Saskatchewan is considering what ways it can support the steel and aluminum industry to save jobs in light of tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Trump’s 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum began on Wednesday. It’s a move that is expected to hurt Saskatchewan’s steel industry, especially Evraz in Regina, the largest producer in Western Canada.
“Today’s a tough day for us steelworkers,” Mike Day, president of United Steelworkers Local 5890 said on Wednesday. “It’s a day we all saw coming but hoped it would never arrive. My message is to Donald Trump is to stop. You have to stop. You are hurting both the Canadian and American economy as well as workers in both countries.”
While speaking in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said his government is working on a plan to support the steel industry.
“To mitigate any negative consequences and are there actually any opportunities for us to push through these using the tools we have, maybe Crown corporation procurement, things of that nature,” he said.
The province is also examining the amount of Canadian steel and other local content in capital projects. Josh Levy is the Co-Founder and CEO of Document Crunch, an AI platform that construction companies are currently using to assess tariff risk.
“It does become an exercise in the mitigation strategy, so in the case of your government, it does sound like they are willing to consider maybe how they can get to a win-win scenario to maybe minimize disruption to the project and find a way to make some good out [of] what is otherwise a disruptive time,” he explained.
At the legislature on Wednesday, the NDP called for construction of a pipeline to the East Coast, a project that would require industry and government support from across Canada.
“Our steelworkers deserve support. They deserve a government that will fight back and will take bold action to secure Saskatchewan’s economic future. Evraz and the workers in it are national treasures,” said NDP MLA Aleana Young.
The government says any plan to support the steel industry could come soon. One of the earliest opportunities could be in the upcoming provincial budget.
