ties with residential and commercial
development – including affordable
housing – surrounded by parks and
green space.
The Port Lands Flood Protection
project will take approximately seven
years to complete.
These funds are in addition to an
earlier announcement of $65 million in
infrastructure funding under the Clean
Water and Wastewater Fund for the
Cherry Street Storm Water and Lakefill-
ing project. This amount is included in
the total $1.25 billion cost for the Port
Lands Flood Protection project, the
news release said.
Logistec Corporation
acquires a majority interest
in Toronto based FER-PAL
Construction Ltd.
Logistec Corporation, a marine and
environmental services provider, says
it has acquired 51 per cent of the
shares of FER-PAL Construction Ltd., a
trenchless technology company that
offers complete water main rehabilita-
tion solutions, for an aggregate pur-
chase price of $49.5 million, subject to
adjustments. Established in 1986 and based in
Toronto, FER-PAL specializes in water-
main rehabilitation projects utilizing
trenchless technologies of all types
and sizes for municipalities in Canada
and the United States.
FER-PAL has enjoyed a longstand-
ing relationship with Sanexen Environ-
mental Services Inc., a subsidiary of
Logistec, which has developed the
proprietary technology for the trench-
less rehabilitation of watermains, com-
mercialized under the name Aqua-Pipe.
For the year ended December 31,
2016, FER-PAL generated revenues of
$97.4 million and profit attributable to
owners of $8.2 million.
Windsor: LiUNA Local 625
introduces medical
marijuana benefit
An Ontario construction union local
is introducing medical marijuana cov-
erage into its benefits plan, effective
June 15, Benefits Canada reports.
LiUNA Local 625 represents around
1,500 active construction workers and
1,600 dependants and retirees in the
Windsor area. It began researching
medical marijuana coverage two years
ago, motivated by the desire to reduce
the amount of opiates its members
take, says business manager Rob
Petroni. “Our members work in construc-
tion, which is a physically demanding
job,” he says in the published report. If
a worker gets injured, Petroni says
he wants them to have a treatment op-
tion beyond highly addictive opiates,
which can wreak havoc on both bodies
and careers.
“(If) you have an injury, you start tak-
ing a Percocet. Next thing you know,
it’s two Percocet, then it’s four a day. I
would assume that workers, not just
my members, go to work and deal with
pain (by using) opiates.”
The LiUNA plan has two levels of
cannabis coverage: retirees, disabled
workers and dependants — that is,
anyone who isn’t going to a worksite
— will be covered for any type of med-
ical marijuana. Active employees, how-
ever, are limited to cannabidiol oil with
the lowest amount of THC, the psy-
choactive ingredient in marijuana.
Petroni says this approach ad-
dresses employers’ fears “about our
members showing up to work with
THC in their system,” Petroni says.
“And the way we explained it was if
somebody shows up to work and
they’d been drinking . . . they go home.
If somebody shows up high, they go
home. But if somebody shows up on
painkillers, the employer doesn’t know
they’re on painkillers and they continue
to work and I would argue that’s more
hazardous than (cannabidiol) oil with
0.7 (per cent) THC.”
He also suggests the new coverage
could save the plan money. Some
members are taking medication for ir-
ritable bowel syndrome costing
$50,000 each year. If they were to
switch to cannabis oil, that cost would
drop to around $2,400 per year.
The published report says the plan
is implementing a $2,000 cap per
member for the rest of 2017, and will
revisit the limit in January 2018. Over
the first year, it will also track how
many members fill medical marijuana
prescriptions and whether claims for
opiates and other drugs fall, and will
use the data to reassess the coverage.
“Communities across North Amer-
ica are struggling with overprescribed
painkillers in excessively high doses
that has lead to the opioid crisis,”
Petroni said in a news release.
“Our priority at LiUNA is health and
safety, on and off the job site. Being at
the forefront of medicinal cannabis
care will minimize the health risks to
our members and reinforce the
organization’s responsibility to provide
well trained, highly skilled construction
craft workers.”
QUEBEC Police find convicted
Quebec construction boss
Antonino Catania’s body
in river: Foul play not
suspected The former head of a Quebec con-
struction firm who pleaded guilty to
bribery charges earlier this month has
been found dead near his home in Re-
pentigny, CBC has reported.
The body of Antonino Catania, 72,
was found in L’Assomption River be-
hind his home on Lacombe Blvd. by
provincial police divers on July 4.
Repentigny police spokesperson
Guy Bélair said the body was retrieved
20 ft. from Catania’s home. Police do
not suspect foul play.
The Canadian Design and Construction Report — Summer 2017 – 35