Calgary Radon Alert: Invisible Threat Escalates

CALGARY — One in six homes in this city are sitting on a ticking time bomb, and most people have no idea it's there.

The culprit? Radon gas—an invisible, radioactive threat seeping up from the ground that ranks as the second leading cause of lung cancer after smoking. A July 2025 "Calgary Radon Report" analyzing tests from January to May revealed that more than one in six Calgary homes blew past Health Canada's safety guideline of 200 Becquerels per cubic meter (Bq/m³). Translation: thousands of families are breathing dangerous air in their own living rooms.

Recent online posts referencing a CBC report that one in five Prairie homes face radon risks have reignited the conversation. Calgarians are asking the hard questions: How do I test? What does mitigation cost? And why isn't the government helping foot the bill?

The Science Behind the Scare

Dr. Aaron Goodarzi, Canada Research Chair and the driving force behind the University of Calgary's Evict Radon National Study, has been collecting data from tens of thousands of homes across the country. His team at the Cumming School of Medicine isn't sugarcoating it—Alberta has a radon problem. In October 2025, Dr. Goodarzi and Dr. Michael Wieser launched a Canadian Cancer Society-funded study to measure individual radon exposure using something unexpected: toenail clippings.

Health Canada runs an annual "Radon Action Month" every November to push testing. Their guidelines say if your home tests between 200 and 600 Bq/m³, fix it within two years. Above 600? You've got one year to act.

The Money Fight

Here's where the story gets messy. Alberta's 2019 building code requires new homes to install a radon rough-in—basically a capped pipe that does nothing unless you pay to activate it. No active mitigation system required. Meanwhile, Alberta offers no broad government grant or tax credit for radon mitigation, leaving homeowners staring down bills of several thousand dollars to fix the problem.

The province passed the Radon Awareness and Testing Act back in 2017, ordering the government to create educational materials. Eight years later? It still hasn't been signed into force.

The Canadian Lung Association's "Lungs Matter" grant throws a lifeline to some—up to $1,500 for low-to-moderate income households or lung cancer patients in Alberta. But for most homeowners, you're on your own. The Canadian National Radon Proficiency Program (C-NRPP) certifies professionals who can help, but their services don't come cheap.

What Happens Next

The University of Calgary is running its Phase 3 Radon Monitoring Project across campus buildings through 2024 and 2025, targeting levels below the World Health Organization's tougher guideline of 100 Bq/m³. Advocacy groups like the Canadian Lung Association and Alberta Lung keep pushing awareness campaigns, but without provincial money or enforceable laws, homeowners are left testing and paying on their own dime.