Canada-United States Border Air Quality Strategy

Air pollution is a North American problem that affects the health of citizens and requires solutions on both sides of the border. That is why Canada and the United States are strengthening their cooperation to deal with air quality. For Canada and the U.S., the Border Air Quality Strategy opens up new opportunities to build on previous pacts under the Canada-United States Air Quality Agreement that saw reductions in acid rain in the 1990s and today is reducing transboundary air pollutants.

Through the Border Air Quality Strategy, Health Canada is collaborating with its partners--American officials, other federal departments, provincial and municipal governments, industry and business interests, non-government organizations, health professionals and academics--to pinpoint the negative impacts of transboundary air pollution on human health and contribute to the development of a framework for coordinated airshed management.

Health Canada is involved in two major pilot projects funded under the Border Air Quality Strategy:

• the Great Lakes Basin Airshed Management Framework in southeastern Michigan and southwestern Ontario (focus on Windsor and Detroit); and
  
• the Georgia Basin/Puget Sound International Airshed Strategy in southwestern British Columbia and northwestern Washington state.

The Government of Canada has committed $40 million over two years to implement these pilot projects and enhance Canada's Clean Air Agenda. This funding will also allow the Government of Canada to expand its national air quality prediction capacity and to facilitate and support the development of a national health-based Air Quality Index. This index is a tool that will help Canadians to understand the links between human health and air quality, and empower them to take individual action to protect their health and that of their children.

These health studies will also contribute to the development of a transboundary strategy for coordinated airshed management and will support governments during future international negotiations on improving air quality.