I don't accept the dichotomy and I don't think Canadians accept the dichotomy. According to government estimates, 16,000 Canadians die each year from urban air pollution. Ontario Medical Association studies came up with similar estimates on the same scale.
There are severe respiratory illness effects of air pollution that you heard about yesterday and have heard in various standing committees over the years. So I don't accept that Canadians believe there is a dichotomy between the quality of the air they breathe and the association this has with their quality of life.
There are going to be extreme cases where there will be severe economic hardships to meeting air pollution standards. I think those cases will be remarkably rare, but for those cases there should be an exemptions provision built into the legislation. Those exemptions should be only in cases of severe economic hardship, they should be time-limited to 12 months, and if the area wishes to receive a subsequent exemption, they will have to show demonstrable progress toward meeting the ambient air quality objectives. And those exemptions have to be transparent. There have to be reasons provided publicly for them.
So in those very rare cases where there is severe economic hardship to meeting the standards, there should be exemptions.