Limiting air pollution from industry

Backgrounder

In 2012, the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment agreed to implement the Air Quality Management System (AQMS) to further protect the health of Canadians and the environment. The AQMS includes a series of initiatives such as updated outdoor air quality standards, new and updated emissions standards for industries and equipment types, and provincial actions to address local air quality issues. It is a major step forward in addressing air pollution in Canada.

What are Base Level Industrial Emission Requirements?

Since 2012, Base Level Industrial Emission Requirements (BLIERs) for numerous sources have been proposed or finalized through an intensive consultative process that included provincial governments, industry and environmental non-governmental organizations. The role of the federal government in the implementation of the BLIERs is to establish an approach, such as through limits in regulations or other instruments, to ensure that industrial facilities achieve a good “base level” of performance with respect to certain key pollutants across the country. The system is designed so that provinces are the front–line regulator, setting requirements at least as stringent as the BLIERs, or more stringent if local air quality warrants further restrictions, with federal regulations acting mainly as a backstop.  

The Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 authorizes the use of a number of regulatory and non-regulatory instruments. Regulatory instruments include regulations and mandatory pollution prevention planning notices. Proposed Multi-sector Air Pollutants Regulations were announced in 2014, covering the cement industry, stationary engines, and boilers and heaters. Non-regulatory instruments include codes of practice, guidelines and performance agreements. 

A list of the planned BLIERs instruments is contained in Annex I.

Annex I: Proposed BLIERs instruments

• Regulations are legally enforceable instruments that can create different kinds of requirements on different kinds of activities, including restrictions on some activities and authorizations on others to improve commercial activities in an environmentally sustainable manner. They can require reporting, monitoring and sharing of information.
• Pollution prevention planning notices require industry to prepare and implement pollution prevention plans for substances on the List of Toxic Substances under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999. Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) regularly publishes progress reports on the results of pollution prevention planning notices.
• Codes of practice are voluntary instruments that identify recommended procedures and practices or environmental controls relating to works, undertakings and activities, including any subsequent monitoring activities. They set out official national standards that companies and organizations should follow.
• Guidelines are voluntary instruments developed to give industries and regulators a clear direction on how to reduce emissions, effluent and wastes. ECCC consults with interested parties to develop guidelines that reflect a shared national view of environmental measures. Guidelines can be developed to set a numerical concentration of toxic substances in water, agricultural water, ambient and indoor air, soil, sediment, and human and animal tissue.
• Performance agreements are non-statutory risk management instruments that are negotiated between ECCC and parties to achieve specified environmental results. Performance agreements include requirements for participants to submit reports, and ECCC regularly publishes progress reports on the results of performance agreements.

Related product

• Government of Canada and industry work together to provide clean air and healthier communities for Canadians

Search for related information by keyword

Hon. Catherine McKenna Environment and Climate Change Canada Nature and Environment