Baird to announce program to get clunkers off the road
Last Updated: Thursday, February 28, 2008 | 4:13 PM ET
The Canadian Press
Federal Environment Minister John Baird is poised to announce a program offering drivers incentives to turn in their older, polluting vehicles.
Environment Canada sent an e-mail Jan. 21 — obtained by the Canadian Press — to several so-called vehicle "scrappage" programs saying Baird would make an announcement about the new program "within the next few weeks."
The department has mulled over the prospect of building a national program since Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's 2007 budget earmarked $36 million over two years for scrappage initiatives.
Seven groups across the country receive federal money to run a patchwork of scrappage programs, which offer incentives such as rebates on new vehicles, free transit passes and charitable receipts in exchange for older models.
The scrappage programs turn the vehicles over to auto recyclers, who crush and recycle them according to provincial regulations.
The government estimates five million vehicles from 1995 or earlier — predating today's tougher emissions standards — were on the roads in 2007.
These older vehicles are only a fraction of the estimated 18 million vehicles in Canada, but they account for up to two-thirds of the pollution that causes smog.
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