With various air quality indexes available, and as wildfire smoke becomes an increasing health risk, here’s what often goes into the decision to play sports or not — and how to make sense of air quality indexes when making your own decision.

Environment Canada is warning of poor air quality and extreme heat in Toronto on Monday as southern Ontario braces for a week filled with hot and humid weather.

Toronto and the GTA are under a heat wave and poor air quality warning issued by Environment Canada on July 14, 2025, due to wildfire smoke from northern Ontario. The poor air quality is expected to persist from Monday into Tuesday.

There’s a layer of haze in the air, as smoke from burning wildfires has blown into southern Ontario. And according to the World Air Quality Index website, Toronto is one of the worst places in the world right now for air quality.

The poor air quality that has blanketed swaths of central and Western Canada is not only infiltrating the lungs, but also distressing the mind.

The City of Toronto is providing free portable air conditioners to low-income, vulnerable seniors as part of a pilot program that started this spring.

Expect deteriorating air quality across parts of Ontario heading into the new workweek as upper-level winds blow wildfire smoke into the region. Some of the smoke could mix down to the surface, lowering air quality from northern Ontario to the Greater Toronto Area.