Oil and gas industry allies’ pushback against plans to ban ads and limit emissions is a familiar story — we’ve been here before. Plus, remembering the life of epic Rocky Mountains guardian, Karsten Heuer
Arguments being made by the fossil fuel industry echo those made by the tobacco industry in the past, including that regulation will harm the economy, and industry should be allowed to voluntary curb itself, rather than face legal limits.
Photo: Kamara Morozuk / The Narwhal
Big oil, big tobaccoOil and gas industry allies’ pushback against plans to ban ads and limit emissions is a familiar story — we’ve been here before
Last month I asked the epic researchers at the Library of Parliament if they had any archival material about tobacco advertising bans from the 1980s.
Two days later they sent me a glorious package containing dozens of nostalgia-inducing newspaper articles. The picture that emerged is of a bitter fight.
Canadians were dying of lung cancer and heart disease strongly linked to smoking. Doctors and other public health advocates, informed by years of solid science, went to war against the entrenched monied interests of the tobacco industry and its advertising and sponsorship partners.
It was striking how closely the details of that battle mirror the struggle The Narwhal reports on today: between scientists trying to warn the world about the destructive impacts of climate change driven by fossil fuels — and the oil and gas industry, which includes some of the world’s richest and most powerful companies.
Back then, tobacco firms spent millions to convince Canadians their products should be a part of everyday life. When the industry became threatened, it warned that cracking down on tobacco ads could harm the economy.
Firms touted studies that supposedly concluded bans on ads wouldn’t keep Canadians from smoking. They argued the ban would instead freeze the market, kill competition and displace local jobs.
It’s all so familiar. Canada’s oil and gas industry has spent millions promoting itself as a responsible environmental steward, even as scientific evidence increasingly links the heat waves, floods and wildfires pummelling Canada, and the world, to fossil fuels.
Companies have warned that environmental protections could lead to economic and job losses. They have touted research supposedly showing climate policies don’t work.
Now their ads are being challenged, too, by new federal legislation targeting greenwashing. The oilpatch and some of its political allies say freedom of speech is at stake, not unlike arguments raised by tobacco companies.
In the 1980s, Ottawa only imposed an ad ban after the tobacco industry failed to change advertising practices themselves. On Monday, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson similarly noted how oilsands companies have promised to voluntarily lower emissions for years, as he outlined proposed rules to hold them accountable to their promise.
With the tobacco ad war on my mind, the missive oil lobbyists sent out in response to the emissions cap announcement was instantly recognizable. It warned of negative economic impacts: deterred investment, fewer jobs, lower GDP. It’s all there.
Canada’s tobacco industry eventually lost the advertising war: smoking and associated cancers dropped, but it took decades, and progress hasn’t been linear. Fossil fuel companies are just starting to be held accountable for their pollution, and it’s far from certain what the future holds.
The proposal announced Monday won’t be official until 2025. But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s governing Liberal Party is polling badly and could be defeated within the year.
If Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Party wins, he’s already said he would trash the cap, as well as several other climate policies. And Americans have just voted in a man who calls climate change a “scam.” One of president-elect Donald Trump’s first objectives after taking office, a senior advisor said, will be to “get back to drilling.”
If there’s one takeaway from the tobacco fight that rings true, as we head into the uncertain waters of a second Trump presidency and a looming Canadian election, it’s that the science is incontrovertible.
Science proved then that smoking cigarettes is a major risk factor in disease. Science has proven now that burning fossil fuels is driving climate chaos.
It offers a clear perspective we’ll need as we navigate these next months and years.
It was expected, but it is sad. On Nov. 5, Karsten Heuer, a Rocky Mountain guardian and epic adventurer, died in the little writing shack in his Canmore backyard, surrounded by family. His neurological condition had worsened and Heuer chose a medically assisted death. I had the privilege of speaking to him this summer about his purpose-driven life and his looming death.
“Letting him go reminded me of giving birth; there is no negotiating with it and surrendering is the only way,” his wife, Leanne Allison, wrote in an email announcing his death.
What an effort to preserve Cree homelands in northern Manitoba means to the people behind it By Julia-Simone Rutgers
Kitaskeenan Kaweekanawaynichikatek, the land we want to protect: members of five Cree nations reflect as they seek to protect land devastated by hydroelectricity.
Banner:
Arguments being made by the fossil fuel industry echo those made by the tobacco industry in the past, including that regulation will harm the economy, and industry should be allowed to voluntary curb itself, rather than face legal limits.
Get the inside scoop on The Narwhal’s environment and climate reporting by signing up for our free newsletter. When I visited my reserve, Moose Factory,...
With headlines blaring about tariffs, a trade war and a 51st state, it can be easy to feel helpless. Here’s where I see hope: The Narwhal is reporting doggedly on issues surrounding the natural world in Canada that feel so under threat today — including the autonomy and sovereignty of Indigenous Peoples. It’s why I’m a member — and why I hope you’ll be one of 400 readers who joins me this April. Sign up now and receive a Narwhal tote bag as a gift of thanks! — Tanya Talaga, journalist, author and recent Narwhal board chair
With headlines blaring about tariffs, a trade war and a 51st state, it can be easy to feel helpless. Here’s where I see hope: The Narwhal is reporting doggedly on issues surrounding the natural world in Canada that feel so under threat today — including the autonomy and sovereignty of Indigenous Peoples. It’s why I’m a member — and why I hope you’ll be one of 400 readers who joins me this April. — Tanya Talaga, journalist, author and recent Narwhal board chair
