Vancouver

Vancouver (pronounced {{IPA|}}) is a Canadian city in the province of British Columbia. It is the largest metropolitan centre in western Canada and third largest in the country. The city's population is 545,671 and that of the metropolitan area is 1,986,965 (2001 census). http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/products/standard/popdwell/Table-CMA-C.cfm?T=1&SR=1&CMA=933&S=3&O=D Vancouver is one of the cities of the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) and of the larger geographic region commonly known as the Lower Mainland of BC. The current mayor is Larry Campbell, Coalition of Progressive Electors (see List of Mayors of Vancouver). Vancouver will be the host city for the 2010 Winter Olympics, 2005 Grey Cup, the 2006 World Junior Hockey Championship, the 2006 United Nations World Urban Forum and the 2007 Memorial Cup.

Air Pollution

There is never any shortage of opinion that air pollution is getting worse over any major city. In Vancouver, however, there is good news: visible pollution has declined to the point where Vancouver International Airport is recording one-quarter to one-third the number of foggy days experienced in the 1940s. Much of the 90 days of fog the city used to get consisted of water vapor condensing around airborne particles from coal, wood and sawdust-burning furnaces in homes and industry. The sawmills that once ringed the south shore of False Creek burned off sawdust in "tepee" or "beehive" furnaces until the 1960s. The fog the city still experiences from 20 to 30 days a year is relatively pure and white (but makes it just as hard to see).

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The Greater Vancouver Regional District makes available real-time air quality measurements through their Air Quality Index http://www.gvrd.bc.ca/aqi/. Data from aproximately 20 stations are updated each hour.

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