Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a short comment I wish to make for the record. I don't want to repeat the issues that Mr. Braden so ably put together, but I just would like to state that I think we have to look at this as a new opportunity to finally do something on this issue that has been with us for a very long time. I am encouraged. Perhaps it is not a bad thing that, as the committee presents this report that reflects the work of committee over the last number of months and it is an accumulation of the workers who came forward to tell their stories once again and the work of the Auditor General's office who has helped us and actually the Board of Governance who has been showing its willingness to work with us on these issues and the fact that the report now is received by a new Minister of WCB who, I hope, will have a fresh look on these recommendations and apply all of his efforts and willingness to see if we can, once and for all, resolve some of these long-outstanding issues.

I have to tell you that I do sense, in talking to some of the members of the Board of Governance and just listening to what is going on, I think that this report, along with all of the other questions and issues that have been brought forward in the House, has raised the issue somewhat. I know that at the beginning of this Assembly, especially when the House passed the motion to send the WCB for a review at the Auditor General's office, I know there was a great deal of question on the part of everyone involved with WCB as to why our Legislature would take such a drastic action. I think, by virtue of having gone through the public hearing process and the findings of the Auditor General's report and the Board of Governance members and staff of the WCB being involved in this process and listening from the people, I think that even if the wheels haven't turned quite enough, I think there is at least an openness and willingness to look at it. In this business I know that we go on beating about what is wrong, but we couldn't keep on going with what we do if we didn't believe that we could make some changes. So I would like to encourage the new Minister of WCB to take this report and the number of recommendations that are going to come forward to his heart and that he would give it his best effort to make some changes and then he, too, could be a champion of the workers that Mr. Braden has demonstrated himself to be. In a consensus government, we need the Members on this side as well as the Ministers on that side to make it work in the interest of the people. I will be looking to the new Minister to make this happen. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Are there any further general comments? Mr. Villeneuve.

This is just short brief comments on the report. I just want to commend the Auditor General on the work that her team did with compiling this report. I think it has been long overdue, especially for a public institution as important as WCB and how people view their claims as very important and very substantial in how their lives change and why they haven't changed for the better in many instances when they are working with WCB. Hopefully, over time, this report will make those changes more positive for the people that have these long

-outstanding claims that they have been dealing with with WCB.

Again, as my friend, Mr. Ramsay has stated, I have to commend Mr. Braden on his efforts to see this report come to some fruition. It has been taking a couple of years, but we do have a document here now in front of us that we can present and make recommendations and motions on that I hope the government can act on and draft some communications protocol and an action plan that will address all of these recommendations. I look forward to seeing that.

With that, I just want to say that I hope that the people that had a lot of input into the report and provided their experiences and what they are up against when they are dealing with the WCB, that they can have a lot of these issues put behind them and they can move on with their lives and hopefully see some benefits, if they are rightfully entitled to them, come to them and some justice coming out of this report for everybody that has to deal with WCB, that everybody is treated equitably and fairly. All hearings are taken with the utmost importance in seeing that people are treated in a fair and equitable manner by this institution or for the future. With that, again, I just want to thank everybody for having their input into it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Are there any further general comments? We will go to the committee motions. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that this committee recommends the Minister responsible for the Workers' Compensation Board come forward with options to expedite the resolution of longstanding claims and to improve timelines for the hearings of appeals. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The motion is in order. To the motion. Ms. Lee.

Thank you. I just want to add a piece to this motion by saying that I hope that the response to this motion from the Minister, or the new Minister of WCB, would not be that there are some kind of policy or legislative barriers to doing this. I think that there is a lot that the Minister of WCB can do, including looking at new legislation. I don't want to hear the WCB Minister again saying the laws don't allow me to do that. If that is going to be the answer, I would like to know what that law is. I would like the Minister to respond by saying he could change the law, because, in case the Ministers haven't realized, we are lawmakers here, and I think that we will be willing to look at making new laws to make it possible. So I just want to put that key thing to this motion. Of course, I will be voting in favour of the motion. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. To the motion. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Madam Chair. If there is one real tangible result that can come from this, it is that those workers...Madam Chair, I know that the Auditor General considered about 40 files of injured workers and just about all of them had longstanding cases that they were trying to get resolved. If we can do one tangible thing, it would be to see some kind of mechanism whereby they may see some resolution and some closure to their claim or to their case.

Madam Chair, it is well understood here that not all workers are going to get everything they think should be coming to them. The WCB does have a very serious obligation to ensure that claims are legitimate and that workers get certainly what they deserve and not necessarily more. But, Madam Chair, in talking to a number of injured workers, their expectations were, of course, that something may result in their favour from the work of this committee and of the Auditor General of Canada. Of course, that was never the expectation, and we took some pains to make sure that workers understood that they were not going to see a direct resolution as a result of the Auditor General's investigation. But I would say, and this is the foundation of this motion, Madam Chair, that if there is a legacy that we could leave or start, it would be to find a mechanism whereby these longstanding chronic cases could see some resolution. That is the intent of this motion, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. To the motion.

Question has been called. All those in favour of the motion? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

---Applause

Further motions. Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends the Minister responsible for the Workers' Compensation Board ensure the Governance Council and Workers' Compensation Board administration complete a draft communications protocol and an action plan to address the Auditor General's recommendation and forward these to the Accountability and Oversight committee by the end of 2006. Mahsi, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The motion is in order. To the motion. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just briefly, I think it's clear here there is a deadline here of the end of 2006, but I believe the officials at WCB are already aware of the recommendation, obviously, and in our discussions and in public hearings and the Auditor General's report findings showed that WCB could do much better in communicating its programs and policies and its decisions and such in the letters and the way the staff conveys messages to injured workers and such. But I just wanted to make it clear that in speaking and in putting this motion forward, I think that the whole general issue of communication is much larger than just a letter and message idea. Also, that this not be considered as something that would answer to all of the issues surrounding how the injured workers feel about the

services they get from WCB. I just think that while the WCB, in our findings and in our public hearings, while the WCB has room for improvement in how they communicate their message, but also that shouldn't be taken as saying that the product is fine and that the only problem is the communicating. I don't think it should be seen as that. I think there is room for improvement in communicating, as well as improving the product itself, because sometimes when we think of communication and messaging we think of it as if we can just market it better we'll sell it better. But I think in this instance, as I stated in our public hearings, that there is something wrong with the product also. I think that the WCB's inability or unwillingness to address in a fundamental way the issue of chronic pain and the conflicting medical opinion of lack of resources and wherewithal to the injured workers, I don't think that should just be categorized as merely a communication issue. I think that speaks to lack of action on the part of the WCB to really fundamentally address that.

So I just wanted to speak in favour of this motion accepting that the WCB could do a lot better to do their communication strategy and protocol, but that does not do away with its obligation to take care of the product itself. So I just wanted to put that on record. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. To the motion.

Question is being called. All those in favour of the motion? All those opposed. Motion is carried.

---Carried

Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that this committee recommends the Minister responsible for the Workers' Compensation Board locate the Appeals Tribunal offices separate and apart from the Workers' Compensation Board and that this relocation be undertaken as an immediate priority. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The motion is in order. To the motion.

Question is being called. All those in favour of the motion? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Mr. Ramsay.