By Isaac Lamoureux
Promoting Canada’s oil and gas sector could get you thrown in the slammer if a New Democrat MP gets his way.
NDP MP Charlie Angus has tabled a private member’s bill in the House of Commons that would ban fossil fuel ads. Anyone who violates the ban could be fined up to $1.5 million or sent to jail for up to two years.
The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment began pushing for a fossil fuel ad ban two years ago. The organization helped Angus draft the bill.
Bill C-372’s preamble states that “climate change represents an unprecedented and existential threat to people in Canada and around the world.”
The bill prohibits any person from promoting a fossil fuel, a fossil fuel-related brand element or the production of a fossil fuel. Exceptions are made for media reporting and artistic representations where there is no commercial interest.
It also forbids any advertising that is likely to create an erroneous impression about the characteristics, health or environmental effects or health or environmental hazards of the fossil fuel, its production or the emissions that result from its production or use.
Any producer that contravenes this aspect of the bill is subject to a fine of up to $1.5 million and up to two years in jail, or both.
Individuals are subject to a fine of $750,000 for “falsely” promoting fossil fuels.
The bill specifically prohibits advertising claiming that “the practices of a producer or of the fossil fuel industry would lead to positive outcomes in relation to the environment, the health of Canadians, reconciliation with Indigenous peoples or the Canadian or global economy.” This could conceivably prevent Indigenous communities from promoting resource development projects.