CFL, CFLPA reaffirm air quality policy for smoky conditions

If the CFL’s air quality policy was followed to the letter, the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Winnipeg Blue Bombers probably shouldn’t have kicked off the Labour Day Classic on Sunday.

In a joint statement Thursday, the CFL and the CFL Players’ Association laid out the league’s air quality policy. It says games being played in conditions with an Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) of 7 or above can be stopped.

The AQHI in Regina on Sunday at 5 p.m. — the time of kickoff for the Labour Day Classic — was 7.1, according to data collected by Environment and Climate Change Canada and reproduced on the regina.weatherstats.ca website.

The league and its players’ union held a meeting Thursday to discuss the air-quality issue, which came to light after the CFLPA said Occupational Health and Safety in Alberta was investigating the CFL’s decision to play the Edmonton Elks-Calgary Stampeders game Monday despite smoky conditions in Calgary.

The union said Monday’s game shouldn’t have been played due to a poor air-quality reading, adding it twice informed the CFL in writing that the contest shouldn’t go ahead because of unsafe work conditions.

A CFL game can start with an AQHI of 7.0 as long as conditions aren’t projected to worsen, but Environment and Climate Change Canada indicated the reading was still at 9.0 for northwestern Calgary four hours after Monday’s kickoff.

“After a productive meeting, we will maintain our existing Air Quality Policy,” read Thursday’s statement, which was signed by both CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie and CFLPA executive director Brian Ramsay.

“We have agreed to engage an independent third party organization to test air quality and provide measurements in real time. ​The decision on whether to play — or to continue playing if a game is in progress — will be based solely on these air quality measurements.

“​Any measurement above an Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) reading of 7 will halt play.”

Western Canada has been blanketed by smoke from wildfires in B.C. and the Northwest Territories for much of the summer. Regina has routinely been under special air quality statements due to smoke in the air.

That included on Sunday, when the AQHI at times was a 10+.

Special air quality statements remained in place for areas of southern Saskatchewan on Thursday, including Regina. But those statements were lifted as the day progressed.

As of 4 p.m., the weather service said regions around Estevan, Weyburn, Assiniboia and Coronach were still experiencing smoky conditions. The smoke was expected to dissipate in the evening and overnight.

— With files from The Canadian Press