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Press Releases: Smog Alerts In Northern Ontario Are UnacceptablePosted on Thursday, June 16 @ 14:44:00 CDT by capebretoner
Released June 16, 2005
“Action is needed when you can’t breathe the air in Northern Ontario’s communities”: Layton
OTTAWA – Today in Question Period NDP Leader Jack Layton drew the attention of the House to the fact that smog alerts are now being issued in Northern Ontario:
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Hon. Jack Layton (Toronto—Danforth, NDP): Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Prime Minister. For seven straight days residents of Ontario and Quebec have been choking on smog, and it is not just in Southern Ontario, it is in Northern Ontario as well. We now have health experts, 11 environmental organizations, even The Globe and Mail saying that the government's Kyoto plan will not do the job.
Is the Prime Minister capable of admitting that over the 12 years the results have not come and when is he going to bring in a better plan?
Right Hon. Paul Martin (Prime Minister, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, if the Hon. Member would like to examine the government climate change plan or in fact the government's overall environmental thrust, what he will see is one of the best climate change plans of any of the major countries.
He will also see that in the most recent budget it was qualified by most environmentalists as perhaps the greenest budget ever. The reason for that is that we are very much aware of the environmental problems that are caused by smog, by impure water, by impure air. The fact is that this government is dedicated to dealing with those issues.
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What the Prime Minister forgot to mention in that answer is the fact that his government voted down the NDP motion that would have made auto emissions standards mandatory. Twelve years of voluntary emissions standards have brought us to where we are today: choking and gasping for air in Northern Ontario. Idle rhetoric will not get the job done.
A study released by the Ontario Medical Association stated that chronic exposure to smog could contribute - this year alone - to the premature deaths of 5,800 Ontarians. Nearly every heart and respiratory-related death is influenced by bad air.
“It’s time for real action on smog in Ontario,” said Layton. “Summer hasn’t even begun yet and we had 17 smog alerts. That’s simply unacceptable. And all Ontarians deserve to be able to send their kids outside to play without worrying that they’ll end up in emergency wards, gasping for air.”
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