Changing Standards
The Drive Clean program has undergone several changes since its introduction in 1999 under then Ontario Premier Mike Harris. In 2003, standards for light-duty vehicles were tightened to require 11.5% lower vehicle emissions than the most stringent American EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) recommended standards. On November 18, 2005, then Minister of the Environment (Ontario) Laurel Broten announced several proposed changes to the Drive Clean program. Standards were tightened by a further 11.5%. Newer vehicles, which have a very high pass rate due to better emission control technology off the assembly line, were exempted from the program until they are five years old. At the other end of the age spectrum, the exemption for vehicles 20 years old and older was phased out. Vehicles built in 1988 and afterwards would have "fallen out" of the program after 19 years (for instance, a 1988 vehicle would no longer need testing after 2007). As a result of this change, such vehicles must continue to be tested every two years as long as they are on the road. Vehicles built in 1987 or before have now left the program permanently.
Critics accused the cash-strapped Dalton McGuinty government, which came into power in 2003 allegedly facing a 5.6 billion dollar deficit, of expanding Drive Clean for budgetary reasons rather than environmental protection. Ontario had already invested in expensive testing machines, and due to their recent purchase (1998–99) these will not be paid off until about 2014. Concurrent emissions technology improvements rendered the test machines obsolete, leading many observers to assume that Drive Clean's days were numbered. The program was however reformed on November 18, 2005. Revisions to the program were made, in particular the introduction of annual testing and the removal of the 20-year-exemption.
Read more about this topic: Ontario's Drive Clean
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