Canada lags on air-pollution cleanup compared with U.S., coalition finds

By JEFF SALLOT
From Enviromental Defence
2005

OTTAWA -- Canadians have no reason to feel smug and righteous when comparing their efforts at cleaning up air pollution to the much better performance of the United States, an environmental coalition says.

"In many ways, [President] George Bush's America is doing a much better job of cleaning up pollution than our own country," Rick Smith of Pollution Watch said yesterday.

The United States reduced air-pollution emissions by 45 per cent between 1995 and 2003, he said. "At the same time, Canada has reduced its air pollution by an embarrassing 1.8 per cent."

The group's conclusion -- drawn from data collected by federal environmental agencies in both countries -- seems counterintuitive, because Canadians believe their policies are enlightened and progressive.

But announcing good policies and implementing them are often two separate stories, Mr. Smith said.

Environment Minister Stéphane Dion told Canadian Press the better U.S. record may reflect the fact that the U.S. economy has had a relative downturn while Canadian sectors have been booming, particularly oil and gas.

But the environmentalists disagree, saying the comparative data indicate that Canadian industrial sectors are simply far less efficient than their U.S. counterparts. Thus, Canadian industry is more likely to spew pollutants into the environment, Paul Muldoon of the Canadian Environmental Law Association added.

Canadians are seeing the results in the increases in respiratory illnesses, such as asthma in children, and in record numbers of smog days, the environmentalists said.

"In many parts of our country, smog days are the new normal," Mr. Smith said.

Pollution Watch released a list of the worst emitters of air pollutants. Most are mining and smelting operations and coal-fired power generation plants.

Among them, the top ten are responsible for about 43 per cent of all the air pollution released in Canada in 2003, according to the most recently available figures.

Alberta is the province with the biggest air-pollution problem, the coalition said. One-quarter of all of Canada's reported air pollution originates there. Ontario is second.

Quebec is the only bright spot on the Canadian map, bucking the trend and showing recent decreases, Mr. Smith said.

Pollution Watch did a trend analysis of data collected by Environment Canada as part of a federal reporting system known as the National Pollutant Release Inventory.

But even that measuring stick is inadequate, the environmentalists say, because it fails to record all types of pollutants, including those from vehicles.

The release of the Pollution Watch analysis comes as the federal government prepares to hold an international conference in Montreal next month to launch negotiations for a new round of cuts to greenhouse-gas emissions. Such atmospheric emissions are associated with global warming.

The Canadian record on pollution control is likely to come under close scrutiny from other countries, particularly the United States.

The Bush administration refused to adopt the first greenhouse-gas agreement, the Kyoto Protocol. Canada adopted the Kyoto goals even though many experts, including some of Ottawa's own scientists, said it will be a struggle to meet the targets by the 2012 deadline.

The Pollution Watch coalition wants Parliament to toughen the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.
The top 10 air polluters in Canada are,Inco Limited, Alcan Inc., Ontario Power Generation, Nova Scotia Power, Hudson Bay Mining, SaskPower, Syncrude Canada, TransAlta Corp., New Brunswick Power, and Noranda Inc.