PROTECTING THE BASICS
AIR QUALITY
Air … the breath of life. So easily taken for granted until so polluted it restricts outdoor activity, sickens at-risk children, and kills 1,900 fellow citizens per year (Ontario Medical Association figure). The air we breathe is simply too precious to leave unprotected. Unfortunately, that is exactly what a sequence governments have effectively done, notwithstanding some small progress here and there.
Imagine an industrial accident or terrorist attack that annually killed 1,900 Ontarians and yet provoked no significant response from the government of the day! In 2001 and again in 2002, Ontario suffered through a record number of smog-alert days. Yet, Ontario Power Generation (OPG) continued distributing power that was being generated by smog and heavy-metal- producing coal-fired stations. The three industrial-age Parties, each in turn, by failing to shut-down Ontario's big coal-fired power-generating stations and in failing to pass truly stringent air-quality legislation, have demonstrated when in government, that they considered the issue of citizen health security to be more of a public relations exercise than a real concern.
The Green Party would end coal-fired electricity exports. We would also begin to phase-out and convert well before a suggested date of 2007,to end this form of power generation as quickly as possible. In the interim, we would mandate that producers bring coal-production facilities on-stream last. During periods of high electricity demand, we would also institute Province-wide coal-use alerts on a previous day warning and 3-hour prior use advisory. These alerts would request public and corporate assistance in reducing electricity demand and would provide radio and TV continuous feedback on progress achieved. After all, we still have to breathe the air even on hot days.
As part of a Strategic Air Quality Initiative, the Ontario Green Party would also:
- Pass a strong Ontario Clean Air Act that would significantly reduce industrial, commercial, municipal, and vehicular emissions of air pollutants;
- Apply a system of incentives and subsidy-removal to shift a much greater percentage of inter-urban freight from truck and onto rail transportation;
- Improve vehicle emission standards for all types of vehicles to match the highest level in N. America;
- Remove Provincial Sales Tax on the purchase of zero-emission vehicles;
- Implement new higher standards for emissions reduction from natural gas-fired power producers;
- Rapidly phase out in Ontario the sale of dirty two-stroke engines such as those used in the cheaper lawn mowers;
- Support public transit and infrastructure investment. We would provide a "clean transportation" bonus to provincial employees who do not use an automobile to commute to work;
- Expand residential and commercial energy-conservation programs through a powerful Ontario Energy Conservation Utility (see section on energy).
- Increase fuel mileage standards on all vehicles including trucks.