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Federal Industry Minister Tony Clement is taking Vale Inco to task for its announced one-month shutdown of its entire Sudbury mining complex this summer.
Clement said the government is "exploring all available options, including legal options" regarding the Brazilian-owned miner's April 16 announcement to temporarily shut down operations for eight weeks in June and July at five Sudbury mines and mills, including a processing operation in Port Colborne. The move affects 5,000 Ontario workers.
In early March, Vale Inco chopped 261 administrative jobs in Sudbury as part of larger global workforce reduction. Companhia Vale do Rio Doce acquired Inco in 2006, the Brazilian company promised no layoffs for three years, a legal binding commitment under the Investment Canada Act. Xstrata plc made the same commitment when it acquired Falconbridge.
"The shutdown announced by Vale Inco is certainly not welcome news to the Government of Canada or to the people of Sudbury," said Clement in an April 19 statement. "I am very concerned that Vale Inco intends to proceed with this shut down."
Clement was not made available to comment and a spokeswoman would not elaborate on the minister's stand nor clarify any of the details of the 2006 agreement or what questions the Minister wants answered.
"None of those contracts are public," said Clement's spokeswoman Pema Lhalungpa. "Under the Investment Canada Act, we can't talk about any part of it. There's nothing that Industry Canada or the Minister can say, besides what the company makes public."
Vale Inco spokesman Cory McPhee downplayed the tone of the Minister's statements, saying the company is always in regular contact with the government and is in the processing of answering Clement's questions surrounding the shutdown.
"We consider it their prerogative to ask for details and we're happy to respond."
Most of the detail-oriented questions surrounded employee levels, he said.
"We've had no discussion of legal action of any sort. If you're asking about the particulars of their statement, you'll have to ask them what they mean by it."
As with the 686 Sudbury layoffs announced by Xstrata Nickel in February, Vale Inco gave Clement and Industry Canada notice prior to the announced shutdown.
"We gave all relevant stakeholders as much advance notice as we could which is obviously not a lot when you're a publicly traded company," said McPhee.
Clement claimed he used that opportunity to firm up Xstrata's $290 million US and $390 million US investment commitment to Sudbury, including the ongoing development of its Nickel Rim South mine.
Lhalungpa could not say if Clement intended to meet with Vale Inco officials anytime soon. "There's not a lot open for us to talk about. Investment Canada is strict on the rules and infringement on that is criminal."
Sudbury Nickel Belt MP Claude Gravelle finds it "bizarre" that Clement is acting forcefully against Vale Inco's temporary layoffs "when he did nothing when Xstrata reneged on their agreement."
"There must be something in that agreement that he knows but won't tell us."
Gravelle has been a vocal critic of the secrecy behind the government's 2006 deal with Vale Inco and Xstrata Nickel and doesn't buy Clement's office's statements that the agreement is confidential.
"That's his story and he's sticking to that. But it's agreement between Xstrata, Vale Inco and the Government of Canada, and we are the government of Canada, so we have every right to know what's in the agreement."
Gravelle said his request to see the Xstrata and Vale Inco agreements through the Freedom of Information Act has bee denied by the government.
"I was talking to the some senior MP's and they've never heard of that."
Gravelle planned to get answers from Clement during Tuesday's Question Period in the House of Commons.
