The program was initially intended to weed out vehicles producing unrestrained amounts of particulate emissions contributing to smog and increasing pollution.
[1] On September 28, 2018, the Ontario government announced the cancellation of the Drive Clean program and instead focusing on heavy duty vehicles; the change became effective on April 1, 2019.
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 seven years old.
As of 2015, Ontario was the only province in Canada requiring emissions testing on its vehicles,[citation needed] with British Columbia phasing out their program December 31, 2014.
[6] Drive Clean's emissions test results have been shown to be unreliable in surveys carried out by the media such as in-depth work done by The Hamilton Spectator,[7] the Fraser Institute,[8] and consumer advocacy groups such as the Automobile Protection Association.
For these reasons and others, consumer reports suggest drivers try another garage if their car fails a Drive Clean test, before proceeding with expensive repairs.
[1] Critics of Drive Clean, including the province's own consulting firm, the Eastern Research Group, have strongly recommended that financial assistance should be provided.
This has the effect of boosting prices for remaining used cars by reducing supply, making it somewhat more expensive for low-income persons to drive in Ontario.
The Ontario Medical Association estimated in 2005 that total air pollution (from all sources) would cause some 5,800 deaths and 17,000 hospital admissions that year.
[16] However, three years later the Canadian Medical Association released a report that estimated that in 2008 there would be 4,597 hospital admissions in Ontario caused by air pollution, of which around 1,178 would result in acute premature death.
The Greenpeace co-founder, Robert Hunter, wrote in 1999 that Drive Clean "has turned out to be an agonizing bureaucratic nightmare that hits drivers with what is basically another tax and a huge hassle, while accomplishing -- in Environmental Commissioner Eva Ligeti's assessment -- 'minimal benefits.
argue that a greater long-term impact on overall air quality would result from reinvesting the same provincial resources towards encouraging low-emitter technologies, some of which offer electric power as an alternative to 100% internal combustion propulsion.
[23] On March 23, 2006, Ontario's McGuinty government doubled their former $1,000 ceiling sales tax rebate on hybrid cars such as the Toyota Prius up to a maximum of $2,000, but stopped short of making such vehicles PST-free.
Politicians Norm Sterling and Howard Hampton have argued that diverting the same provincial funds used for paying for Drive Clean towards improving existing public transit networks might have yielded a far greater overall environmental benefit.
[27] On September 28, 2018, the Ontario government under Doug Ford announced the cancellation of the Drive Clean program and instead focusing on heavy duty vehicles; the change became effective on April 1, 2019.