Industrial carbon pricing would kill Canadian steel industry, Poilievre claims

SAULT STE. MARIE — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Wednesday that Canada’s steel industry is being threatened by U.S. tariffs and the Liberals’ industrial carbon price — a policy big industry players have said they support.

The Conservative campaign kicked off the day in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., a steel town that sits on Canada’s border with the United States.

Poilievre took to his podium at 9 a.m. in -13 C cold, in front of the bridge connecting the two nations currently locked in a bitter tariff dispute. That dispute has enormous stakes for the steel industry and residents of Sault Ste. Marie, where heavyweight Algoma Steel underpins the economy.

But Poilievre did not initially address steel, tariffs or U.S. President Donald Trump in his speech, which instead focused on previously announced policies to get tougher on crime. He mentioned the steel industry in passing at a rally in the same location the previous evening — mainly in the context of carbon pricing.

A local reporter pointed out the disconnect to the Conservative leader and asked him how he would support the steel industry through the tariff uncertainty.

Poilievre acknowledged the challenge and drew a comparison between Trump and Liberal Leader Mark Carney, his chief rival in the election.

“This is an area where Mr. Trump and Mr. Carney agree. They both want to tax Canadian steel. Trump with tariffs, Carney with carbon taxes,” he said.

While Carney eliminated the consumer carbon price when he assumed office last month, he maintained the industrial carbon price, which is paid by big emitters. After Carney dropped the consumer carbon price, Poilievre said he would end the industrial price as well.

Poilievre argued that many of Canada’s steel producers would “shut down and go south,” where he said they would be free from both carbon pricing and American tariffs.

He argued “there will be no steel industry left in Canada” if the industrial carbon pricing law remains in place.

The Canadian Steel Producers Association, which includes major industry players such as Algoma, said in an open letter in October that it supports an industrial carbon price “as the backbone of decarbonization” across Canada.

“Industrial carbon markets are the most flexible and cost-effective way to incentivize industry to systematically reduce emissions,” the letter said.

The association went on to criticize how the current system works, calling on Ottawa to standardize regimes across provinces and arguing the “critical policy isn’t working as well as it should.”

Currently most provinces have their own pricing programs for big industrial emitters, that meet standards set by the federal government but do vary from region to region.

The Canadian Climate Institute in January pointed to the industrial carbon price as a critical tool for cutting emissions from the steel industry.

Steel is one of the commodities under fire in Trump’s tariff war, with a 25 per cent levy imposed on steel imports on March 12. Canada retaliated with dollar-for-dollar tariffs matching U.S. import taxes on steel and aluminum.

Poilievre on Wednesday repeated previous pledges to impose counter tariffs on the United States to protect the steel industry, and to allow Canadians to defer capital gains tax if the earnings are reinvested in Canada.

Critics — including some within the Conservative party’s ranks — have called on Poilievre to focus his campaign messaging Trump and the trade war.

-With files from Nick Murray in Ottawa

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 9, 2025.

Craig Lord, The Canadian Press