During the press conference, Trudeau suggested his government’s commitment to infrastructure spending may have a trickle-down effect.

“As we well know, building infrastructure often requires new steel. There is a strong future for the steel industry in Canada, that is something we are working with different levels of government, but also with industry directly, not just in the Sault, but right around the country, to ensure the good jobs that are related to this industry and the strong future for Canada in economic growth continue be addressed,” said Trudeau.

Mayor Christian Provenzano, who twice ran federally as a Liberal candidate, said the city is not at a point where it can allow Essar Steel Algoma to fail.

"We are a steel city. That’s not to say we can’t grow and evolve into a more diverse, vibrant city that has other economies, but we can’t let our primary economy go before that happens,” said Provenzano.

Reaching the Prime Minister by phone is very difficult, Provenzano said. Having the opportunity to speak with him face-to-face is much more effective.

“He gets to see our community and gets to see how Terry, David and I work together. At the same time, all three of us get to impress upon him what is important to us in our community,” said Provenzano.