Madam Speaker, last summer Canadians suffered from increased smog levels causing breathing problems, increased hospital admissions and premature deaths.
Smog results from the burning of oil and coal creating nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds together with other substances which lead to the formation of ground level ozone which is then part of the smog phenomenon. Scientists identify nitrogen oxides from the burning of fossil fuels not only because it forms smog but also because it is a component of acid rain.
We have here a domestic problem as well as an international one because at the Lennox plant in eastern Ontario, Ontario Hydro has not installed the equipment needed to reduce nitrogen oxide pollution. In addition new United States pollution regulations designed to reduce smog could force Ontario Hydro to install emissions abatement equipment if it wants to export power to the United States.
Selective catalytic reduction technology is available to reduce smog and Ontario Hydro should bite the bullet and install it. From an international perspective one must remember that in 1991 Canada and the United States signed the air quality agreement whereby each country is responsible for the effects of air pollution it causes in the other country. Canada and the United States also agreed to consult and deal with any existing transboundary air pollution problems.
Therefore what we do in Canada to reduce nitrogen oxide is desirable not only to improve air quality and prevent health problems but also to make a case to the United States that it should do its part in reducing air pollution. However the reverse also applies.
Last week we learned of a significant announcement by the United States Environmental Protection Agency that 22 eastern United States will be required to cut nitrogen emissions by 28% starting in the year 2003. Such steps could lead to a substantial reduction in smog formation.
Will Canada reciprocate? This is why I am asking the Minister of the Environment what progress has been made to ensure Ontario makes every effort to minimize air pollution through the reduction of nitrogen oxide emissions.
Unfortunately Ontario Hydro has apparently made the decision not to outfit an oil burning power plant in eastern Ontario with the next generation of pollution control devices which permit the reduction of nitrogen oxides.
As I did on March 30, I would like to inquire of the parliamentary secretary whether the Minister of the Environment will ask her Ontario counterpart to intervene with Ontario Hydro and see to it that its decision is reversed; that the nitrogen oxide reducing equipment is installed at the Lennox plant, thus permitting Canada to keep its international commitment; and to reciprocate to the United States Environmental Protection Agency initiative of issuing new tough standards for emission of nitrogen oxides aimed at reducing smog levels as reported today in a national newspaper.