Judge, again, won't unseal U.S. Steel 'secret deal'

The latest attempt to crack the secrecy around the "secret deal" struck between the federal government and U.S. Steel has failed.

Attorneys for the unionized steelworkers, the city of Hamilton and attorneys for the salaried steelworkers argued Friday that they be allowed to see the so-called "secret deal."

But in a decision released Wednesday, Justice Herman Wilton-Siegel said they hadn't proven how not having the specifics of the deal would disadvantage them in the course of the current arguments in the bankruptcy protection proceedings for U.S Steel Canada. 

'Understandable frustration'

He admitted the secrecy around the deal is a source of "understandable frustration" for the steelworkers and the city. He said he could see value in the company or government deciding to release it: giving everyone a chance to focus on the bankruptcy protection and restructuring tasks at hand. 

• Judge shuts down U.S. Steel request to shorten bankruptcy protection

Wilton-Siegel said he needed more proof of why the parties would need to know the specifics, because he was weighing that argument against "settlement privilege." That concept refers to the idea that the government and courts want to incentivize parties to settle lawsuits, and part of that incentive is the guarantee that settlements remain private between parties.

"They say they can't know what they don't know until they see the agreement," the judge wrote. "In the present circumstances, I think this argument is insufficient to outweigh the public interest in encouraging settlement." 

The "secret deal" document in question is the settlement that persuaded the federal government to drop its lawsuit against U.S. Steel after it moved steel production out of Canada and broke promises made when it acquired Stelco in 2007.

The Liberal government says it won't unilaterally open the settlement, but would support U.S. Steel, or the judge overseeing the company's bankruptcy protection proceeding, deciding to do so.