History. 2 of 4: the state went to court within 80 days in two of the four past fights: Ottawa against U.S. Steel on day 73 in 2009, and the state's managers of Ilva on day 11 in 2019. In France the promise was a contract with a fine, and no court step came.
Hunch. Ottawa's 15-day deadline ran out on 6 November with no lawsuit, and the minister wrote to the competition watchdog instead.
The court market resolves YES if by 24 December 2026 an application on behalf of Canada's industry minister is filed with a superior court against Cleveland-Cliffs or Stelco under section 40 of the Investment Canada Act, and a Competition Bureau probe or new letters do not count. The minister's announcement or the Federal Court files settle it, with CBC, The Globe and Mail and The Canadian Press as backups.
We looked for cases where a government demanded that a foreign buyer keep a jobs promise it gave to win approval for a purchase. We found four such fights from 2009 to 2019. The first was Stelco itself, under its earlier US owner. The other three were in France and Italy. (CBC; CBC; franceinfo; franceinfo; ANSA)