REVEALED: Why has Ottawa contracted $6.2 million to advertise Carney's climate strategy?
A new $4.52 million media-buying contract comes on top of the $1.69 million climate strategy ad contract Rebel News reported on October 21.
Public Services and Procurement Canada recorded a $4.52 million advertising contract for "Canada's Climate Competitiveness Strategy" with the government's media-buying agency on August 5, bringing the disclosed contract values for promoting the Carney government's climate plan to $6.2 million, Rebel News can reveal.
The contract sits in the federal proactive disclosure of contracts over $10,000 on open.canada.ca as record C-2026-2027-Q2-02554, running to March 31, 2027. No other outlet has reported it.
The record reads: "Advertising services", "Canada's Climate Competitiveness Strategy (AOR only)", "This contract was competitively sourced through Traditional Competitive." The vendor is EssenceMediacom Canada ULC, which holds the government's agency of record (AOR) contract for buying advertising space. On October 21, Rebel News reported that Environment and Climate Change Canada had signed a separate contract worth up to $1.69 million, dated June 2, for the "CCS Campaign", with GroupM Canada Inc., doing business as EssenceMediacom, a related agency name. The records do not explain "AOR only", do not say whether the two contracts overlap, and do not say how much has been spent.
The Treasury Board's government advertising page lists a $2 million "Climate Competitiveness" allocation for Environment and Climate Change Canada for April 1 to June 30, and says the amounts "do not constitute actual expenditures". The contract records do not say what the advertisements say. On August 18, The Canadian Press reported that NDP parliamentary leader Don Davies had asked the Competition Bureau to investigate the government's clean-energy advertising as greenwashing, citing a Carney video published June 30 and a 30-second Environment and Climate Change Canada video that "says Canada will build a 'cleaner future'"; nothing on the record ties those videos to these two contracts.
The strategy was announced in Budget 2025, tabled November 4, 2025, and outlined by ministers on November 9. The government's release said it would include "strengthening industrial carbon pricing", "finalizing enhanced methane regulations" and a plan to "Apply the federal backstop whenever a provincial or territorial system falls below a strengthened federal benchmark." Prime Minister Mark Carney said: "The Climate Competitiveness Strategy is about betting on ourselves."
Julie Dabrusin is the Minister of the Environment, Climate Change and Nature, appointed by Carney on May 13, 2025; Joël Lightbound, Minister of Government Transformation, Public Works and Procurement, is responsible for the department that issued the contract, which flags no minister's office involvement. Under the government's process, "Departments are ultimately accountable for their advertising activities" and the Privy Council Office "provides critical oversight". The record names no approving official.
Sheila Gunn Reid
Chief Reporter
Sheila Gunn Reid is the Editor-in-Chief, Alberta Bureau Chief, member of the board of directors, and host of The Gunn Show at Rebel News. Sheila also serves as President of the Independent Press Gallery of Canada. A mother of three and longtime conservative activist, Sheila is the author of bestselling books, including her most recent release, Independence Blueprint: What Alberta Can Learn From Quebec.
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