Montreal’s air quality is making headlines for the improvement while in Beijing, China people are protesting the desperate quality of their air.
Images of opaque smog resting almost at street level accompanied with official warnings about the conditions in Beijing these last few days, contrast what is happening in Canada.
The change in Montreal however, must be credited to actions in the neighbouring province of Ontario. Since Premier Wynne ordered the shut-down of five coal-fired power plants, the wind is blowing cleaner into Quebec.
The last one, Thunder Bay’s coal-fired power plant, closed in April of 2014.
Now, according to research by Radio-Canada, 2016 has been the best year, in terms of air quality, since 2002.
Also, the number of days in Montreal where air quality was considered “poor” and dangerous to public health also dropped by about 60 per cent in one year.
During 2016, just a total of 26 days with bad air quality were recorded in Montreal, an impressive decrease from 64 in 2015.
Days with smog in the city are also declining with only five days of smog warnings in 2016, all during the winter.
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