City will monitor air quality in Toronto but Canada Day events expected to proceed

The city says there are no immediate plans to cancel Canada Day events amid poor air quality in Toronto but officials will continue to monitor the situation as it evolves.

For the past several weeks, Toronto has seen intermittent haze due to wildfire smoke, resulting in deteriorating air quality.

On Friday, Environment Canada renewed a special air quality statement for much of southern Ontario, including parts of the Greater Toronto Area, as smoke plumes from wildfires in northeastern Ontario and Quebec drifted to the region.

The Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks has said Friday’s air quality in Toronto will be poor enough to designate it “high risk.”

At around noon on Friday, Toronto’s air pollution was listed as the second worst in the world, behind New York City, according to data from Swiss air quality tracker IQAir. Toronto topped that list earlier this week.

Environment Canada has suggested limiting time spent outdoors and drinking lots of water while the advisory is in place, as well as optimizing home HVAC systems for ideal air filtration.

Earlier this week, the poor air quality prompted the city to cancel some outdoor recreation activities and suspend outdoor activities at city-run daycares.

When asked about the upcoming Canada Day festivities, city staff said there are no plans to cancel any of the events.

“The City continues to monitor the situation with Toronto Public Health. Currently, there is no change to Canada Day plans,” a spokesperson for the City of Toronto confirmed.

Fireworks in Niagara Falls were cancelled on Friday due to the poor air quality.

“Due to the impact of wildfires and the associated air quality advisories in many areas of Canada, including in Niagara, the Niagara Falls Fireworks program is being suspended for Friday, June 30, 2023,” a statement from Niagara Falls Tourism read.

“The much anticipated 9-minute extended fireworks show to celebrate Canada Day on July 1st and American Independence Day on July 4th are planned to proceed as scheduled.”

Woodbine Entertainment announced Friday that live racing at Woodbine Racetrack has been cancelled for the day due to the smoke.

Environment Canada has said the smoke could linger into Saturday morning.