Imagine a world where you fear talking about your aspirations for the future. Imagine a world where, because of that fear, you back away from trying new things, trying to improve your community or your country. The last thing Canada needs is incentive to be less ambitious. For this, and other reasons, the Business Council of Alberta is deeply concerned about the amendments to the Competition Act brought about in June’s passing of Bill C59, otherwise known as the “greenwashing provisions.”
We worry the amendments were rushed and ill-considered. They were developed hastily, without consultation, using poor language, and have left the Competition Bureau, an agency whose commissioner told the Standing Committee on Finance that he did not feel the Competition Act was the right vehicle to dictate what a company can or cannot say when it comes to environmental claims, to develop the guidance and framework for implementing these amendments. They, by their own admission, are the wrong body to develop the framework for a vague legislative amendment.
We worry that the Bureau, and its associated Competition Tribunal, will be flooded with frivolous and vexatious claims, forcing them to add additional resources at the cost of the taxpayer to review and vet these actions. We worry about the uncertainty created through vague language on “internationally recognized methodologies” as the standards by which company statements will be assessed.
We worry about the reverse onus put on a company to defend an environmental claim while absolutely no onus is placed on the entity or individuals initiating a claim. This is the legal equivalent of legitimizing the comments section in online media. We worry that at a time when the public is expecting companies to talk more about their environmental performance, they will say less—not because they aren’t doing things, but because talking about it risks challenge, cost, and uncertainty.
But what worries us most is that it could very well eventually kill Canadian business ambition and innovation, making us all poorer and worse off. How might changes intended to ensure Canadian companies don’t mislead the public about their environmental activities lead Canadians to be poorer, you might ask?
The uncertainty created through these changes, which will only be cleared up after years of decisions and judgements creating precedent, will result in companies not talking about their performance or aspirations. If companies don’t talk about their performance, their plans, or their successes, they won’t attract investment. If they can’t attract investment they can’t hire Canadians. If Canadians aren’t hired, our incomes and prosperity go down. We become worse off.
This was made crystal clear in a small, hard-to-find recommendation from the Competition Bureau in a bulletin released July 22 2024 entitled “Deceptive Marketing Practices Digest – Volume 7.” In it, the Bureau recommends that companies “avoid aspirational claims about the future.”
We now have a government entity recommending that companies do not make aspirational claims about the future. This is incredibly disappointing and will have far-reaching implications for Canadian prosperity.
Every business started with an entrepreneur thinking, and communicating, their aspirational claim for the future. Every business, and therefore every job and tax dollar created, is about aspiration for the future. This country itself is an aspiration.
Aspiration is a key aspect of innovation. Aspirational claims drive us forward—they push us to work hard to achieve, to improve, or to make something better—the environment, a life, a day, an experience. Without aspirational claims for the future, we would not have medicines, lifesaving procedures, technology capturing CO2 directly from the air, cell phones, vehicles, enough food; the list goes on. Do we always achieve them? No. But without them, we’d never try.
Now, with a government agency recommending that companies avoid making aspirational claims, how long will it be before companies who can’t talk about being aspirational, simply become less aspirational?
Businesses are proud to talk about what they do, and their performance, particularly about the environment. Even before the amendments to the act, they were under a legal obligation not to use deceptive tactics or greenwashing. Truth in advertising is a common good. But now, they are told they shouldn’t even talk about the future.
It is innately human to have aspirations, to make inspiring statements about what you hope to achieve. Can every claim be backed up with perfect timing, knowledge, data, and precision? No. Because we can’t predict the future.
How can our entrepreneurs, businesses, scientists, and innovators feel that Canada is now a place where they can do their finest work and create companies, jobs, and investment? How can we attract capital to invest in Canadian companies that are working to reduce emissions, protect our environment, or improve the landscapes if those companies are advised not to talk about how their innovations could make things better? How can Canadians earn good and stable paycheques if companies cannot grow because they cannot talk publicly about what their plans are for the future?
The answer is we can’t.
The unintended consequences of this last-minute, poorly drafted amendment could be very material for Canada. It is likely to mean fewer paycheques for Canadians because companies will either invest elsewhere or will simply be started in another country that welcomes ambition, aspiration, and innovation. Canadians are already poorer compared to most of our peer nations. This could, very likely, make us that much poorer.
It is not too late to reverse or amend this change to the Competition Act. Will government make the right decision? I don’t know. I can’t predict the future. But I hope that they do, exactly for a better future.