Calgary Herald

Bus drivers won’t face random tests for pot

- SHAWN LOGAN

Drivers for Calgary Transit and Southland Transporta­tion won’t face increased testing for impairment when cannabis becomes legal next month.

While the federal government is set to legalize the drug for recreation­al use on Oct. 17, it will be business as usual for the city’s largest public transporta­tion fleets, which both insist on drivers showing up to work clean and sober.

Matt Zablonski, the city’s project lead for the legalizati­on of cannabis, said the city conducted an extensive review of its workplace policies over the past few months and determined there was no need to make any major alteration­s.

“At the City of Calgary we’ve already got an extensive substance-use policy — basically cannabis is just moving from the illicit side to the legal,” he said.

“Employees must report for duty fit for work.”

Calgary Transit employees must undergo pre-employment drug testing before being hired, although the city doesn’t have a policy calling for random drug and alcohol testing.

The Toronto Transit Commission began randomly testing employees for on-duty drug and alcohol use last May, after a judge agreed such testing was a matter of public safety. That city’s transit union is fighting the policy in ongoing labour arbitratio­n.

Zablonski said managers who suspect a driver is impaired can have them tested.

“If a leader has reasonable grounds to believe someone is not fit, they have the ability to test them,” he said, noting an independen­t third party would have the ability to conduct a breathalyz­er test or take a urine sample.

“At this time we’re not considerin­g random testing. It’s not something that’s clearly supported by case law. We already have an existing policy that has served us well.”

Energy giant Suncor has been battling to implement random drug and alcohol testing at its oilsands sites, and in February lost its case to overturn an injunction against its policy before the Alberta Court of Appeal.

Like Calgary Transit, Southland Transporta­tion said legal cannabis will be treated no differentl­y than alcohol, with the implicatio­ns for those caught driving under its influence equally severe.

“All drivers must show up for work fit for duty, which means not impaired,” said spokesman Jonathan Weal. “We have a zerotolera­nce policy for alcohol and we will continue to have that same zero-tolerance policy for cannabis.”

Southland employs about 1,500 drivers across Alberta, including school bus drivers. Weal said the company’s rules dictate drivers can’t get behind the wheel within 12 hours of consuming alcohol, and the same limit will be imposed for cannabis use.

Given the sensitive nature of their work, drivers are prescreene­d for booze and drug use prior to their employment, with Weal noting they don’t perform random testing. However, drivers involved in collisions are automatica­lly tested, while those believed to be impaired can also be tested.

And the implicatio­ns can be serious for drivers caught skirting the policy.

“If you test positive for THC (the primary psychoacti­ve ingredient of cannabis), if there’s any trace of it in your bloodstrea­m, that’s it for you,” Weal said.

“We treat it just the same as alcohol. We wouldn’t expect people to have an alcoholic drink before they show up to work and we wouldn’t expect them to take cannabis, either.”

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