Ottawa says it isn’t regulating wood oven emissions

Environment Canada says it isn’t looking at regulating emissions from wood-fired ovens used in some bagel shops or pizzerias.

Some media outlets reported a branch of Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), called the National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI), had contacted some restaurants in Montreal that use wood-fired ovens to determine if they meet emission-reporting thresholds for pollutants.

On Monday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre seized the news, accusing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of launching “a crusade against pizza ovens.”

“Don’t worry about your 100 per cent rent increase or the fact you can’t feed yourself,” Poilievre said, speaking in a Vancouver pizza restaurant, “Justin Trudeau is spending your money going after pizza ovens here and everywhere and he will not stop until this crisis is resolved.”

Wood smoke pollutants such as carbon monoxide and particulate matter (very small particles) can be harmful, according to Health Canada.

In a statement, an ECCC spokesperson said it wanted to clarify the work the NPRI team was doing.

The team had reached out to some pizzerias and bagel shops across Canada to determine if they meet the program’s reporting thresholds, according to a statement, but “no wood-fired pizzeria or bagel shop has been identified as meeting the emissions threshold for reporting under published reporting requirements.”

ECCC spokesperson Amelie Desmarais wrote that no in-person inspections had taken place.

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Global News contacted many bagel shops and pizzerias with wood-fired ovens in Montreal. Only one bagel shop that responded by deadline said they had been contacted by the federal government – and said they had only received an email.

Martin Vézina, a vice-president with the Association Restauration Quebec, which represents restaurant owners, told Global News no members had reported being contacted by the federal government.

The NPRI is a public inventory that tracks over 3,000 pollutants across the country, according to its webpage. Amelie said the NPRI does not set emission limits or enforce compliance and that the data collected goes towards tracking pollutants.

Desmarais wrote that ECCC does not anticipate that “pizza shops or bagel shops will be pursued for further compliance promotion activities.”