Holy Smokes!
BY Julia Williams
You don’t have to smoke to suffer the effects of a pack-a-day habit—just take a stroll through one of Canada’s smoggier cities. Calgary’s air is hardest to swallow, with levels of nitrogen oxides (NOx) that equal those of smoking 38 cigarettes in 24 hours. But in all of the nation’s larger cities, it seems nobody’s breathing easily.
We found the top polluted cities by comparing Environment Canada’s 2002 NOx statistics with the NOx of a typical light cigarette. The cigarette calculations were borrowed from a study of UK cities by the fuel company Calor. NOx is one of many pollutants that contribute to poor air quality—primarily through fuel emissions. It has been linked to asthma and other respiratory illnesses, including lung disease.
(You can see the full city list below.)
Methodology: In Calgary, the annual mean for NOx is 67 ppb or 0.128 eg per litre. The average adult at rest breathes six litres of air, and 0.77 mg (0.128 x 6) of NOx every minute.
A Rothman’s Light cigarette has 29 mg of NOx. To inhale 29 mg of NOx in Calgary would take (29 mg/0.77 mg) 38 minutes. In 24 hours, you would inhale (1,440 min/38 min) 37.9 cigarettes.
| Rank | City | Average NOx per year (particles per billion) | Equivalent cigarettes/day |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Calgary | 67 | 38 |
| 2 | Montreal | 65 | 37 |
| 3 | Vancouver | 59 | 34 |
| 4 | Edmonton | 56 | 32 |
| 5 | Toronto | 38 | 22 |
| 6 | Ottawa | 36 | 20 |
| 7 | Sarnia | 34 | 20 |
| 8 | Windsor | 33 | 19 |
| 9 | Saint John | 32 | 19 |
| 10 | Hamilton | 31 | 18 |
| 11 | Abbotsford | 31 | 18 |
| 12 | Pitt Meadows | 31 | 18 |
| 13 | Burlington | 30 | 17 |
| 14 | Fort Saskatchewan | 28 | 16 |
| 15 | Chilliwack | 28 | 16 |
| 16 | Oshawa | 27 | 15 |
| 17 | Red Deer | 27 | 15 |
| 18 | Oakville | 26 | 15 |
| 19 | Moncton | 25 | 14 |
| 20 | Prince George | 25 | 14 |
| 21 | Victoria | 25 | 14 |
| 22 | Winnipeg | 23 | 13 |
| 23 | Regina | 23 | 13 |
| 24 | Quebec | 22 | 12 |
| 25 | Maple Ridge | 22 | 12 |
| 26 | Thunder Bay | 21 | 12 |
| 27 | London | 21 | 12 |
| 28 | Barrie | 21 | 12 |
| 29 | Hope | 18 | 10 |
| 30 | Hull | 17 | 9 |
| 31 | Saskatoon | 17 | 9 |
| 32 | Kamloops | 17 | 9 |
| 33 | Langley | 17 | 9 |
| 34 | Kitchener | 16 | 9 |
| 35 | Newmarket | 16 | 9 |
| 36 | Peterborough | 14 | 8 |
| 37 | Smithers | 13 | 8 |
| 38 | Varennes | 11 | 7 |
| 39 | Sudbury | 11 | 7 |
| 40 | Becancour | 10 | 6 |
| 41 | Simcoe | 9 | 5 |
| 42 | Brandon | 9 | 5 |
| 43 | Fort MacKay | 9 | 5 |
| 44 | Carrot Creek | 9 | 5 |
| 45 | Campbell River | 9 | 5 |
| 46 | Fort McMurray | 8 | 5 |
| 47 | Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu | 7 | 4 |
| 48 | Langdale | 7 | 4 |
| 49 | Corner Brook | 6 | 4 |
| 50 | Fredericton | 6 | 4 |
