Drive Clean emissions test scrapped, heavy duty vehicles to be targeted

TORONTO — Ontario’s Drive Clean vehicle emissions testing program will be dismantled next year and replaced with a new system that will focus on heavyduty vehicles such as transport trucks, the government said Friday.

The Progressive Conservative government said the Drive Clean program, which tests emissions every two years on cars and lightduty trucks over seven years old, is outdated and no longer effective.

In a news conference Friday, Premier Doug Ford said the program worked well when it was introduced in 1999 but grew less useful as the automotive industry adopted more stringent emissions standards.

“Drive Clean was created almost 20 years ago but, 20 years later, the family car now creates much less pollution. So Drive Clean has outlived its usefulness,” he said.

Only five per cent of vehicles failed the test last year, compared with 16 per cent in 1999, and the trend is expected to continue, the government said.

The Tories said a new program will be introduced to target emissions from heavy-duty vehicles, which they say have weaker emissions standards and get replaced less frequently.

“With the light-duty vehicle program gone, we will be able to better focus ... on the biggest polluters on the road: transport trucks and other heavy-duty vehicles,” Environment Minister Rod Phillips said.

“More vehicles will be tested and almost twice as many polluting vehicles will be repaired. This means tougher on-road inspections, stronger enforcement that will ensure owners are accountable and properly maintaining their vehicle’s emissions.”

The government said the proposed changes will be subject to a 30-day public consultation, and are scheduled to take effect on April 1, 2019. It further said the move is expected to save the province $40 million each year.

The previous Liberal government made the test free last year and proposed a pilot project that would allow the test to be carried out remotely through on-board diagnostics.

Drive Clean has previously come under fire for amassing multimillion-dollar surpluses, even though it was supposed to be a revenue neutral program.

Friday’s announcement was met with praise by some in the automotive industry and questions from political opponents.

Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said that while he can accept that the program is no longer as relevant as it once was, scrapping it is part of a pattern for this government. “When you look at the list of things this government has done on the environment file, all you see are cuts. They have axed pollution pricing, clean energy contracts, energy retrofits and (electric vehicle) rebates, in addition to repealing climate change laws,” he said.