Ezra Levant reveals Algoma Steel’s CEO Mike Garcia earned $5.6M last year while laying off 1,000 workers just two months after securing $500M in government loans—$400M federal (including Mark Carney-linked funds) and $100M from Doug Ford’s Ontario—with no job-retention conditions despite claims otherwise. Meanwhile, Rebel News journalists Alexa Lavoie and Guillaume Roi faced violent assaults at a union protest, with police initially ignoring escalating Antifa attacks before arresting the assailant, who was later released without charges. The episode exposes systemic failures: green tech mandates over jobs, potential conflicts of interest in Carney’s investments, and law enforcement’s inconsistent response to far-left aggression, questioning whether corporate and political elites prioritize profits and ideology over accountability and worker safety. [Automatically generated summary]
I found out some crazy new news about this Algoma steel factory.
Did you know that the government that gave them half a billion dollars just two months ago knew all along they were going to lay off a thousand workers?
It's nuts.
I'll show you some footage of the CEO of this company basically, basically admitting that the whole thing.
To see the video footage, so you've got to go to Rebel News Plus.
Go to rebelnewsplus.com, click subscribe.
It's eight bucks a month.
You get the video version of the podcast, plus the satisfaction of keeping us strong because we don't take any government money.
we rely on viewers like you.
Tonight, two crazy facts about the Algoma Steel fiasco that I didn't know until just today.
It is December 3rd, and this is the Ezra Levant show.
Shame on you, you censorious bug.
Yesterday, I marveled that Algoma Steel, which just announced the layoffs of a thousand workers, I was shocked that they had the audacity to do that just weeks after receiving $500 million.
That's half a billion from taxpayers.
$400 million came from the federal government and Mark Carney, and another $100 million from Doug Ford's Ontario.
Of course, the taxpayer paid the bill, not the politicians.
I thought that's crazy.
That's sharp practice that feels unethical to cash a check and then almost immediately fire a thousand workers.
And so I was puzzled, and I said it last night on the show.
I was puzzled that the official response from the government via the graphic design jobs minister, Patty Idu, didn't mention the money at all.
But I missed this video last night.
Looks like the reason why the Liberals didn't absolutely savage Algoma for taking the cash and then firing a thousand workers is because the Liberals knew about this all along.
They knew that the job cuts were coming and they were fine with it.
And they gave the half a billion without making a condition.
You watched that CEO of Algoma say as much in a somewhat diplomatic way.
I think the government certainly knows our business strategy.
It knows the pivot that we had made.
It knew very well that the extreme pressure the company was under.
I don't think anybody would loan the company half a billion dollars without asking very detailed questions about what our business plan was.
I think the core concern is how do we protect the ongoing Algoma Steel?
How do we make sure this company is competitive, is viable?
He said, I don't think anybody would loan the company half a billion dollars without asking very detailed questions about what our business plan was.
That's what he said.
Well, I'm not so sure about that.
We learned recently that Melanie Jolie did not bother to read the contract in which the liberals gave billions of dollars to Stellantis, the car maker, which shortly thereafter announced their layoffs too.
So I think this CEO is overestimating the intelligence and the fiduciary duty of the liberals, especially the obvious DEI appointee, Melanie Jolie.
But yeah, he's sort of in on it.
They're all in on it, aren't they?
So the government knew, which is why they're not criticizing Algoma for pocketing half a billion, and which is why the CEO isn't embarrassing the government.
Here's that rocket surgeon, Doug Ford.
It's a tweet actually by a reporter who said, Ontario Premier Doug Ford acknowledged that his government was aware that massive layoffs at Algoma Steel were imminent well before the province agreed to loan the company $100 million in taxpayer funds.
Quote, the Titanic was sinking.
So he took $100 million tax dollars from people in Ontario and invested it in the Titanic after he knew it was sinking.
Hey, don't worry, though.
I mean, the CBC went to work trying to clean up this mess.
Look at this story.
It was posted at around 10.30 p.m. last night when things started to fall apart.
Algoma Steel is cutting 1,000 jobs.
So why did it receive millions in government loans?
Steel producer received 500 million loans in September, $420 million in 2021.
Yeah, so it's just under a billion dollars.
Now, I'm going to read to you four paragraphs in a row from this CBC story because it is just a work of art.
The journalists there are just beautiful.
Like you have to admire the pure government propaganda.
You rarely see it executed so well.
So let me just read this quick.
I'm just going to read it to you.
Four sentences.
Bear with me.
Back in September, the federal government boasted it was acting, quote, to protect Canadian steel jobs with its announcement of $400 million in loans to northern Ontario-based Algoma Steel.
The money would help it, quote, adapt operations, stay competitive, and most importantly, protect the jobs and the workers who drive the industry, Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said in a statement at the time.
At the same time, the Ontario government said it would be kicking in $100 million of its own, meaning the steel producer would be receiving half a billion dollars in government money.
But on Tuesday, just over two months after these announcements, Algoma Steel said it was issuing 1,000 layoff notices to workers at its flat in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
This raised questions as to why the steel company was receiving millions of taxpayers' dollars.
Yet some industry experts suggest that the funding is going to important leading-edge technology that will drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
And it's all part of the cost of Canada maintaining its steel industry in the wake of punishing tariffs.
I don't know if that was written at the CBC or if it was written by someone at Algoma or if it was written by the Liberal Party of Canada.
But really, all three have merged these days, haven't they?
It's really all the same.
And they're all living off of the avails of you.
Let me read this next amazing paragraph from the same CBC story.
The government support has been generous, said Peter Warrior, an economist with the Monk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto.
But at the end of the day, you get a major environmental improvement.
There's a long-range plan, he said, adding that it was the right thing for Ottawa to do.
With the new technology, the plant was expected to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 70 to 80 percent.
Hey, guys, we burned through a billion dollars.
1,000 men have been laid off.
Hey, but did you know that we cut some greenhouse gas emissions for a billion dollars worth of cash?
Yeah, if that's your primary goal ahead of jobs, ahead of a successful business, you can actually do that for free, you know, just shut down the factory and then you have zero emissions.
In fact, you could have given, you could have given every one of those workers a million dollars cash and had the same outcome.
In fact, you would have lower emissions, wouldn't you?
Let me keep reading.
The government gave them the money to incentivize them to try the technology, Bing said, talking about this new low-carbon technology.
However, operating electric arc furnaces, because they use more efficient technology, is much less labor intensive, meaning a plant requires fewer jobs, Ming says.
If you can undercut everyone because you're producing so much cheaper than they are, then who would not want to buy from you, Ming said.
Really?
So this new technology, this green technology is so awesome, trying to make steel without coal.
It's so amazing that whoever does it just absolutely crushes their competitors.
But for some reason, the only people who do use this amazing technology only do it when the government gives them huge wads of cash.
Is that what this professor is saying?
Only a professor would say that because they're paid by the government too.
Here's a union rep for the workers at Algoma saying there were absolutely no strings attached to the funding that the companies would have to keep some workers on.
It was all a deal from executive to executive.
Take a listen.
What is your message to those governments tonight, you know, following this news?
Well, they should recognize that we are taxpayers and it doesn't matter which party we support.
We are their citizens and they should be at least taking care of us.
We're not asking them to find us jobs, but what we do want is for them to attach conditions to funding that says common sense needs to prevail and the workers need to be considered irrespective of what's happening with the company.
We're not asking for handouts, but we're asking our workers have brought this company back from CCAA three times now.
So we should be recognized by the government for attempting to keep the economy going.
So what are we paying for if not the jobs?
Well, the environment.
I mean, the net zero, that's what Carney's all about.
That's what we're paying for.
It's just an incredible statement.
Take a listen.
With the centerpiece of the liberal government's climate agenda.
Would that help you in your business getting rid of that levy?
Look, the carbon price is not our biggest problem right now.
It adds, you know, $10, $20 per ton of steel to our production costs.
When we are EAF, when we're converted to the EAF, our carbon intensity will be 70% lower.
So we'll actually have an advantage versus our competitive competitors in both the U.S. and Canada that are making blast furnace steel that have a much higher carbon intensity.
So we see that as a competitive advantage.
We can deal with the carbon price.
I think the government needs to be mindful of the escalation of it.
They have to be mindful that it never becomes a barrier to a steel company being successful or never becomes a barrier to be able to continue to implement and improve your operations.
But as long as it doesn't become that and it's implemented in a reasonable way, the carbon price is not the problem here.
So this is awesome news.
A thousand fewer workers.
But hey, guys, the steel will have a smaller carbon footprint.
And that's totally going to be a competitive advantage, including selling into the United States.
What does that even mean?
The steel is being kept out of the United States because of Trump's tariffs, not because of carbon levels.
No one in the world says they're going to buy steel because it's a low carbon manufacturing process.
No one in the world has ever said that.
That's like saying low carbon oil is a competitive advantage.
No, it isn't.
I mean, customers buy oil from OPEC dictatorships and from Russia, from Iran and Venezuela.
Literally buy blood oil from Sudan.
No one cares about a few puffs of CO2 in their oil.
No one is making their buying choices based on that.
No one other than Mark Carney and Justin Trudeau even talk about carbon emissions in oil or steel.
Oh, and now the CEO of Algoma.
I guess if you gave me a billion dollars, I'd talk about whatever you want to as well.
Hey, can I show you something from Canada's newspaper of record, the Globe and Mail, which, although it's owned by Canada's richest oligarchs, still takes subsidies from the Carney government.
Here, take a look at this.
This was just last week.
Corporate Citizen of the Year, Algoma's man of steel, Mike Garcia.
When Trump's trade war threatened to sink Algoma, its American CEO, this year's corporate citizen of the year, launched Project Superman and averted certain disaster.
That was published just last week.
What a joke the Globe and Mail is.
Oh, and look at this.
Michael Garcia made $5.6 million personally last year.
Now, I actually think he's worth every penny of it.
That's just a 1% commission on the half a billion dollars he managed to squeeze out of Carney and Doug Ford.
Totally worth it for Algoma investors.
He just brought in a half a billion dollars.
Pay him 10 million, whatever.
I'm not sure he's corporate citizen of the year.
I wouldn't call him businessman of the year.
He's certainly not employer of the lead.
A thousand laid-off men would argue differently, but he's a pretty good lobbyist, pretty good at working the Liberal Party to get money from them.
That's a special skill set, and it involves praising carbon dioxide reductions even while you're firing a thousand men.
He'll do it.
He's your man.
Oh, what's this from just five weeks ago?
I missed this until today.
Algoma Steel CEO Mike Garcia leaving Steelmaker for personal reasons, but with no regrets, personal reasons.
I get it.
Take the 5.6 mil, lay off 1,000 men, and then get out of town.
He's literally planning on leaving the town.
It must be nice, although I wouldn't want to be that guy.
It's a club, though, isn't it?
It's a cozy club.
You got Mike Garcia.
You got Algoma shareholders, including big U.S. banks.
You got environmentalists.
You got the Globe and Mail.
You got a half a billion dollars in free money.
It is a club, not an economy.
It's a club, and you're not in it.
Stay with us for more.
Guillaume Assaulted00:16:53
Case in point, this weekend, when our Quebec team, Alexa Lavoie and Guillaume Roi, were in the field covering a protest.
Even though they thought they would be okay, we had three security guards with them.
But you can never be 100% safe, especially if someone sneaks up on you.
Here, take a look.
Utterly outrageous.
Guillaume had to go to the hospital for stitches, but even when Alexa was moving away from the mob, some man with a baby in a stroller tried to assault her.
Take a look at this craziness.
And there's no other journalistic company in the country that this happens to.
Joining us now from Montreal is our very brave Quebec team, Guillaume Roi, the videographer, and Alexa Lavois, our on-air talent.
Guys, first of all, Mercien, thank you so much for putting up with this.
You shouldn't have to put up with it.
But I spoke to both of you when this happened, and you both said the same thing, that you will not let these attacks stop you from doing your work.
So on behalf of our viewers, thank you.
Hi, Israel.
Hi, Israel.
And it's our pleasure to tell the other side of the story, whatever the cost, the physical costs that we are having.
Well, I'm very sorry this happened.
Guillaume, show me your elbow.
Is it still covered with a bandage?
No.
Okay, so how many stitches, four stitches in it?
Yes.
Well, I'm very sorry that happened to you.
And it was quite a serious injury at the time.
It was bleeding profusely.
You had to go to the hospital.
Tell me about the march you were covering because we knew that you needed security, but we didn't think it would get out of hand.
Tell me about the event you went to cover.
First of all, why we decided to cover the union protests?
It's mainly because of the Bill 3 that the CACS government actually proposed recently to ask the union to be more transparent.
And afterwards, we had Maggie Di Picard who went out.
She also insulted some of the politicians as like Eric Duhem.
She also went out saying she was at war against the government and she was ready to paralyze Quebec with a social strike.
So who's at the head of the union was saying this?
The president of the union, the FTQ.
Got it.
So it was a very political union march and you went there just to talk to people and you actually had some success.
I saw you were talking to a marcher who seemed to be happy to give you his point of view, right?
Yes, but you know, union members represent the population.
There is some members that are favorable to freedom of the press and they actually like us, as well as others that they were not happy to see us and they were screaming us insult.
But yes, we had like successful interview until those moms just came and surrounded us and started assaulting us physically.
Now, Guillaume, someone came up to you and it was the thing is in a situation like that where you're in close quarters with people on purpose because you have to get close to them to ask them a question, to put the microphone to them, it's impossible to be in that close quarters without someone having the opportunistic chance to grab you.
I mean, if the goal was to keep you 100% safe, we'd have to stop you from even going there.
So I'm sympathetic to security if someone sort of does a sneak attack.
Tell me about the sneak attack on you.
How did it happen?
Who was it?
Did you see them before they attacked you?
No, I didn't see them because There was so many people this day.
It was a big march, like thousand of people, maybe the media said 50,000, but maybe like 10,000 people.
And it was very like crowdy.
And just the moment before the Antifa group were very excited and many agitator was moving around and one person had an interaction with Alex about our boss Ezra,
who is supposed allegedly racist against the French people.
That's what racist against French people.
In fact, you guys, every time I see your work, it makes me love Quebec more because you give me hope.
I just want to say I'm not anti-Quebec.
You've shown me the opposite.
There's reasons to hope and there's reasons to love.
So whoever that was, they were wrong, Guillaume.
Yeah, and at this exact moment, someone put pull on my backpack, like grab my or grab the camera pole, whatever.
I saw nothing.
It was, it went very fast.
I was immediately throw on the ground.
When I watch it after, I see like the speed that I heard the floor.
It's insane.
Well, I'm glad you didn't hit your head.
I'm glad you didn't land on the hard side.
The backpack kind of protect me.
And so like some minutes, like five minutes after I remove my jacket from my sleeve.
Yeah.
And I saw the blood like falling like everywhere.
Wow.
I'm so sorry that happened to you.
Now, then did you go straight to the hospital or did you go to the police first?
What did you do next?
So mainly when I saw his elbow, I knew right away that he needed stitches because it was open.
But so we couldn't actually move because they were coming towards us, the Antifa and all those radicals.
So we tried to reach to the police and then the police helped us.
They actually called the ambulance.
So Guillaume went inside for a vaccine for the Tetanos.
And then the police helped us to go to the emergency where Guillaume was actually treated pretty quickly because I was kind of scared.
I saw the number.
I was like, okay, is 68 is the 68 hours waiting.
So, but no, we had like a really quick service at the hospital.
Thanks, God.
Well, I'm very glad to hear that.
And it's sort of scary.
I'm glad you got a tetanus shot.
I wouldn't have thought of that myself.
So how about the police?
I'm glad they helped you.
In the past, the police have not been helpful towards you.
In fact, as many of our viewers know, we're suing the Montreal police called the SPVM because they have not lived up to their duty to protect you.
In fact, sometimes it feels like they're on the side of Antifa.
What did the police do?
How did they react?
Did they see the attack against you?
Did you show them the footage?
How did they get involved?
Well, first of all, when we were first surrounded and physically assaulted and people were screaming at us and it kind of escalated, police were nearby.
You can see it with the camera that the yellow vest was just nearby.
They saw it.
They saw that there was some tension over there.
And they never actually came to say, are you okay guys or trying to calm the crowd?
They literally just then walk, but not walk, but they took their bicycle and they came towards us and they stayed a little bit.
And then Guillaume got assaulted.
And then we had to go straight towards them.
They were really helpful at that moment.
They asked me multiple Goa pictures so they can go and look for the man who assaulted Guillaume.
I was quick to give them some picture.
And at the hospital, they told us that they caught the guy.
I'm very glad to hear that.
Now, I have enough experience with police in Montreal and Toronto to know that they can catch him and then release him.
Do you know if the man has been charged yet?
Because arresting someone is fine.
Do we have any information about that?
Sorry.
He has been released with conditions.
So he cannot be around Guillaume.
But the thing is, they refused to give us his name because apparently he is proven un-guilty until proved that he is guilty.
But so far we need to wait for the crown prosecutor to see if they will go ahead with the case and put some charge and we will see him probably in court.
Right.
Well, I certainly hope that proceeds.
We should have our lawyers send a letter to the prosecutor insisting that it proceeds.
I know that if it was a CBC Radio Canada reporter who was attacked, they would prosecute for sure.
And it's essential that the prosecution treat you equally before the law.
I'm glad the police made the arrest.
It's up to the prosecutors now to prosecute.
How many security did you have that day?
I think it was three.
Is that correct?
We have three security guards.
You know, no other journalists in Canada need security, but Rebel News does.
And this is one of my duties as the boss of Rebel News.
And I think that maybe you should go out with force security next time.
That would be like two for each of you.
And I say again, it's impossible to reduce the risk to zero because someone could walk up to you in an inoffensive way and at the last moment do something violent.
I think that's what happened here.
But if we have two, three, four, whatever it takes security, maybe it makes it easier to protect you, to spot them, to catch them.
We can't get the risk to zero, but we want to do our best.
And I'm very sorry this happened to you, but I appreciate your courage.
And I don't know, Guillaume, you have suffered a form of physical violence in the service of our viewers.
You've sacrificed personally not just the pain, but the wound and the waste of your time and the shock of being attacked.
And I want to just say thank you on behalf of all of our viewers.
Thank you for making a sacrifice.
I mean, you weren't, you know, like a soldier serving in an army, but in a way, you are the army of truth trying to get the facts and you paid a physical price for that.
To me, that is worthy of our gratitude and our admiration.
And I feel those feelings towards you.
Yeah, but you know, we are ready to take some risk by exposing those like violent people, the violent culture in Montreal.
We need to show this to the rest of Canada.
So, I mean, we need security, of course, and thanks for who is like helping us with that.
But of course, we are ready to take some risk, like calculate risk.
And that's the key thing, to be thoughtful about it, to be calculated risk.
I know a word that Alexa uses a lot is to be aware of your surroundings, to be alert, because just to, you know, look around and not daydream.
I mean, I sometimes daydream and I get on my phone.
When you're at an event like that, you gotta be looking around.
And that's why security are helpful.
There are other sets of eyes.
Well, let me say that on behalf of Rebel News, we pledge to support you as best we can.
And I would turn to the viewers now and say this.
Security is our third largest expense here at Rebel News, if you can believe.
We spend more on security than we do even on rent and insurance for the office.
It's crazy.
But we have to do it because we must protect our people.
And our Montreal team of Alexa and Guillaume are doing amazing work.
You might remember a couple of months ago that they exposed an Antifa criminal who actually works at the Department of Defense, and the police didn't prosecute him.
Police didn't charge him.
The prosecutors didn't prosecute him.
And I wonder if Antifa has some sort of détente with the police, that they have an agreement.
They don't fight each other.
I don't understand it.
But I know that Antifa hates our team because our team exposes them.
So we must, must, must defend our people.
And we've taken some other steps that I won't mention on TV.
But if our viewers can help me, please go to standwithalxa.com.
Our security bill is thousands and thousands of dollars.
And we are simply not going to let our people be bullied.
I'm sorry that this one guy got through and hurt Guillaume's elbow.
Thank God it wasn't worse, but we're going to do our best to protect them.
And I think they should go out with four security guards every time.
And we'll make sure we do our best.
So please help me help them by going with standwithalxa.com.
And of course, the security is for both Alexa and Guillaume.
Last word to you, Alexa.
Are you still confident that we can tell the stories from the streets of Montreal?
Oh, we will never stop.
You know, whatever the cost it takes, how many security guard I would need to have.
I'm not going to let them win because it's exactly what they want.
They want us to stop exposing them, but we will never stop.
But the thing is, you said it, Ezra.
Unfortunately, I don't know if the viewer remember when me and Guillaume and our team got followed by mask tug on October 7 for about like more than about 45 minutes and they were wearing gloves.
The crown prosecutor decided that they will not proceed to go ahead with their case for criminal harassment.
This is another proof that they are protected by not only the justice, but also by the police.
Because I got attacked multiple times with sometimes chemicals and never, ever, those individual were arrested or charged with anything.
Using Security and Lawyers00:03:39
Wow.
We're going to do what we can using lawyers, using security, using other tactics that I don't want to say publicly.
And all I can do is say thank you to the both of you for your bravery.
And I feel like you're there.
on my behalf and on our viewers' behalf.
So whatever I would do for myself to protect myself, I want to do for you.
If I was there and I was attacked, I would talk to lawyers.
I would talk to security for myself.
And I want to treat you guys exactly as I would treat myself if it was on the front line because you're there for me and for us.
So I pledge to you my continued support.
And I thank you for your courage.
And don't let the bastards grind you down.
Don't let them win.
Keep your spirits high and know that you have millions of fans across the country and even around the world.
Thank you, Ezra.
Thanks.
We appreciate it.
Thanks, guys.
Hey, if you want to help me out, go to stanwithalexa.com.
Hey, welcome back.
Your letters to me on Algoma's layoffs.
Phillips Deb says, Algoma replacing workers with automated green tech.
Yeah, I don't even believe that, though.
I saw the same thing in the United Kingdom where one of the last steel mills, the government said, well, we'll pay you billions of dollars.
Please, please, please try this low-emissions technology that no one is using it other than those that the government pays to use it.
It doesn't even work.
And of course, that's not the problem in Canada.
The problem is the tariffs that Trump is putting on.
But you're right.
Jobs are being cut in the name of this.
It's just terrible.
Randy3644 says, it's hard to feel sorry for them.
I bet most, if not all of them, voted for this guy and then act surprised when they get dumped on.
How much do you want to bet that they vote for him or his party again?
You could be right.
I don't know.
I'd have to check the local voting statistics.
I'm guessing that steel workers are pretty skeptical of left-wingers and environmentalists.
Of course, there's not as many steel workers today as there were two days ago, isn't that right?
Rory Zettler says Carney has a long-term plan.
He hedged on Canada going bankrupt, therefore allowing himself to profit off another country he doomed.
You know, I do not understand why he won't sell his stock.
He won't sell his stock.
He won't tell us what his stock is or what it's worth.
He claims that he recuses himself from discussions about subjects touching on his stocks, but he won't tell us what those are.
And it's obviously not true because steel and environmentalism and tariffs, that touches on his, you know, he had 600 companies.
Many of them are energy and steel-oriented.
He's obviously not recusing himself.
I don't know how this is permissible.
You know, so many Canadian journalists on the left are riveted by Donald Trump and constantly accusing him of patting his own wallet and his family's businesses when that is actually what Mark Carney is doing and refusing.
At least we know what Trump owns.
He owns some golf courses.
He owns some, he's into real estate and casinos.
We know what Trump owns.
We don't even know what Carney owns.
We don't even know how much he owns.
It's really crazy.
We're allowing ourselves to be ruled like some banana Republican.
It always comes back to the same thing.
Carney pays the journalists in this country now, doesn't he?