A new private member’s bill in Canada, spearheaded by New Democratic Party (NDP) MP Charlie Angus in collaboration with the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE), aims to prohibit fossil fuel companies from falsely advertising their products as beneficial to the public, environment, human health, and reconciliation efforts with Indigenous communities.
The proposed legislation, Bill C-372, also seeks to prevent misleading claims comparing the relative benefits of different fossil fuel products.
“To claim that there are clean fossil fuels is like saying there are safe cigarettes,” Angus said. “We know that is simply not true.”
Drawing parallels to historical actions against the tobacco industry, Angus highlighted the deceptive practices of fossil fuel companies, which have long denied the environmental and health impacts of their operations.
“Pollution from Canada’s oil and gas industry is not just killing the planet, it is harming people. Trudeau’s Liberals have just sat by and given Big Oil a free ride,” Angus warned. “Every year, 34,000 people die prematurely in Canada from fossil fuel pollution, and yet the Big Oil lobby continues to pump enormous sums in to advertising campaigns to falsely claim the benefits of allowing even more burning of fossil fuels.”
But critics in the energy investment sector argue that the bill is far too restrictive.
The bill, which was introduced to the House of Commons on February 5, is set to be debated and potentially voted on in the coming months. It’s not the first bill of its kind. In 2022, France became the first country to successfully ban fossil fuel ads.
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One Response
So you print Eric Nuttal’s X comment on Charlie Angus’ bill? Nuttal’s bio states that he is “an energy investor”… Is his opinion on this bill valid? I say not.