Environment Minister Terry Lake says while the program has greatly reduced pollution in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, far fewer passenger cars and trucks are failing inspection now than when AirCare was introduced in 1992. 

 

"What we're finding now is that most of the cars on the road today run a lot cleaner than the stock that was on the road in 1992 and subsequently."

 

Lake says it means the government can take a closer look at the program's future. The priority will shift to cutting emissions from diesel-powered vehicles, ships and trains.

 

The minister also says it's too soon to say what will happen to the 150 employees. 

 

Reaction is mixed

 

The end of the car and small-truck testing has drawn some criticism.  

 

Joe Foy with the Wilderness Committee says there is concern about the air quality in the Fraser Valley. "There continues to be more and more cars on the road and the government continues to build more and more infrastructure. To turn out the lights now I think is something we're going to regret. I think we need more monitoring."

 

The NDP's environment critic, Rob Fleming, says the changes come too soon.

 

"The government only recently received a report recommending that AirCare be wound up in 2020. There's still a lot of pollutants getting into the atmosphere that are putting people's health at risk, aggravating those with asthma and causing ill health."

 

AirCare had its day but it's good to see it go, according to Jordan Bateman with the Canadian Taxpayers Association. He says he's happy to see the end of what he calls a "tax grab."

 

"The results it's been producing has been slipping over recent years, not because we're particularly any better as consumers at purchasing less-polluting vehicles, but because manufacturers themselves have self-policed and brought down their emissions."

 

He agrees with others who says the program has been taking money out of your pocket for a long time.

 

"AirCare highlights the big pollution drops, and that the air is cleaner than when they started, but that's true in most major cities across Canada and cities that don't even have AirCare-type programs."

 

Bateman is hoping the province takes a second look at shifting AirCare to heavy-duty vehicles as new federal regulations over emissions come into play.  

 

The trucking industry doesn't like the fact it will be the new AirCare target.

 

Louise Yako with the BC Truckers Association feels taxpayer money doesn't need to be spent on a problem that doesn't exist.  She says since 1990, strict diesel engine standards have meant significant reductions in emissions.

 

"To the point where the 2010 diesel engine is so clean that in many urban areas the air coming out of the smoke stack is cleaner than the air going in." 

 

She adds testing of emissions from the newest engine is so precise that even a fingerprint on the filter paper placed over the exhaust pipe causes the test to be rejected.

 

"Whenever there is an increase cost in transportation costs, that's something that needs to be passed to the end consumer, and so eventually we all end up paying that," she stresses.

 

Meanwhile, the BCGEU feels AirCare is more cost-effective in removing pollutants from the atmosphere than any other transportation-based measure.

 

The AirCare program is used to detect vehicle emissions to address the ground level ozone problem in the Lower Fraser Valley.

 

Vehicles built in 1991 and older are to be inspected on an annual basis, while cars made in 1992 and newer vehicles are meant to be inspected every second year.