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The Effects of Smog in Canada

Smog, a mixture of smoke and fog, consists of air pollutants that can harm human health and the environment. Although sometimes smog appears as haze, other times smog is invisible because the pollutants are too small to see. Canadian provinces monitor, forecast and report on smog levels. When air quality is likely to be bad, they issue a smog watch or a smog advisory.

  1. Health

    • According to Environment Canada, Canadian respiratory hospitalization data shows a link between air pollution and health. When the concentration of pollutants in the air increases by 10 parts per billion, hospitals get 1 percent more patients admitted due to respiratory illnesses, and 0.6 percent more deaths. Higher pollutant concentration also leads to higher number of visits to hospital emergency departments. According to the Canadian Lung Association, smog causes 5,900 early deaths in eight large Canadian cities each year.

    Agriculture

    • Smog also affects the yield and quality of agricultural crops in Canada. In Fraser Valley, an area with lower air pollutant levels compared to most western U.S. cities of similar size, smog negatively affects strawberries, lettuce and broccoli yields. According to Environment Canada, smog causes the number of good fruits to decline, resulting in 15 percent strawberry losses in Fraser Valley in 1999. Air pollutants also damage broccoli leaves, making the total of smog-related damages add up to millions of dollars.

    Visibility

    • Smog often causes visibility to drop below publicly acceptable levels in some parts of the country. Poor visibility affects both residents and tourists of Canada. According to a 2000 study cited by Environment Canada, just one extreme visibility event could cost about $7.45 million of tourist dollars in the Greater Vancouver area and about $1.32 million in the Fraser Valley area.

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