More than 100 workers at a steel plant in eastern Ontario are being laid off either temporarily or permanently, as a company with facilities in Quebec and Ontario cuts its workforce due to challenging market conditions — including U.S. tariffs.

In a Wednesday statement, the United Steelworkers union said 30 workers have already received permanent layoff notices at the Ivaco Rolling Mills plant in L’Orignal, Ont., located about 90 kilometres northeast of Ottawa.

Beginning next week, the other 120 workers at the facility are being laid off for one week, the statement read.

“There’s a lot of worry on the shop floor,” said Richard Leblanc, an eastern Ontario area coordinator for the union.

“It’s quite difficult to make plans around that kind of hostility, if I may say.”

The company, Canada Metal Processing Group (MPG Canada), issued a news release back on Feb. 24 about the decision to reduce its workforce — before the current tariffs went into effect.

In the release, the company said it’s reducing its workforce by 140 workers due to challenging market conditions — including threatened U.S. tariffs that are now in place.

The mere threat of tariffs had already reduced demand for MPG’s products at the time of that release, according to the company, and U.S. President Donald Trump has since slapped a 25 per cent levy on steel and aluminum coming into the U.S. from Canada.

MPG also cited “trade challenges in Canada” and the “increased challenge of unfair trade imports into Canada” as a factor in its forecasted lower demand.

‘Depressing for a lot of people,’ resident says

L’Orignal resident Louise Seguin said one of her sons has worked at Ivaco Rolling Mills for 15 years. She called news of the layoffs “awful.”

“If there’s no Ivaco, there’s no more work here,” she said. “The town will be finished.”

Another local, Debi Woods, said it’s a “shame” this is all happening and said she’s worried about Trump’s unpredictability.

“Nobody knows what comes out of that man’s head from one morning to the next,” she said.

What happens at the facility has a “downward” effect on the local economy, said Miles Downing, a retired plant worker.

“It’s not an easy place to work. And with all this stuff on top of it, it’s pretty depressing for a lot of people,” he said.

Mayor of Champlain Township Normand Riopel said Ivaco is one of the area’s biggest employers. L’Orignal itself is home to only about 1,400 people.

“There’s a lot of manufacturers, there’s a lot of subcontractors that do deal with Ivaco. They will also feel the impact,” he said. 

“So it’s not just in regards to a steel plant. It’s also a whole community.”