LAW ALLOWS MANDATORY DRUG TESTS, MINISTER SAYS

Lawrence Cannon Says BC Ferries Should Start Testing Immediately

VICTORIA -- BC Ferries has the power to do employee drug testing,
federal Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon says.

And, he adds, he "wants results now."

In an e-mail to reporters, Cannon said he would write to all ferry
operators to remind them of their powers related to regular drug
testing of employees.

He also urged BC Ferries to review the effectiveness of their alcohol
and drug policies.

"Canada's government has a clear 'tough on drugs' agenda and wants
results now regarding the use of cannabis by employees on BC Ferries'
northern fleet," Cannon wrote.

The Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday it found several crew
members of the Queen of the North regularly smoked cannabis between
shifts, both on board and off the vessel. The crew lived on board
while on duty or on call.

The ferry sank March 22, 2006, when the crew failed to make a key
change of course and crashed the vessel into Gil Island on B.C.'s
northwestern coast. Two people are still missing and presumed drowned.

The TSB said Wednesday it had no evidence the crew on the bridge at
the time of the sinking was impaired.

In response to the report, BC Ferries president and CEO David Hahn
called on Cannon to give ferry operators the power to conduct
mandatory drug and alcohol testing on all employees in safety
sensitive positions.

But BC Ferries already has that power under the Canadian human rights
commission policy on alcohol and drug testing, Transport Canada
spokesperson Fiona MacLeod said in an interview.

"It's the prerogative of a company if they feel safety is at risk to
implement a drug testing program," MacLeod said. "And I don't think
[BC Ferries] realizes that."

But Hahn said BC Ferries is already doing everything it can under
current legislation. And while it plans to do even more to educate
employees and harden current policies, "we're still looking ... for
the extra support that can be out there and can come from the federal
government," Hahn said in an interview.

And that support is legislation that enables BC Ferries to test for
drug use in appropriate circumstances, such as safety sensitive jobs,
or reasonable cause, Hahn said.

"Nobody's looking to go on a witch hunt. ... All we're looking for is
every possible tool to maximize safety," he said.

But even the policy relied upon by Transport Canada appears only to
allow random alcohol, and not drug, testing of employees.

"Random drug testing is prohibited because, given its technical
limitations, drug testing can only detect the presence of drugs and
not if or when an employee may have been impaired by drug use," the
policy says.

Drug testing may be allowed when there are reasonable grounds to
believe there is an underlying problem of abuse or where an accident
has occurred due to impairment.

Murray Mollard, executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties
Association, agrees drug testing doesn't measure impairment. It's not
like a breathalyser that measures blood-alcohol levels for which
there is a standard that indicates impairment, Mollard said.

"What it will tell you is that some time in the recent past this
person had ingested a particular drug," Mollard said.

And impairment can occur for a number of reasons, like lack of sleep,
mental health, as well as alcohol or drug use, he said.

Mollard suggests going to "the old standard -- human observation. I
don't think there's ever a replacement for that," he said.