As Manitoulin residents wait with bated breath for a new swing bridge to replace the aging structure that is an iconic emblem of life on the Island, instability and disruption swirl throughout the Canadian economy.
There are a lot of products that will go into the new bridge, but chief among them will undoubtedly be steel.
Steel production has long been seen as an essential backbone of many economies across the globe. Steel is a cornerstone of many national economies, including Canada, and it remains a vital component for building infrastructure, manufacturing and shoring up national security.
Unfortunately, this has led to a glut on the world market and our nation imported nearly $16 billion of steel from the US and China in 2023—mostly coming in from the US, which accounted for half of those imports. The next biggest importer is Mexico, followed by China. Imports make up over 60 percent of our domestic market.
For many decades, taking the lowest bid has been the cornerstone of government procurement policies and this makes us a tempting target for countries seeking to shore up their own domestic production capacity by dumping cheap steel on our markets.
There will be domestic costs associated with ending those policies in favour of approaches which give preferential treatment to products produced in Canada. Those increased costs will be a vital component in maintaining our national sovereignty, keeping the ship of state afloat during the turbulent economic storms being stirred up by the current US administration.
Long steel products, that is girders and rails, the very kind of steel with which bridges are built, make up 65 percent of the steel our country imports. It simply stands to reason that utilizing domestic steel to build Manitoulin’s new bridge is the best course of action for our province to plot.
Using domestic steel will undoubtedly be more expensive than taking advantage of those cheaper alternatives available on the global market, but it will prove to be a better choice for our province and our nation in both the long and short terms.
The steel industry supports over 23,000 direct jobs along with an additional 100,000 indirect jobs—and here’s the kicker, many of those well-paying skilled positions are concentrated in Ontario and Quebec. Steel production has been one of the key cornerstones making Ontario the manufacturing powerhouse of our nation and over half of Canada’s steel production takes place in our province.
That means the bulk of those well-paying jobs reside here. In 2023, Ontario accounted for 52.1 percent of the employment in Canada’s primary metals manufacturing sector, with Quebec following with 33.7 percent. Where oil is the key economic driver in western Canada, Ontario’s steel provides much of the backbone in Ontario’s economy.
While on the national front the federal government has implemented controls to limit the challenges to our domestic production coming from the dumping of cheap steel, it is on the provincial front that the strongest bastion has been set. That is why we must applaud the actions of the current provincial government.
Ontario has implemented a “Procurement Restriction Policy” that applies to all public sector entities including broader public sector organizations. The Procurement Restriction Policy is specifically designed to restrict US businesses from accessing public sector procurements in Ontario. The policy is intended to remain in force as a response to US tariffs on Canadian products and services.
All government ministries and agencies, including Ontario Power Generation and the Independent Electricity System Operator fall under the policy’s directive—and that includes the Ministry of Transportation which is responsible for building and maintaining the province’s 2,800 bridges.
This type of government action is the very epitome of “elbows up.”
It is unfortunate that global trade has been disrupted through the mercurial actions of the current POTUS. A significant portion of our recent wealth and prosperity has been based on the concept of free trade and the ability to purchase goods and services from the lowest bidder and our public purse (and by extension our private purses) will undoubtedly take a hit from protectionist policies like the Procurement Restriction Policy—but it will be money well spent.
So, our new swing bridge will be built with Canadian steel. Hopefully, Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie will resume production of long steel products (they stopped producing long steel in the 1990s but have been considering resumption) ensuring that we will be able to shore up those well-paying jobs here in Northern Ontario.
These are times when we all need to work together—and working together is a characteristic that defines what it means to be Canadian.
