Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise, too, in support of this motion. Just a few thoughts with respect to WCB claimants in my riding where there are lots of small communities, Mr. Speaker, and in fact I have six. The inquiries that I did get are that in our smaller communities like Nahanni Butte and Trout Lake, there is a quiet acquiescence to when they are dealing with WCB.
They are sitting in their small communities and getting notices in the mail that they are cut off and they can't really do too much. I pride some of the examples that my colleagues have brought out. In the larger centres they are able to go see their MLAs, go see doctors for second opinions, have meetings, but in the smaller communities they just cannot do that, Mr. Speaker.
I, too, believe that WCB should benefit all, despite our locations. That is something that really has to be looked at and here is an opportunity to do that. That is why I am for this motion. Just looking at some of the documentation that is already before me, we have the total number of claims climbing over the past three or four years, but the total of accepted claims remains the same. It almost seems that there is a hidden policy to keep the amount of claims the same every year, no matter what happens to the workers. There are fathers and mothers and children that come from our injured workers. We have an unwritten contract to take of care them through the WCB.
Just looking at their revenue statements, I have noticed, as well, the rates for the small businesses and businesses are increasing. If you look at the revenue statements, you have investment revenue taking a sharp decline because they have poor managers for their investment monies, they have to take it off the backs of the businesses as well. What is really going on here?