Steel industry pins hopes on Buy Canadian in budget — but that won’t solve all woes

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MONTREAL — Zero-profit projects. Cancelled contracts. Halted development plans.

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In a year that has gone from bad to worse, steel fabricators are now pinning their hopes on possible Buy Canadian provisions in the upcoming federal budget — though such a shift would offer only limited protection from punishing U.S. tariffs.

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At a conference in Montreal this week, makers of steel products ranging from beams to nuts and bolts said U.S. President Donald Trump’s 50 per cent levy on steel imports has already inflicted hefty financial losses.

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“It’s really hard having a neighbour downstairs that is kind of going with his impulses,” said Veronique Roy, president of Logiciel Magnus, which sells software used in the design of steel structures.

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She said her clients are “losing contracts mostly from the United States.”

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Keanin Loomis, who heads the Canadian Institute of Steel Construction, said he believes the federal government will mandate at least some Buy Canadian measures for public contracts in the Liberal budget next week.

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“I’m hopeful after the budget is handed down that we’re going to have a significant change federally that then will also flow down into the provinces and then the municipalities,” Loomis said in an interview at a Montreal hotel.

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But the private sector accounts for the vast majority of spending on domestic steel. Meanwhile, suppliers at home also face the threat of being undercut by cheaper American imports and dumping of foreign steel into the Canadian market at artificially low prices. And they have few places to turn, said Loomis.

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“It’s hard for us to imagine going to any other (foreign) market other than the U.S. because it’s right there” — steel is notoriously hard to haul cheaply over long distances due to its weight.

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The impact of U.S. duties on steel and aluminum imports from across the globe, which doubled to 50 per cent in June, has hit unevenly across the country.

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In Ontario, the steelmaking hubs of Hamilton and Sault Ste. Marie reeled after the tariffs reduced shipments and upended supply chains in the auto, construction and consumer goods sectors. In Quebec, steel fabricators — who cut, weld and fit pre-made steel products churned out by big mills such as ArcelorMittal Dofasco and Algoma Steel — rely heavily on work south of the border.

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“The door has been shut for many of them,” said Loomis.

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At Marid Industries in Halifax, the metal fabricator is shouldering the entire cost of the tariffs on projects that are already underway in the U.S., leaving zero profit, said CEO Tim Houtsma in an interview.

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“We’ve been super busy, but we’re not going to make any money because that amount has to come out of our bottom line,” he said, noting the decision was a strategic one to maintain business relationships.

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“Now our customers are hitting pause on projects,” said Houtsma, whose company employs 165 workers across the Atlantic provinces.

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In July, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced tighter rules around steel imports in a bid to protect Canada’s domestic industry from dumping, on top of a 25 per cent tariff on American steel earlier this year.

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The steel industry has long pointed to the dumping problem, with offshore imports climbing from 19 per cent of the Canadian market in 2014 to 39 per cent in 2022, according to the Canadian Steel Producers Association.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2025.

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