OFA provided comments to the Competition Bureau regarding the new greenwashing provisions to the Competition Act.
OFA supports the efforts of the Competition Bureau to improve honesty and transparency regarding claims that a product or service provides environmental benefits, and we support measures to improve competitiveness across the agriculture and agri-food sector. Ensuring Ontario farmers have access to competitive markets is important to the sustainability of our farm businesses and farm families.
We are concerned that increased vigilance around greenwashing may serve to penalize or silence agricultural and food companies that are trying to do better, and want to express that to the public, but do not have a practical or affordable, “internationally recognized methodology” with which to compare themselves. This should not be the intent of these new provisions.
OFA recommends that where a farm business is making claims regarding their efforts to achieve sustainability or actions to being taken to mitigate the causes of effects of climate change, proof that they are following established, locally applicable BMPs should be sufficient to substantiate those claims.
OFA insists that strong measures be put in place to protect agricultural businesses from frivolous and vexatious complaints to the Competition Tribunal.