Image: File photo of Sonia Furstenau, B.C. Green Party leader / B.C. Green Party / facebook
Environment

B.C. Greens call for ban on all fossil fuel ads

Mar 12, 2024 | 8:57 AM

VICTORIA — The B.C. Green Party says the provincial government should ban advertising of fossil fuels as part of the fight against climate change.

The Greens say fossil fuel ads should be banned like ads for cigarettes due to the impacts on human health caused by fossil fuel pollution.

“Fossil fuel ads are everywhere in British Columbia – on public transit, the front page of the newspaper, all over social media,” said Sonia Furstenau, Leader of the B.C. Greens. “Images of the Premier and the Energy and Mines Minister are in these ads, contributing to the spread of misleading and inaccurate content. How does the BC NDP rationalize being the symbol of LNG in the face of a climate emergency?”

Green leader Sonia Furstenau says fossil fuel ads are pervasive around B.C. on public transit, in newspapers and on social media, adding that the provincial NDP is making misleading claims about the benefits of liquified natural gas.

Adam Olsen, MLA for Saanich North and the Islands claims the ruling NDP are making erroneous claims that Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) can be net-zero. “They fail to factor in emissions released during drilling, fracking, flaring, transporting or burning the gas elsewhere. Methane, LNG’s primary ingredient, is 80 times more powerful in the short term than carbon dioxide. Allowing misleading fossil fuel ads contradicts our climate goals and misguides the public.”

The party says it’s following the lead of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment in calling for the ban.

The B.C. Green Party claims fossil fuel pollution causes 34 thousand premature deaths in Canada every year.