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CALGARY — The legalization of recreational marijuana next week is reopening old wounds and sparking new battles between employers and employees in high-risk jobs that could wind up in the court system.

A recent decision by Air Canada to prohibit all employees in flight operations and aircraft maintenance from using cannabis at all times, both on-duty and off-duty, has raised eyebrows on both sides of the debate.

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On Tuesday, rival WestJet Airlines said it, too, will ban recreational cannabis use for employees in “safety-sensitive” positions both on and off the job.

Niki Lundquist, a lawyer with Unifor, a union that represents 315,000 Canadian workers, said the trend is all too common.

“In the past two weeks we’ve been inundated with amended drug and alcohol policies — and those policies actually purport to regulate off-duty conduct, so use of any kind,” she said.

“We see that as a very common feature suddenly, an absolute prohibition on cannabis use and that’s without regard to if it’s impairing, without regard to the legality of it, it’s just a blanket ban.”