Alberta securities legislation amendments seek to protect against greenwashing claims and “finfluencer” activity

The Alberta Securities Act has been amended to protect Alberta issuers from greenwashing claims related to their climate-related disclosures and to protect investors from misleading “finfluencer” activity. The amendments came into force on December 11, 2025.

Greenwashing claims

Amendments have been made to the Alberta Securities Act pursuant to Bill 12 to allow the government to make regulations respecting circumstances in which a company will not be liable, or defences it may have, in any action or proceeding concerning the information it has disclosed in good faith under securities legislation, including climate-related information. The government may also make regulations providing for the protection of entire classes of persons or companies.

Although the scope of potential regulation is broader than climate-related disclosure, the amendments appear to be a reaction to the amendments to the federal Competition Act that introduced potential liability for environmental representations “not based on adequate and proper substantiation in accordance with internationally recognized methodology” and that created the ability for private parties to bring applications. In introducing the legislation in the legislature, the Alberta government stated that companies should be able to meet the growing demand for climate-related disclosure “without fear of being subject to frivolous and malicious lawsuits.”

According to the Alberta Securities Commission: “The ASC now has the ability to extend the existing safe harbour regime for statutory civil liability under the Securities Act for issuers to include climate-related disclosure. Securities legislation currently provides companies with defences or safe harbours from third-party lawsuits in certain cases (e.g., where they conducted a reasonable investigation). The amendments would allow the ASC to tailor these safe harbours to address liability under securities laws for climate-related disclosure.”

The federal government has acknowledged the uncertainty and unintended consequences caused by the amendments to the Competition Act, announcing an intention in the 2025 federal budget to rescind the problematic amendments. 

However, the legislative amendments it recently introduced as part of Bill C-15 only remove the requirement for businesses to substantiate environmental claims in accordance with internationally recognized methodology standards. Claims regarding the benefits of a product, business or business activity for protecting or restoring the environment or mitigating the environmental, social and ecological causes or effects of climate change must still be based on “adequate and proper substantiation.” Bill C-15 also proposes to remove the problematic private right of action related to enterprise-level environmental benefits claims. (However, private applications can still be brought [with leave] under the general misleading advertising provision.) Bill C-15 completed its second reading on December 10, 2025.

While the amendments may provide additional protection against statutory civil liability claims under the Securities Act, one should not assume that they will provide any additional protection from potential liability under the federal Competition Act.

Finfluencer activity

The Alberta Securities Act has also been amended to help the regulators tackle the issue of false or misleading information in the markets. While the amendments don’t use the term “finfluencer,” statements made by the Alberta government in the legislature make it clear that online financial influencers are the intended target. The amendments will allow the Alberta Securities Commission to regulate finfluencers and to halt trading of an issuer’s shares for up to 15 days where the Commission considers there has been false, inadequate or misleading information that could harm investors.

Nationally, the Canadian Securities Administrators, together with the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization, published a joint notice on December 11, 2025, to provide guidance on how securities laws apply to the activities of finfluencers and to registrants and issuers who work with them. Among other things, Joint Staff Notice 31-369 cautions issuers that they may be held responsible for statements made by a finfluencer on their behalf.