Why do we need the Clean Air Act?

Multiple Sources of Air Pollution

The air we breathe contains thousands of chemical and biological substances. Some of these substances include ground-level ozone, particulate matter, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, and volatile organic compounds. Other toxic metals such as lead, mercury, manganese, and arsenic can also pollute our air. These substances are emitted into the atmosphere by natural sources such as forest fires and volcanoes or by human activities like driving your car and industrial processes.

The air we breathe also consists of another group of substances called greenhouse gases. These substances, such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, act like a blanket and trap heat that comes from the earth. This blanket effect is natural and an essential part of life on earth. However, atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases have grown significantly since pre-industrial times, largely because of fossil fuel use and permanent forest loss. The combustion of fossil fuel is the largest contributor to both air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

In addition to climate change and deteriorating health, air pollution is also a threat to our ecosystems, as acid rain can precipitate the decline in biodiversity in our lakes, rivers and forests, and destroy the productivity of valuable natural resources, from commercial fisheries to maple syrup.

Because Canadians typically spend close to 90% of their time indoors, there is considerable public health concern about the health effects of indoor air quality. Mold, carbon monoxide and radon, a radioactive gas that occurs naturally from the breakdown of uranium, are three of the most serious contaminants affecting indoor air quality. The air we breathe indoors is affected by the release of chemicals from products such as personal care products or housecleaning supplies.

The Impact of Air Pollution on the Health of Canadians

The human health effects of poor outdoor and indoor air quality are far reaching, but mainly affect the body's respiratory system and the cardiovascular system. Individual reactions to air pollutants depend on the type of pollutant a person is exposed to, the degree of exposure, the individual's health status and genetics. For example, people who exercise outdoors on hot, smoggy days increase their exposure to pollutants in the air. These health effects may range from subtle biochemical and physiological changes to difficulty breathing, wheezing, coughing and aggravation of existing breathing and heart conditions.

Exposure to high levels of radon has been associated with an increased risk of lung cancer, depending on the length of time you are exposed. Radon alone is responsible for 1,900 deaths a year, while mold and moisture are important contributors to asthma and allergies. Particles and gases in the air can be a source of lung irritation. Chronic exposure to pollutants in the air we breathe can damage deep portions of the lung even after symptoms such as coughing or a sore throat disappear. Ozone damages the alveoli (individual air sacs in the lung where oxygen and carbon dioxide are exchanged).

Canadians pay for the health effects of air pollution in many ways. Additional health care costs for the treatment of these effects may come from hospital admissions, homecare service, or medication such as inhalers for asthma. During an average year, exposure to air pollution results in an estimated 60,000 emergency room visits and 17,000 hospital admissions in Ontario alone.

The Ontario Medical Association estimates that poor air quality in that province alone has resulted in: crop damage estimated at $200 million per year; forest damage estimated at $77 million per year; lost productivity costing $374 million in 2005; and direct health care costs of $507 million per year.

Scientific studies have indicated that even small increases in smog levels can increase respiratory infections and associated school absenteeism, while the worst smog days can increase absenteeism by 10% or more.

That elderly Canadians are warned not to leave their homes because of smog is simply unacceptable. Voluntary compliance has failed and decisive action is now needed to tackle all greenhouse gas and pollution emissions, to improve indoor and outdoor air quality in every region of the country.

The Clean Air Act Tackles Sources of Air Pollution

This is why Canada's Clean Air Act is necessary to achieve real and measurable results. Passage of the Act will usher in regulated targets for air pollutants and greenhouse gases from key industrial sectors including fossil-fuel fired electricity generation, upstream oil and gas, downstream petroleum, base metal smelters, iron and steel, cement, forest products, and chemicals production.

Canada's New Government will continue to develop and implement regulations to reduce smog- and acid rain-forming emissions from vehicles, engines and fuels in alignment with the standards of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Under Canada's Clean Air Act, the Government will issue regulations in order to limit air pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks. It will use the Motor Vehicle Fuel Consumption Standards Act to regulate the fuel consumption of new motor vehicles.

Canada's New Government will act quickly to improve air quality in Canadians' homes by implementing new national guidelines on radon, a naturally occurring radioactive gas that is the leading cause of lung cancer among non-smokers.

Finally, the manufacture and use of consumer and commercial products like cleaning products, personal care products, paints and printing inks cause the emission of potentially harmful fumes and vapors into the air. Those products contain different chemical substances, including those known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), that play a major role in smog formation.

As part of our Clean Air Regulatory Agenda, the Government of Canada intends to develop regulations to reduce volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from a large number of consumer and commercial products. These proposed regulations would align with generally more stringent U.S. requirements. In the short term, these include regulations limiting VOC content in: architectural, industrial and maintenance coatings; consumer products; and automobile refinishing coatings. Together, paint, cosmetics and cleaning products account for about 18% of VOC emissions in Canada.

In addition we intend to propose regulations to reduce VOC emissions from other consumer and commercial products, including regulations limiting VOC content in products such as portable fuel containers; and new strategies and instruments for reducing VOC emissions from printing, aerospace and automotive manufacturing sectors.