Mr. Speaker, up-to-date, the workers' advisor has been supported by a commitment of approximately $100,000 per year from the W.C.B. I am told by the present workers' advisor that there have not been requests for that person to travel to regions. There have been requests made to me and I have worked with W.C.B. staff to ensure that those requests for assistance in the regions have been dealt with and sometimes they have not been requests on appeals or matters that the workers' advisor would ordinarily address.

To answer the Member's question, the budget of approximately $100,000 has been provided to the workers' advisor and, as far as I know, there has not been a specific allocation from that budget to cover travel to the regions. However, the new job description does address that issue and I am also working actively with the board to have a funding agreement in place which will spell out more precisely the financial support to be given to that office and may identify a separate budget to deal with that particular concern. Thank you.