Recommendation undermines public health, ignores legal precedent, and contradicts climate goals
Ottawa | Traditional, Unceded Territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg People | June 16, 2025 — The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE), alongside ten health, environmental and children’s organizations, condemns the City of Ottawa staff’s early June recommendation against a ban on fossil fuel advertising and instead institute minor updates focused on “greenwashing” compliance. CAPE and its allies urge the City Council to move forward with a meaningful ban on fossil fuel advertising.
“Fossil fuels threaten the health of every single resident of our city, young and old. They are driving a health crisis responsible for thousands of deaths around the world each day, with the risks escalating due to climate change. The City of Ottawa has the opportunity to be a leader by banning the advertising of these harmful products. Or they can fail their citizens at this critical juncture in history,” says Dr. Sehjal Bhargava, on behalf of all groups, an Ottawa-based family physician and board member of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment.
Fossil fuel advertising is inconsistent with the City of Ottawa’s policies
The staff’s recommendation does not substantially discuss how and whether fossil fuel advocacy advertising is consistent with the City of Ottawa’s vision as the motion directed it to, nor does it discuss how such advertisements may “compromise or contradict any by-law or policy of the City or reflect negatively on the City’s public image” as the advertising policy sets out. Ottawa declared a climate emergency in 2019, committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, and became a signatory to the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2022. Those are clear signals of the city’s intent to lead on climate action.
The City has also recognized that when commercial advertising conflicts with population-level public health goals then comprehensive restrictions are justified. This principle already underpins existing bans on advertising products like breast milk substitutes and firearms, even in the absence of national prohibitions. In this context, allowing fossil fuel advertising not only undermines the City of Ottawa’s established commitments but also compromises its credibility and public image as a climate leader.
Legal precedent also supports such restrictions. In JTI-Macdonald (2007), the Supreme Court of Canada upheld limits on commercial advertising where public health is at stake, affirming that such expression can justifiably be curtailed when the harms are severe and well-documented. The Supreme Court has qualified climate change as a threat of the highest order to the future of humanity which cannot be ignored, writing “If these do not constitute special circumstances, it is hard to conceive that any such circumstances could ever exist.” There is therefore a clear and compelling case for fossil fuel advertising restrictions, both in law and in line with the City’s policy framework.
Broad medical consensus: Fossil fuel ads harm public health
While it is important to ensure that advertising does not mislead the public, the recommendation sidesteps the more fundamental question of promoting health-harming products and the consistency of such advertising with the City’s policies and values.
There is overwhelming scientific evidence that fossil fuels pose unprecedented health risks including respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and premature death due to air pollution. Fossil fuels are also the leading cause of climate change, which leads to increased heat-related illness and death, expanded vector-borne disease transmission, mental health impacts from extreme weather events, and more.
This issue has already mobilized Ottawa’s health community. In March 2024, CAPE joined 22 organizations in calling for the City to prohibit the promotion of fossil fuel products. As these health professionals noted in their letter to Mayor Sutcliffe: “Health professionals led the charge against tobacco advertising when there was scientific consensus that smoking was causing a public health crisis. Health professionals are now demanding an end to fossil fuel advertising due to the scientific consensus on the negative health impacts of air pollution and climate change.”
In Canada and abroad, cities are rejecting fossil fuel advertising
Internationally, The Hague became the first city in the world to ban fossil fuel advertising through local law with the ban taking effect January 1, 2025. And as part of the city’s transition to net zero by 2030, it covers fossil fuel products and high-carbon services such as cruise ships and air travel.
Despite legal challenges, Dutch courts have upheld this groundbreaking legislation in a milestone ruling that climate campaigners hope cities in Canada will replicate. The Hague Court ruled that general health interests of citizens are worth more than the commercial interests of advertisers. Over 45 cities around the world have moved to restrict fossil fuel advertising including Liverpool and Edinburgh in the United Kingdom, and a few cities in Australia including Sydney. France already has a national ban on ads for coal, oil and gas.
In Montreal, the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) committed on Sept. 30, 2024 to no longer run ads promoting fossil fuel products. Toronto currently has a motion directing the city manager to develop a policy to decline fossil fuel advocacy advertising on City assets, unless such advertising is consistent with TransformTO.¹
Advocates urge that if Ottawa is serious about its clean energy commitments, it needs to apply the same logic: creating an enabling environment for the clean energy transition, free from commercial messaging that makes continued fossil fuel dependence feel reasonable and inevitable.
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Signatories of this press release include:
- Horizon Ottawa
- CAFES Ottawa
- Ecology Ottawa
- Seniors for Climate Action Now Ottawa
- Asthma Canada
- Canadian Association of Pharmacy for the Environment (CAPhE)
- Canadian Association of Nurses for the Environment (CANE)
- For Our Kids Ottawa
- Climate Change, Environment and Health Collaborative
- Children’s Environmental Health Clinic Ontario
Note to editors:
¹ As long as the claims in the proposed advertisement have been independently verified as substantiated, per section 74.01 of the Competition Act, and paragraph 8 of the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards.
Health Canada estimates that above-background air pollution, including air pollution from human sources in North America, contributes to 15,300 premature deaths per year in Canada. This includes an estimated 6,600 premature deaths in Ontario. Infants exposed to wildfire smoke are at higher risk of developing lower respiratory infections, reduced lung function, and long-term asthma, with studies showing that prenatal exposure can impact birth weight and brain development. During the June 2023 wildfires, Ottawa’s air quality reached “very unhealthy” levels, leading to emergency advisories and a surge in hospital admissions for respiratory and cardiac issues (Ottawa Public Health, 2023).
Media contact:
Reykia Fick
Communications Director | Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE)
647-762-9168
media@cape.ca