OTTAWA—Air traffic controllers can use cannabis off-duty but are expected to be fit to work when they show up for their shifts.

Nav Canada, the private company that operates the country’s air traffic control system, has stopped short of the blanket prohibition on cannabis use that Canada’s big airlines have imposed on their front-line employees, such as pilots and flight attendants.

Instead, it is relying on its zero tolerance policy for alcohol or drugs to ensure the fitness of employees at work, which it has updated to include cannabis, spokesperson Ron Singer said.

“Our policy will be for the controllers to report for work fit and not impaired or under the influence of cannabis,” Singer said in an interview.

Employers have been enacting new workplace policies to account for this week’s legalization of the recreational use of cannabis.

Air Canada and WestJet are two of the airlines that have outright banned employees in safety-critical positions from using cannabis, even when off-duty.

What do you think?

Asked why Nav Canada did not follow that route, Singer said Nav Canada’s “tough” policy has served the company well. “We’re going with our policy of the obligation for employees to arrive fit for duty. It’s that simple,” he said.

He did say that company employees — including the controllers and flight service specialists who oversee the movement of some 3.3 million flights a year — must undergo a mandatory course about the effects of cannabis.

“We’re confident that this change in the legal status of cannabis is not going to have a big impact and in no way compromise safety,” Singer said.

Read more:

Airlines impose cannabis ban on pilots and cabin crew

WestJet bars ‘safety-sensitive’ staff from using cannabis off-duty

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