Senator Rosa Galvez

The Competition Act is Canada’s federal law for maintaining fair and competitive markets. It promotes economic efficiency and innovation, while supporting consumer choice and competitive pricing. It also helps ensure that all businesses, no matter their size, can compete on a level playing field. The Act also prohibits false or misleading advertising and deceptive marketing practices.

The greenwashing provisions of the Act can be found under section 74.01 (deceptive marketing practices).

In 2024, the Competition Act was amended to introduce provisions that specifically targeted greenwashing were introduced. These provisions require environmental claims about a product, service, business, or business activity to be supported by adequate and proper testing or substantiation. By helping ensure that environmental marketing claims are truthful and evidence-based, these provisions can protect consumers from misleading information and support Canada’s climate objectives.

However, in 2026, further amendments to the Competition Act removed the requirement for environmental claims about a business or its activities to be substantiated using an “internationally recognized methodology” and eliminated the ability of private parties to bring applications to the Competition Tribunal under section 74.01(1)(b.2) of the Act, instead allowing only the Commissioner of Competition to bring such applications forward. While businesses must still provide “adequate and proper substantiation” for such claims, some observers have raised concerns that these changes could weaken the Act’s ability to deter and address greenwashing.