TORONTO – What’s happening at Algoma Steel is exactly what’s wrong with this country: big corporations get money from the government while workers are left to fend for themselves.
A thousand steelworkers are being thrown out of their jobs while the federal and provincial governments keep shovelling public money into the pockets of corporate executives who have never set foot on a mill floor.
Earlier this month, I was in the Soo speaking directly with the workers affected. I heard their fear, their frustration, and their determination.
These are proud, skilled people who have given decades to Algoma and they’ve been betrayed by a system that protects profits over people.
This is a political failure, not an economic inevitability.
Ottawa and Queen’s Park had every tool to protect these jobs, yet they chose not to. They trusted corporate promises instead of standing with workers. And now, after hundreds of millions in public subsidies, CEOs and shareholders get richer while families in Sault Ste. Marie are left wondering how they’ll pay the mortgage.
This is the rigged system I’ve been talking about from day one. A ruling class that takes public money without public obligations. Governments, Liberal and Conservative alike, that hand out blank cheques to corporations while preaching restraint to working people. It’s greed at the top and abandonment for everyone else.
Under my Good Jobs Promise, this never happens again. If a company takes taxpayer dollars, they don’t get to walk away from their workforce. Period. Public money means public rules: job guarantees, community benefits, and iron-clad commitments to keep operations in Canada. If CEOs don’t like it, they can give the money back.
Workers built Canada. Workers power our economy. Workers keep our communities alive. And yet we are always the ones who get punished when the rich and powerful screw up.
I’m running to change that. To make sure corporate Canada and the politicians who serve them can’t keep getting away with this.