The Quebec government has introduced legislation that will require mandatory emissions testing for older vehicles.

The Charest government introduced Bill 48 at the national assembly on Wednesday, as part of provincial measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to improve air quality.

"The opportunity to improve air quality in our cities is certainly the most important motivating factor in this program," said environment minister Pierre Arcand.

"Everyone suffers the effects of atmospheric pollution."

The legislation gives the government power to require a vehicle be tested before a registration document can be issued.

The terms of that testing will be determined next year but it will initially affect resale vehicles eight years and older.

In the first phase of the program, 450,000 vehicles will be inspected.

The program is expected to be later expanded to all vehicles eight years and older, whether they're being resold or not.

If a car is found to be too polluting, Quebec's automobile insurance board (SAAQ) will refuse to issue registration plates.

The most recent study in Quebec of vehicles aged 11 to 25 years revealed that 22 per cent give off harmful emissions to the environment.

According to the SAAQ, the average Quebec car is 7.1 years old (2010 figure).

Mandatory inspections of vehicles to ensure environmental standards already exist in seven other Canadian provinces and about 40 U.S. states.

According to the Canadian Medical Association, greenhouse gases help cause 2,000 premature deaths annually.

Number of cars in Quebec, according to age and category (2010 SAAQ figures)

Age of vehicle	Regular vehicles (cars, vans, light trucks)	Motorcycles, scooters	Commercial vehicles (cars, trucks, taxis, buses)	Snowmobiles, ATVs
8 years or less	2,656,236	104,045	349,026	264,455
Over 8 years	1,652,578	56,825	115,988	167,906

with files from Canadian Press