NDP asks Competition Bureau to probe Carney ads over emissions claims
The complaint targets two federal videos published June 30, including one in which Prime Minister Mark Carney says emissions will rise in coming years.
Why it matters
The complaint touches directly on federal support for a proposed pipeline through Alberta and B.C., a project central to the province's energy sector.
NDP parliamentary leader Don Davies has asked the Competition Bureau to investigate whether federal government advertising on clean energy breaches Canada's greenwashing law. In a letter sent Tuesday, Davies pointed to comments Prime Minister Mark Carney made in a June 30 video, "Forward Guidance: Canada's Energy Future," in which Carney acknowledged emissions will be higher in the coming years under his government's revised climate policies, even as the video promotes investment in renewables.
Davies also cited a second, 30-second video from Environment and Climate Change Canada, published the same day, which features windmills and solar panels and pledges a "cleaner future." He argued that combining this messaging with rising emissions estimates and potential public funding for a proposed Alberta-to-B.C. bitumen pipeline amounts to an unsubstantiated environmental claim.
Since taking office in March 2025, Carney's government has eliminated the consumer carbon price, altered the industrial carbon pricing system, scrapped the oil and gas emissions cap, and signed an agreement offering federal support for a new pipeline. The greenwashing law, originally passed under Justin Trudeau, was later amended by Carney's government to ease the evidentiary burden for such claims and to bar third parties like environmental groups from filing complaints directly.
Davies argued taxpayer-funded ads should meet the same evidentiary standard required of private businesses. The Canadian Press said it had not yet received responses from the Competition Bureau or the federal environment minister.
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