Carney campaign visits steel plant as he vows to fight Trump tariffs

SAULT STE. MARIE — Liberal Leader Mark Carney took his election campaign to a steel plant on Friday to highlight his promise to forge a procurement strategy that relies on homegrown materials.

Carney used the backdrop of Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., to tout the Liberals as the best choice to fend off the barrage of U.S. tariffs threatening Canadian businesses and workers.

“We will stand with every single Canadian worker targeted by President Trump’s attacks on our country. We will stand with you,” Carney said at a news conference alongside local Liberal incumbent Terry Sheehan.

The city is on tenterhooks over Donald Trump’s trade war, as the U.S. president’s stiff tariffs threaten the Sault’s main employer, which has already had to issue some temporary layoffs.

Laura Devoni, director of corporate affairs at Algoma Steel, said the U.S. steel tariffs are “very concerning to our company and our workers,” costing millions of dollars a month.

“The steel market has been impacted by the U.S. tariffs. Access to the U.S. market is really important, and the economic impacts are very concerning,” she said.

Trump jammed Canada with steel and aluminum tariffs during his first term in the White House, but the company says it was easier to endure back then.

“In 2018, when we were in a similar situation, we saw steel market prices go up significantly, so it was much easier to manage through the tariff period. We’re not seeing the same price impacts this time, so it’s much more difficult,” Devoni said.

Trump said this week he may ramp up automotive tariffs as he seeks to squeeze Canada out of the U.S. auto industry entirely.

“He’s threatening Canadian workers in auto manufacturing and workers throughout the industrial supply chain, including here at Algoma,” Carney said. “The president’s latest comments are more proof, as if we needed any, that the old relationship with the United States that we’ve had is over.

“It’s a call to action that we need to chart a new path.”

Canadians head to the polls to choose their next government on Monday, which leaves Carney with just three days left of campaigning, sending him to electoral battlegrounds that could prove to be tight races.

Sheehan won the Sault Ste. Marie seat in 2015, 2019 and 2021, but his last victory was by a margin of just 247 votes. The riding has new boundaries and was renamed Sault Ste. Marie — Algoma, and under those new boundaries the Conservatives would have won in 2021.

Av polling analysis done by 338 Canada suggests Sheehan trails the Conservatives currently.

Carney quickly swung through the steel town Friday morning, promoting his plans to ramp up defence spending and support home building, saying those efforts would support Canadian steel.

The Liberals promise, if re-elected, to build an all-in-Canada auto manufacturing network using local steel, aluminum and critical minerals.

They also pledge a $2-billion fund to boost the Canadian auto sector’s competitiveness, protect manufacturing jobs and support workers.

Carney envisions major nation-building projects, such as ports, rails, bridges and tunnels, that will connect Canada and expand the economy.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre rolled his campaign through Sault Ste. Marie earlier this month, where he emphasized he would get tough on crime and railed against the Liberals’ industrial carbon price.

— Written by Anja Karadeglija in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., Jim Bronskill in Ottawa and Kyle Duggan in Toronto

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 25, 2025.

Canadian Press Staff, The Canadian Press