Algoma Handout Political Arrogance in Contempt of Workers and CommunitiesOn July 5, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's then Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry François-Philippe Champagne, and others were in Sault Ste. Marie to announce that $420 million in public money is being poured into Algoma Steel by the federal government. This was one of a string of photo-ops in many cities across the country where public monies were doled out by Trudeau and members of his Cabinet. These handouts to global private monopolies in the aerospace and steel industries were announced just weeks before Trudeau called the federal election.
These acts of political arrogance by the party-in-power were not merely designed to garner votes. They were also designed to impress upon workers that their fate and the fate of their industries depend on supporting the cartel party system, in particular the Liberal party, and not on their own fight for their rights and for the building of industries that serve the well-being of the people. While in Sault Ste. Marie, Trudeau did not mention that the Algoma workers have been through fraudulent bankruptcies three times under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA). Nor did he mention that the Canadian state, which he represents, is the author and the enforcer of this legislation and its process that deprive the workers of what belongs to them by right. The smoke and mirrors announcement of public money being poured into Algoma Steel under the high ideals of jobs and a cleaner future, showed disregard for the workers' concerns, including concerns about the use of these monies by the Algoma owners to get richer and embark on still another scheme that could lead to yet another incursion into CCAA. Workers' Forum commends the Algoma workers and United Steelworkers Local 2251 for refusing to participate in this photo-op and for standing firm in their demand to have a decisive say in the fate of the plant and in the conditions of work and the protection of the livelihoods of active and retired workers. Their future lies in their fight for the rights of all without which they are at the mercy of the gods of plague.
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The
October 19 announcement of the merger of Algoma Steel with the
international investment cartel Legato makes this $420 million given by
the Trudeau government to the U.S. ownership group that owns and
controls Essar Algoma Steel a really shady deal. It came right in the
midst of the secret maneuvering to merge or sell the steel mill
to Legato. The deal included over $200 million from the federal
government's Strategic Innovation Fund and an additional $220 million
from the Canada Infrastructure Bank. The total pay-the-rich scheme of
$420 million is more than the net gain of $306-million the U.S.
ownership group says it has pulled off with the Legato merger.