Greetings and welcome to the OMA.

On your way to this event this morning you may have noticed that the air isn't quite as clear as it once was.

If you didn't notice, it's likely because you've grown accustomed to the fact that the air quality in this province and right across North America has been getting worse for decades.

When the quality of our water began to be questioned in the early 80's, the public took notice, and governments reacted accordingly. Not a surprise when you consider the devastation that poor water quality can cause to a population.

This is a devastation we all witnessed in Walkerton several years ago. Thanks to decisive action by governments right across Canada our water quality and the measures in place to protect the public have improved significantly.

When the quality of our air began to be questioned years ago, the reaction by governments and the public wasn't quite so swift.

Instead of decisive action we got reasons why it couldn't be done. Instead of significant investments to improve measures to protect the public, we got excuses on how it was too expensive to fix the problem. It couldn't be done without severe implications on our pocket books.

On behalf of Ontario's doctors, I'm here to tell you that improving our air quality is affordable and that it must be done in the interest of the health of our families, our friends and our children.

Five years ago, in June of 2000, the OMA released our Illness Costs of Air Pollution Report and software model. For the first time ever, we were able to fully understand the health and financial impacts of air pollution.

We felt strongly that it was time that people understood that the real costs of not taking action be understood.

Although there had been previous studies of smog's health impact, the cost - some would say the 'prohibitive cost' - of improving air quality, dominated policy discussions. We knew that there was another side of the story - that illness and the treatment of illness also came with significant costs.

The 2000 report found that air pollution in Ontario was responsible for 1,900 deaths at an economic cost of almost $1 billion.

I'm very proud to note that our findings and the model itself have had a significant influence on public policy over the past five years.

The model, which we made publicly available on the OMA website has been downloaded and used by governments, NGOs, academia, industry and even the media!

We are very pleased that in April of this year, Energy Minister Dwight Duncan released a report on the hidden health costs of coal-fired electricity generation. This report used our model for its health analysis.

Later this month, we expect to hear from the Ministry of the Environment about a study that they have undertaken which will also use our model.

We are also pleased that a number of U.S. States are in the process of adopting the OMA model for their use.

Although we have known since the Great London Fog of the 1950s that 'smog can kill', detailed understanding of specific health effects and the mechanisms by which this pollution impacts our physical functions is an ever-developing science. Even in the last five years our understanding has increased significantly.

When my predecessor, Dr. Albert Schumacher, stood here in June 2000, he explained that our understanding of the smog-health phenomenon continued to grow. He promised that the OMA would stay abreast of scientific developments and when the health evidence was sufficiently robust, to renew and expand our Illness Cost of Air Pollution Model. I am here today to fulfill that promise.

We have new health information to share with you, and put in the context of updated demographic, economic and air pollution data, a compelling story to tell.

Unfortunately, the health impacts are much worse than we had initially estimated, and the cost of not taking action to address air pollution is much higher.

According to our Illness Cost of Air Pollution report for 2005 that we are releasing today, approximately 5,800 premature deaths will be related to exposure to air pollution - this year alone.

If the province does not take action to further improve the quality of air in Ontario, the number of premature deaths associated with air pollution is estimated to hit a staggering 10,000 lives by the year 2026.

The loss of lives must be our greatest concern, but the cost to our healthcare system is also very startling.

The combined healthcare and lost productivity costs will reach almost a billion dollars in 2005. And again if nothing is done, that number is expected to reach well over a billion dollars by 2026.

The report also paints a very disturbing picture in hospitals across the province. We estimate that in 2005, the number of Ontarians admitted to hospitals with health problems related to air pollution exposure could reach 17,000. That number is expected to jump to over 24,000 by the year 2026.

The number of emergency room visits for 2005 is estimated at almost 60,000 cases and could climb as high as 88,000 by 2026.

There are many choices that we make which affect our health. What we eat, if we exercise, whether we choose to smoke, and many other things that we as individuals have some control over.

Unfortunately we don't have much choice about what air we breathe. The environment in which we live has a significant influence on our health. The air we breathe is a fundamental determinant of our health.

Improving air quality IS affordable. We know that the costs of not taking action are extremely high. Lives will continue to be lost, and our economic productivity as a province will continue to suffer.