Question Period Note: Air Quality

Air Quality

• The Government of Canada is committed to improving air quality and providing healthier communities for Canadians.
• In Canada, air pollution from industry, transportation, and other activities results in over 14,000 premature deaths every year. Costs to the economy, associated with air pollution, are estimated at over $114 billion per year.
• The Government is working closely with provinces and territories to implement the Air Quality Management System, which includes monitoring air quality at hundreds of locations across Canada and setting stronger standards for air quality and industrial pollution.
• Recently the Government of Canada has strengthened outdoor air standards for three common air pollutants, including a more stringent ambient air standard for ozone, which contributes to smog.
• The Government of Canada is finalizing new regulations reducing air pollution from the petroleum refining sector as well as regulations reducing pollution from products Canadian consumers use every day.
• Canada is also working internationally to reduce transboundary air pollution that impacts air quality in Canada.

o The outdoor air that Canadians breathe is affected by many sources of pollution including industrial activity, vehicles, natural sources such as forest fires, farming activities, and transboundary air pollution from the U.S. and abroad. Air pollutants such as fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ground-level ozone (the main components of smog), can cause significant adverse impact on human health even at very low concentrations. Air pollution is linked to climate change as increased global temperatures are expected to exacerbate the production of certain air pollutants. Furthermore, some air pollutants such as black carbon, methane and ozone are also short lived greenhouse gases with potent warming effects on the climate.

o The World Health Organization has consistently ranked Canada’s air quality in the top 10 countries. Despite improvements in air quality over the past two decades, the burden of air pollution on the health of Canadians continues to be significant, where more than 20% of Canadians live in communities where outdoor levels of ground-level ozone exceed current air quality standards. Health Canada has estimated that air pollution from industry, transportation and other human activities results in 14,600 premature deaths every year in Canada, and has valued the health impacts at over $114 billion per year in socio-economic terms.
o Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) relies on sound science (including monitoring, modelling and reporting) to provide the information needed for the development and implementation of regulatory and non-regulatory measures and policies to protect air quality and the environment.
o Air quality is monitored on a daily basis by federal, provincial, and territorial governments through different monitoring programs such as the National Air Pollution Surveillance (NAPS) and the Canadian Air and Precipitation Monitoring Network (CAPMoN), which include more than 250 monitoring stations located across the country.
o A comprehensive inventory of air pollutants released in Canada from industrial and non-industrial activities (the Air Pollutant Emissions Inventory (APEI) Report) has been compiled and published annually since 2014 by ECCC.
o Between 2000 and 2015, emissions of air pollutants released from industrial and non-industrial activities have decreased:

Sulphur oxides (SOx) emissions decreased by 56% due to the Eastern Canada Acid Rain Program and the Canada-wide Acid Rain Strategy for Post-2000, the phase-out of coal-fired electricity generation in Ontario, and reductions in industrial processes, such as base metal smelting and refining.

Nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions decreased by 35% due to emission reductions from mobile sources, the electricity generation sector, and many other industrial sectors.

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) emissions decreased by 44% (excluding non-urban sources) due to emission reductions from many industrial sectors such as the wood industry and electricity generation, and from residential wood combustion.
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Volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions decreased by 34%, mainly due to reductions from mobile sources.

o These reductions in emissions have contributed to reducing the outdoor concentrations of harmful air pollutants. Between 2000 and 2015, national average outdoor air concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and peak ground-level ozone decreased by 41%%, 62%, 33%, and 13% respectively. For fine particulate matter (PM2.5), changes have been more variable with a slight increase over the same time period.
o Federal, provincial and territorial governments are now implementing the Air Quality Management System (AQMS), a collaborative framework to address air pollution in Canada and improve the health of Canadians and the environment.
o As part of the AQMS effort, the federal government published the Multi-Sector Air Pollutants Regulations in June 2016, which established Canada’s first mandatory national air pollutant emissions standards for major industrial facilities. These regulations are expected to reduce 2,000 kilotonnes of nitrogen oxide emissions, and result in over $6 billion in cumulative health and environmental benefits for Canadians over the 2016-2035 period.
o Ambient air quality standards for fine particulate matter and ground-level ozone were established by the federal government in 2013. In late 2017, more stringent air quality standards for sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide were established and, in 2019, for ozone.
o In May 2017, Canada proposed national regulations to reduce toxic pollutants from refinery and petrochemical facilities, including oil sands upgraders, after an assessment by Government experts identified the presence of cancer-causing emissions from these facilities, several of which are located near residential areas.
o The 1991 Canada-U.S. Air Quality Agreement has been the main vehicle to reduce the cross-border flow of air pollutants from the U.S. that contribute to acid rain and ground-level ozone. During the past 25 years, both countries have made significant progress in reducing emissions in the region covered by the Agreement. Canada also works to ensure reductions of transboundary pollutants from other regions that impact Canadian air quality under the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution.
o In November 2017, Canada ratified the Gothenburg Protocol to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-level Ozone, under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP). The Protocol is expected to result in reductions in emissions and long-range transport of key air pollutants within the Northern hemisphere. It is also expected to deliver health and ecosystem benefits, as well as potential near-term climate benefits from reductions of black carbon and ground-level ozone.

Question Period notes as provided by the Department to the Minister’s Office