Competition Bureau should investigate government for ‘greenwashing’: NDP

NDP parliamentary leader Don Davies wants the Competition Bureau to investigate whether Prime Minister Mark Carney’s own words are proof the government’s advertising on clean energy infrastructure violates the government’s law against greenwashing.

The Competition Bureau defines greenwashing as false, misleading or unsubstantiated environmental claims about a product, service or practice.

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In a letter sent to the bureau on Tuesday, Davies outlines statements Carney made in a video published on June 30 acknowledging emissions will be higher in Canada following changes to climate policies first enacted under former prime minister Justin Trudeau.

In that video, titled “Forward Guidance: Canada’s Energy Future,” Carney said Canada’s old climate plan was too expensive and divisive, while the new one boasts significant investment in renewables and will lower emissions in the long term.

Since taking office in March 2025, Carney has eliminated the consumer carbon price and made changes to how the industrial carbon price will work. He also scrapped an emissions cap on oil and gas production, while signing an agreement with Alberta offering federal support for a new bitumen pipeline to the West Coast.

Carney says in the video that Canada’s emissions “will be higher in the next few years” due to his administration’s policies.

“This is a clear acknowledgment that the business activity referenced in this advertisement will increase, not lower, Canada’s emissions,” Davies wrote.

A second video published by Environment and Climate Change Canada, also on June 30, is part of the NDP greenwashing complaint. This 30 second video shows windmills, solar panels and says Canada will build a “cleaner future.”

Davies said in his letter that the government’s own greenwashing law requires any ad making that kind of claim to be able to show evidence to back it up.

He argued Carney saying emissions will rise in the next few years, coupled with the possibility of public money being used to build a proposed oil pipeline through Alberta and B.C., violates the greenwashing legislation.

The greenwashing law was first passed under former prime minister Justin Trudeau but was amended by Carney’s government to lighten the burden of proof to substantiate environmental claims and preventing third parties, such as environment groups, from formally requesting greenwashing investigations.

“Canadians expect that taxpayer-funded advertising will provide accurate and objective information that promotes legitimate public policy objectives, rather than serving as a vehicle for political messaging and misinformation,” Davies wrote.

“It is therefore critical that claims made in government advertising meet the same evidentiary standard the law demands of any private business.”

The Canadian Press has reached out to the Competition Bureau and the environment minister for comment but has not yet received a response.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 18, 2026.