Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I have been a very strong advocate for the interests of the injured worker and the treatment they get from the WCB. Of late, Mr. Speaker, issues have also come up regarding the other significant stakeholder group in the workers' compensation system, and that is the employers, restaurant owners and franchise restaurant owners, especially those based in Yellowknife. For three years now, they have been hit with a maximum of 25 percent assessment increase.

Mr. Speaker, subclass 76 now charges $2.93 per $100 of payroll. That is at least double every other equivalent WCB in Canada for that category. It is more than $1 above the average WCB assessment across all of the NWT and Yukon. Let's just take a moment and compare it to that much safer occupation of oil well drilling which gets assessed at about 50 cents less than a franchise restaurant owner. What is going wrong, Mr. Speaker?

Injuries have been costly in this category, but some business owners, especially these franchise owners, argue that they are taking a real hit from the more careless operators in this category against their own unblemished safety record.

Mr. Speaker, they are asking for their own category, claiming WCB rates are among many costs of business here in Yellowknife that are becoming unaffordable. What aggravates this whole situation, Mr. Speaker, is the response, or really we should say the lack of response from the WCB. These business owners have been trying for almost three years to get some response and only grudgingly it seems in the last few weeks has anything been forthcoming.

While these business owners may not get entirely what they want or expect, at least, Mr. Speaker, they deserve a courteous, professional, timely and thorough response from the WCB. They haven't been getting it. The corporate culture of the WCB, as I have experienced over several years on behalf of injured workers, is arrogant, aloof and closed door, Mr. Speaker. This cannot be sustained.

One major Yellowknife employer wrote me recently. "I was amazed that they were locked down tighter than the diamond sorting plants. In fact, you can't even use the washroom without getting a security pass. We watch in disbelief over the past years that this department has grown to an enormous size." Mr. Speaker, what is going wrong at the WCB? Thank you.

---Applause