Senior executives at Algoma Steel are pocketing millions of dollars in bonuses after losing the company nearly $1 billion last year and laying off more than 1,000 workers.
Algoma is the largest employer in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. In a city of 72,000, those layoffs are having a tremendous impact. As one resident said, “Everybody I know is affected.”
Decidedly unaffected are Algoma shareholders. Mere months after layoff notices were sent out, they approved a raft of executive bonuses at their annual general meeting on June 23. Outgoing CEO Michael Garcia, who retired Dec. 31 and receives a base salary of $1.07 million, collected a total of $6.82 million—an increase from the $5.58 million he received in 2024 and $2.96 million in 2023.
Local media said Garcia received the exorbitant bonus “for his efforts to turn the company around.” One might view his efforts as a failure, with Algoma Steel losing vast amounts of money and laying off one-third of its workforce, but such minor details were of no concern to shareholders.
Current CEO Rajat Marwash, who took over on Jan. 1 after serving as president and chief financial officer last year, received $1.47 million, more than doubling his 2025 salary of $543,752. John Naccarato, vice president of strategy and chief legal officer, took home $1.39 million. Michael Panzeri, senior vice president of production, received $1.69 million.
How can shareholders reward executives for failing? The answer is corporate welfare. Like many Canadian companies that are uncompetitive on the world market, Algoma Steel is kept afloat by bailouts, subsidies, and government-guaranteed loans—always with the argument that such spending will protect jobs. In September 2025, the federal and Ontario governments backed Algoma Steel with $500 million in loan guarantees in the face of U.S. tariffs. Obviously, that money hasn’t gone towards paying wages.
In fact, since 1992, Algoma has collected more than $1.3 billion in government bailouts and subsidies. Over the same amount of time, the company slashed its workforce from 6,000 to less than 2,000 today. In turn, Sault Ste. Marie has experienced soaring poverty, food banks are operating at their maximum capacity, and homelessness has shot up at twice the provincial rate in recent years.
The federal government has raised hopes that 500 laid-off workers at Algoma Steel could regain their jobs by the end of the year if the plant secures a contract with South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean, which is bidding to build submarines for Canada as part of the Liberal government’s massive rearmament program. But even that would mean a net loss of 500 jobs since Algoma Steel’s latest bailout.
Capitalists justify their fat salaries by claiming that they take all the risk and should reap the rewards. But there is no risk for capitalists who know the government will bail them out no matter what. Instead, it is the workers and their communities who bear all the risk of their bosses’ failures.
No more handouts for the bosses! These parasites enrich themselves at public expense and serve no useful purpose. We need to nationalize Algoma Steel as part of a socialist plan of production to meet society’s needs and protect our jobs and communities.
