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Fact Sheet

June 2003

EVES GOVERNMENT COMMITTED TO TACKLING SMOG

• The Ernie Eves government is committed to protecting the province’s air quality.
  
  
• Since 1995, Ontario has invested more than $5 million on one of the most modern and best-equipped air monitoring networks in North America.
  
  
• On May 6, 2003, the Eves government announced the opening of a new air monitoring station - bringing the total number of state-of-the-art Air Quality Index (AQI) monitoring stations located across Ontario to 37.
  
  
• The government also announced an increase in the number of times the provincial AQI is reported daily:
• From May through September when levels of ozone and fine particulate are elevated due to summer heat, the AQI is reported every other hour between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.
• The province has increased its AQI reporting on weekends and holidays, during May through September, from four times daily to seven.
  
  
• As well, in August 2002, Ontario added fine particulate matter (PM2.5) to its Air Quality Index — the first Canadian province to do so.
  
  
• The AQI is just one of many steps the government has taken to ensure vital information is easily available to all citizens.

Ontario’s Smog Alert Program

When air quality and weather conditions are likely to produce elevated smog levels, the Ministry of the Environment takes steps to inform the public and warn those most vulnerable to the health impacts of poor air quality. Ontario’s smog alert program provides two levels of warning:

• Smog Watch: When the ministry issues a Smog Watch, there is at least a 50 per cent probability that elevated smog levels will occur within the next three days.
• Smog Advisory: Under a Smog Advisory, there is a high probability of widespread and persistent elevated smog levels occurring within the next 24 hours.
• A Smog Advisory is also issued when widespread and elevated smog levels develop unexpectedly and are predicted to persist for at least six hours.
• When Smog Advisories are issued, everyone (government, industry, businesses and residents) is encouraged to lower smog-causing emissions, and people are advised to avoid unnecessary exposure to smog.
• When the air clears, the ministry issues a Termination Notice.

How to Get Air Quality Information

The Internet on the air quality Web site at <www.airqualityontario.com>.

Smog Alert Network by receiving e-mails through the ministry’s Smog Alert Network.

Telephone through recorded telephone messages by dialing 416-246-0411 or 1-800-387-7768 (toll-free). To obtain AQI readings in French, dial 1-800-221-8852.

Actions to Improve Ontario’s Air Quality

Ontario’s state-of-the-art air monitoring network is complemented by the government’s campaign to improve air quality through actions such as:

• The Drive Clean program, which is reducing harmful emissions from vehicles by requiring emission tests and repairs;
• A regulation requiring the Lakeview Generating Station in Mississauga to cease burning coal by April 2005;
• Enhanced opportunities for cleaner, greener sources of electricity to get on the electricity grid;
• A regulation limiting emissions from Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG) fossil plants and the electricity sector. By 2007, electricity sector emission limits will reduce OPG emission limits of nitrogen oxides by 53 per cent and sulphur dioxide by 25 per cent; and
• The government has also committed to phase out Ontario’s coal-fired power stations by 2015.
  

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Contact:
John Steele
Communications Branch
Ministry of the Environment
(416) 314-6666