EXHIBIT (a)(8)

This announcement is neither an offer to purchase nor a solicitation of an offer
to sell Common Shares (as defined below). The Offer (as defined below) is made
only by the Offer To Purchase (as defined below), and the related Letter of
Transmittal and any amendments or supplements thereto, and is being made to all
holders of Common Shares. The Offer is not being made to (nor will tenders be
accepted from or on behalf of) holders of Common Shares in any jurisdiction in
which the making of the Offer or the acceptance thereof would not be in
compliance with the securities, blue sky or other laws of such jurisdiction.
However, the Offeror (as defined below) may, in its discretion, take such action
as it may deem necessary to make the Offer in any jurisdiction and extend the
Offer to holders of Common Shares in such jurisdiction. In those jurisdictions
where securities, blue sky or other laws require the Offer to be made by a
licensed broker or dealer, the Offer shall be deemed to be made on behalf of
Offeror by one or more registered brokers or dealers licensed under the laws of
such jurisdiction.

NOTICE OF OFFER TO PURCHASE FOR CASH ALL OUTSTANDING COMMON SHARES OF EMCO
LIMITED AT CDN $16.60 NET PER SHARE BY 2022841 ONTARIO INC. AN INDIRECT WHOLLY
OWNED SUBSIDIARY OF BLACKFRIARS CORP.

2022841 Ontario Inc., an Ontario corporation (the "Offeror") and an indirect
wholly owned subsidiary of Blackfriars Corp., a corporation organized under the
laws of the state of Delaware ("Blackfriars"), is offering to purchase all
outstanding common shares (the "Common Shares") of Emco Limited, an Ontario
corporation (the "Company"), at a purchase price of CDN $16.60 per share, net to
the seller in cash, without interest thereon, upon the terms and subject to the
conditions set forth in the Offer (the "Offer Document") and the accompanied
Circular (the "Circular", and together with the Offer Document, the "Offer to
Purchase"), dated February 28, 2003, and the related Letter of Transmittal (the
"Letter of Transmittal" which, together with the Offer to Purchase and any
amendments or supplements thereto, collectively constitute the "Offer").
Tendering shareholders who have Common Shares registered in their names and who
tender directly to Computershare Trust Company of Canada (the "Depositary") will
not be charged brokerage fees or commissions or, subject to Instruction 8 of the
Letter of Transmittal, transfer taxes on the purchase of Common Shares pursuant
to the Offer. Shareholders who hold their Common Shares through a broker or bank
should consult such institution as to whether it will charge any service fees to
tender Common Shares. The Offeror will pay all charges and expenses of the
Depositary and Mackenzie Partners, Inc., which is acting as the information
agent for the Offer (the "Information Agent"), the Soliciting Dealer Group and
the Dealer Managers (each, as defined in the Offer to Purchase), incurred in
connection with the Offer.

THE OFFER AND WITHDRAWAL RIGHTS WILL EXPIRE AT 8:00 P.M., EASTERN TIME,



ON MONDAY, APRIL 7, 2003 (THE "EXPIRY TIME"), UNLESS THE OFFER IS EXTENDED.

The Offer is conditioned upon, among other things, (1) there being validly
tendered (other than by guaranteed delivery where actual delivery has not
occurred) and not properly withdrawn prior to the expiration of the Offer a
number of Common Shares that represents at least 66 2/3% of the Common Shares
outstanding on a fully diluted basis, excluding Common Shares issuable on the
conversion of the outstanding 6.5% convertible unsecured subordinated debentures
of Emco, due July 4, 2007 (the "Deposit Minimum Condition"), (2) any waiting
period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as
amended, and the regulations thereunder having expired or been terminated and
(3) receipt of any required approvals or rulings under the Competition Act
(Canada) and the Investment Canada Act. The Offer is subject to certain other
conditions described under "Conditions of the Offer" in Section 4 of the Offer
Document. Please read Section 4 of the Offer Document, which sets forth in full
the conditions to the Offer. The Offeror's obligation to purchase the Common
Shares is not conditioned on any financing arrangements or subject to any
financing condition. See Section 8 of the Circular for a description of
Blackfriars' and the Offeror's financing arrangements.

The Offer is being made pursuant to a Support Agreement, dated as of February
19, 2003 (the "Support Agreement"), among Blackfriars, the Offeror and the
Company. The purpose of the Offer is to permit Blackfriars, through the Offeror,
to acquire at least that number of Common Shares which would satisfy the Deposit
Minimum Condition. The Support Agreement provides that, among other things, the
Offeror will commence the Offer and that if, within 120 days after the date of
the Offer, the Offer has been accepted by the holders of not less than 90% of
the Common Shares (other than Common Shares held on the date hereof by or on
behalf of the Offeror or any affiliate or associate of the Offeror), the Offeror
will use its reasonable best efforts to avail itself, to the extent possible, of
the compulsory acquisition provisions of section 188 of the Business Corporation
Act (Ontario) (the "OBCA") so as to acquire the remaining Common Shares from
those shareholders who have not accepted the Offer at the same price per Common
Share paid under the Offer (a "Compulsory Acquisition"). If less than 90% of the
Common Shares are acquired by the Offeror pursuant to the Offer (other than
Common Shares held on the date hereof by or on behalf of the Offeror or any
affiliate or associate of the Offeror), or the compulsory acquisition provisions
of the OBCA are otherwise unavailable, the Offeror may, and currently intends
to, implement other means of acquiring all of the Common Shares in accordance
with Canadian law, including by way of a capital reorganization, an arrangement,
amalgamation, merger, share consolidation, or other transaction (a "Subsequent
Acquisition Transaction"), provided that the consideration offered in connection
with the Subsequent Acquisition Transaction is at least equivalent in value to
the consideration offered under the Offer. If the Deposit Minimum Condition is
satisfied, the Offeror will own sufficient Common Shares to effect a Subsequent
Acquisition Transaction without the affirmative vote of any other shareholder.
See "Acquisition of Common Shares Not Deposited under the Offer" in Section 15
of the Circular. Without limiting the foregoing, effective upon the acceptance
for payment of Common Shares pursuant to the Offer, the holders of such Common
Shares will sell and assign to Offeror all right, title and interest in and to
all of the





Common Shares tendered (including, but not limited to, such holder's right to
any and all dividends and distributions).

The Company's board of directors, at a special meeting held on February 19,
2003, unanimously (1) determined that the Support Agreement and the transactions
contemplated thereby, including the Offer, are fair to the Company's
shareholders and in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders, (2)
approved and adopted the Support Agreement and the transactions contemplated
thereby, including the Offer, and (3) recommended that the Company's
shareholders accept the Offer. Accordingly, the Company's board of directors has
recommended that you accept the Offer and tender all of your Common Shares
pursuant to the Offer.

Concurrently with entering into the Support Agreement, the Offeror and
Blackfriars entered into a lock-up agreement (the "Lock-up Agreement") with
Masco Corporation ("Masco") which owns 6,621,334 Common Shares, constituting
approximately 42% of the Common Shares outstanding. Under the Lock-up Agreement,
Masco has agreed, among other things, to tender its Common Shares in the Offer.

For purposes of the Offer, the Offeror will be deemed to have accepted for
payment, and thereby purchased, the Common Shares validly tendered (other than
by guaranteed delivery where actual delivery has not taken place) and not
properly withdrawn as, if and when Offeror gives oral or written notice to the
Depositary of Offeror's acceptance of such Common Shares for payment pursuant to
the Offer. In all cases, on the terms and subject to the conditions of the
Offer, payment for Common Shares purchased pursuant to the Offer will be made by
deposit of the purchase price with the Depositary, which will act as agent for
tendering shareholders for the purpose of receiving payment from the Offeror and
transmitting such payment to tendering shareholders. Under no circumstances will
the Offeror pay interest on the purchase price of Common Shares because of any
delay in making any payment. Payment for Common Shares tendered and accepted for
payment pursuant to the Offer will be made only after the timely receipt by the
Depositary of (i) certificates for such Common Shares or timely confirmation of
a book-entry transfer of such Common Shares into the Depositary's account at The
Depositary Trust Company pursuant to the procedures set forth in the Offer to
Purchase, (ii) a properly completed and duly executed Letter of Transmittal (or
manually signed facsimile thereof) with all required signature guarantees or, in
the case of book-entry transfer, or an Agent's Message (as defined in the Offer
to Purchase), and (iii) any other documents required by the Letter of
Transmittal.

Subject to the terms of the Support Agreement, the Offeror may, in its sole
discretion, at any time and from time to time, extend the Expiry Time or vary
the Offer by giving written notice (or other communication confirmed in writing)
of such extension or variation to the Depositary at its principal office in
Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Any extension of the period during which the Offer is
open will be followed, as promptly as practicable, by public announcement
thereof made by the Offeror, such announcement to be issued not later than 9:00
a.m., Eastern time, on the next business day of the previously scheduled Expiry
Time. During any such extension, all Common Shares previously tendered and not
properly withdrawn will remain subject to the Offer, subject to the rights of a
tendering shareholder to withdraw such shareholder's Common Shares.


Notwithstanding the foregoing but subject to applicable law, the Offer may not
be extended by the Offeror if all of the terms and conditions of the Offer
(other than those waived by the Offeror) have been fulfilled or complied with,
unless the Offeror first takes up (and, in the Province of Quebec, pays for) all
Common Shares then deposited under the Offer and not withdrawn.

The Offeror has the right to include a "subsequent offering period" in the event
the tendered Common Shares are purchased pursuant to the Offer. During a
subsequent offering period, shareholders may tender their Common Shares and
promptly receive the Offer consideration. Pursuant to applicable U.S. and
Canadian securities laws, the Offeror may not extend the Offer during the
subsequent offering period for less than 3 business days or more than 20
business days (for all such extensions). Notwithstanding the provisions of Rule
14d-7(a)(2) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange
Act"), relating to the ability of a purchaser in a tender offer to preclude
withdrawals during a subsequent offering period, the Offeror will permit
withdrawal of tendered Common Shares during any subsequent offering period, if
there is one. However, in order to comply with Exchange Act Rule 14d-11(c),
which requires the Offeror promptly purchase and pay for all Common Shares
tendered during a subsequent offering period, notice of any such withdrawal must
be received by the Depositary before such shares have been paid for.

If the consideration being offered for the Common Shares under the Offer is
increased, the increased consideration will be paid to all depositing
shareholders whose Common Shares are taken up under the Offer.

Except as otherwise provided in Section 7 of the Offer Document, all deposits of
Common Shares pursuant to the Offer are irrevocable. Unless otherwise required
or permitted by applicable law, any Common Shares deposited in acceptance of the
Offer may be withdrawn at the place of deposit by or on behalf of the depositing
shareholder:

(a) at any time when the Common Shares have not been accepted for purchase and
taken up by the Offeror;

(b) if the Common Shares have not been paid for by the Offeror within three (3)
business days after having been taken up; or

(c) at any time before the expiration of ten (10) days from the date upon which
either: (i) a notice of change relating to a change which has occurred in the
information contained in the Offer Document or the Circular, as amended from
time to time, that would reasonably be expected to affect the decision of a
shareholder to accept or reject the Offer (other than a change that is not
within the control of the Offeror or an affiliate of the Offeror), in the event
that such change occurs before the Expiry Time or after the Expiry Time but
before the expiry of all rights of withdrawal in respect of the Offer; or (ii) a
notice of variation concerning a variation in the terms of the Offer (other than
a variation consisting solely of an increase in the consideration offered for
the Common Shares where the Expiry Time is not extended for more than 10 days),
is mailed, delivered or otherwise properly communicated (subject to abridgement
of that period pursuant to such order or orders as may be granted by applicable
courts or securities regulatory authorities) and only if such deposited Common
Shares have not been accepted for purchase and taken up by the Offeror at the
date of the notice.

Withdrawals of Common Shares deposited pursuant to the Offer must be effected by
notice of withdrawal made by or on behalf of the depositing shareholder and must
be actually received by the Depositary at the place of deposit before Common
Shares are accepted for purchase in the Offer. Notices of withdrawal: (i) must
be made by a method,



including facsimile transmission, that provides the Depositary with a written or
printed copy; (ii) must be signed by or on behalf of the person who signed the
Letter of Transmittal (or Notice of Guaranteed Delivery, (as defined in the
Offer Document)) accompanying the Common Shares which are to be withdrawn; (iii)
must specify such person's name, the number of Common Shares to be withdrawn,
the name of the registered holder and, if a certificate has been tendered, the
certificate number shown on each certificate representing the applicable Common
Shares to be withdrawn; and (iv) must be actually received by the Depositary at
the place of deposit of the applicable Common Shares (or Notice of Guaranteed
Delivery in respect thereof). If Common Shares have been tendered pursuant to
the procedures for book-entry transfer as set forth in Section 3 of the Offer
Document, such notice of withdrawal must also specify the name and number of the
account at the Book-Entry Transfer Facility (as defined in the Offer Document)
to be credited with the withdrawn Common Shares. Any signature in a notice of
withdrawal must be guaranteed by an Eligible Institution (as defined in the
Offer Document), except in the case of Common Shares deposited for the account
of an Eligible Institution. The withdrawal will take effect upon timely actual
physical receipt by the Depositary of the properly completed and signed written
notice of withdrawal. Common Shares shall be deemed paid for at the time
sufficient funds are made available by the Offeror to the Depositary for payment
to tendering holders of Common Shares.

All questions as to the validity (including timely receipt) and form of notices
of withdrawal will be determined by the Offeror in its sole discretion, and such
determination will be final and binding. There will be no obligation on the
Offeror, the Dealer Managers (as defined in the Offer Document), the Information
Agent, the Depositary or any other person to give any notice of any defects or
irregularities in any withdrawal and no liability will be incurred by any of
them for failure to give any such notice.

If the Offeror is delayed in taking up or paying for Common Shares or is unable
to take up and pay for Common Shares, then, without prejudice to the Offeror's
other rights, Common Shares deposited under the Offer may be retained by the
Depositary on behalf of the Offeror and such Common Shares may not be withdrawn
except to the extent that depositing shareholders are entitled to withdrawal
rights as set forth in Section 7 of the Offer Document or pursuant to applicable
law.

Any Common Shares withdrawn will be deemed to be not validly deposited for the
purposes of the Offer, but may be redeposited subsequently at or prior to the
Expiry Time by following the procedures described under "Manner of Acceptance"
in Section 3 of the Offer Document.

With respect to certain U.S. shareholders, the sale of Common Shares for cash
pursuant to the Offer will be a taxable transaction for U.S. federal income tax
purposes and other state, local and foreign income tax purposes as well. In
general, U.S. shareholders who sell Common Shares pursuant to the Offer will
recognize gain or loss for U.S. federal income tax purposes equal to the
difference, if any, between the amount of cash received (in the U.S. dollar
equivalents determined at the spot rate on the date of the consummation of the
Offer) and the shareholder's adjusted tax basis in the Common Shares sold
pursuant to the Offer (as determined in U.S. dollars). Provided that such Common
Shares constitute capital assets in the hands of the shareholder, such gain or
loss will be capital gain or loss, and will be long-term capital gain or loss if
the



shareholder has held the Common Shares for more than one year at the time of the
consummation of the Offer. Long term capital gains recognized by an individual
generally will be eligible for reduced rates of taxation, and the deductibility
of capital losses is subject to limitations. The foregoing assumes that the
Company is not a passive foreign investment company with respect to a particular
U.S. shareholder in which case special tax rules could apply. All shareholders
should consult with their own tax advisors as to the particular tax consequences
of the Offer, including the applicability and effect of the alternative minimum
tax and any state, local or foreign income and other tax laws and of changes in
such tax laws. For a more complete description of certain U.S. federal income
and Canadian federal income tax consequences of the Offer, including with
respect to a Compulsory Acquisition or Subsequent Acquisition Transaction, see
Section 16 of the Circular.

The information required to be disclosed by Paragraph (d)(1) of Rule 14d-6 of
the General Rules and Regulations under the Exchange Act is contained in the
Offer to Purchase and is incorporated herein by reference.

The Company has provided the Offeror with its list of shareholder and security
position listings for the purpose of disseminating the Offer to holders of
Common Shares. The Offer to Purchase, the Letter of Transmittal and other
related materials are being mailed to record holders of Common Shares and will
be furnished to brokers, dealers, commercial banks, trust companies and similar
persons whose names, or the names of whose nominees, appear on the stockholder
list or, if applicable, who are listed as participants in a clearing agency's
security position listing for subsequent transmittal to beneficial owners of
Common Shares.

The Offer to Purchase and the related Letter of Transmittal contain important
information that should be read carefully before any decision is made with
respect to the Offer.

Questions and requests for assistance and copies of the Offer to Purchase, the
Letter of Transmittal and all other tender offer materials may be directed to
the Information Agent at the address and telephone numbers set forth below and
will be furnished promptly at Offeror's expense. Offeror will not pay any fees
or commissions to any broker or dealer or any other person for soliciting
tenders of Common Shares pursuant to the Offer.

The Information Agent for the Offer is:

MACKENZIE PARTNERS LOGO
105 Madison Avenue
New York, New York 10016
(212) 929-5500 (Call Collect)
or
Call Toll-Free (800) 322-2885
E-mail: proxy@mackenziepartners.com
February 28, 2003