Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we shared with the Members the nine pages of interim measures that laid out in great detail the consultation that we have undertaken with the co-management boards up and down the valley. We've met with the barren-land outfitters, the Metis from the South Slave, the Yellowknives, as many other people as we can. But we've been working very, very closely and we have done due diligence when it comes to consultation and we are going to continue to do that. There's been, for the most part, significant support and recognition that there is an issue and a problem and that we've taken the right

measured steps and we have a plan that's going to allow us to move forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Mr. Speaker, my questions this afternoon are for Mr. Dent as the Minister responsible for the Workers' Compensation Board of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Mr. Speaker, our Workers' Compensation Board spends dollars, significant dollars, and retains a substantial legal talent to apply and interpret the rules and implement the procedures that hit holes when considering the cases of injured workers who bring claims before it. But Mr. Speaker, one injured worker at least has had to endure significant procedural steps and a significantly long period of time in order to get, potentially, some resolve. The trouble is, Mr. Speaker, that he had to go to the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories, not the Workers' Compensation Board's own, as I say, I think very well funded and very largely staffed legal and appeals tribunal. Mr. Speaker, why did this worker have to go all the way to the Supreme Court to hold the WCB accountable?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Minister responsible for the Workers' Compensation Board, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think it's worth noting that in 2001 this worker, through the worker's advisor, approached the governance council and asked that a ruling of the appeals tribunal be reviewed. The governance council at that time agreed that it needed to be reviewed and it was the governance council itself that directed the appeals tribunal to rehear the case, but the appeals tribunal felt that it wasn't appropriate for it to rehear the case and, based on that, it got bounced back. So the worker followed the process of going to the courts and having the court rule that the appeals tribunal should again hear the case. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Mr. Speaker, what actions will the governance council of the WCB take to address the shortcomings in its chronic pain policy, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At the time this case was taken to the courts and the policy that applied to the case goes back to before there was a clear policy in place from the WCB. The WCB has, since the Martin case in the Atlantic provinces in 2004, adopted a policy around chronic pain. What they have done since adopting that policy is direct their council to approach the courts to ensure that that policy is in compliance with the Charter and all court decisions. They have committed, at their most recent meeting, to revise the policy if anything is found wanting in it.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

So, Mr. Speaker, the court is going to come up with rules regarding chronic pain and how it's applied, not our own governance council, our own potentially Legislative Assembly, our own stakeholders. Is this responsible governance to go back to the court to tell them, to ask them to set our policy? Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I didn't say that the courts were going to set the policy. I said that the governance council had set a policy in place and they were going to the courts to seek a reference to ensure that their policy is compliant with the Charter of Rights and is in compliance with previous rulings of other courts in Canada. I want to be perfectly clear that the WCB policy does allow for chronic pain sufferers to be allocated a pension, whether a temporary or partial pension or total disability pension. Those are all possible right now. What the WCB is doing, though, is making sure that the policy is entirely compliant with all the rules that would govern a policy of this sort in Canada.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Final supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Mr. Speaker, would the Minister or would the WCB, through the Minister, make available to this Assembly, and to the stakeholders, and the public, the draft or the proposed policy that it is going to submit to the courts to see indeed if the policy fits the needs of the stakeholders and not only the courts, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said earlier, this is not a draft policy at this point. It was adopted by the governance council in 2004 and I would point out that the governance council is made up of stakeholders from the people in the Northwest Territories. Business representatives, employer representatives, employee representatives make up the governance council. The answer to the direct question is, yes, I will make sure the Member and all Members get copies of the policy.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are to Mr. Dent and it's following up on my Member's statement. Mr. Speaker, we have a situation here where businesses like Tim Horton's, McDonald's, Quizno's, Pizza Hut and all those businesses that are in Yellowknife have seen the increase of WCB rates at maximum levels for four years in a row. That's more than double over four years. I have, in front of me, assessment rates for the last three years for all the other categories that WCB has, and no one has seen that kind of increase four years in a row. They have been doing everything they can to get the attention of the WCB Governance Council and the Minister. They have held meetings; they've had briefings; they've done everything they can to have them re-look at what can be done to improve this. I understand they're meeting as we speak and I am not at all confident that we are going to be able to achieve any resolution or any positive feedback or as the Minister can tell here today otherwise. So I'd like to know what steps he's prepared to take to work with the governance council and see if there could be any reprieve for this group, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The Honourable Charles Dent, Minister responsible for the Workers' Compensation Board.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First off I would like to point out that everybody in the Northwest Territories, every employer in the Territories has typically seen an increase over the past three or four years. Until 2003, because of good investments, the accident fund was what was called over funded. The governance council thought that in order to reduce their over funded position and to give some money back to employers, that they would offer subsidies. So up until 2003 there was a 35 percent discount. Mr. Speaker, that means that if your rates were $1 per hundred that you were paying, after the discount, 65 cents per hundred. Between 2003 and 2006 that discount was taken off. It was reduced over time. That means that somebody's rate has gone from, or apparent rate, has gone from 65 cents a hundred to $1 a hundred. If you look at it thinking that 65 cents is your starting point, you've seen a 54 percent increase in your rates.

So what has happened, that is something that is outside what is seen as or what has happened in terms of accident records to change rates. Over the same period of time, the accidents that have been seen in different categories have caused them to go up. Now, the board has a policy that changes of more than 25 percent will not be allowed. That's a policy decision. It's one that the board has instituted in order to make sure that sudden changes aren't seen. I'm advised that if they had actually allowed the rates to go to where they should be for this category, that they would be in excess of $4 instead of at $2.93 per hundred. So right now, the board has already made a policy decision to make sure that the amount is, or that this group is, protected from a rate increase.

I think that the governance council members are meeting with the quick service restaurants as we speak, I believe, and I have no doubt that the same question will be put to them there. This is a policy decision that the governance council could take. They could take a position that a lesser amount of increase was allowed and I have no doubt that it is a question that they will consider. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As always, the Minister is burning up valuable question period time defending the status quo and not answering my question. Mr. Speaker, if he wishes, I'd be happy to go over the whole list. You know, I could do that just as well. My question is very simple, Mr. Speaker. Even with the subsidy, there are no categories that I have in front of me that have seen a 25 percent maximum increase four years in a row. These groups are stuck, and there's nobody telling them what they can do to get out. There's no way for them to get out of a different category. There's no explanation as how they can improve so they can graduate from that category. There's just no option. It's like, you have to pay and pay up. There's no means of appeal. The Minister knows already that that outcome is not positive, but I want to give him a chance to explain that. So I'd like to know, and I didn't get the confirmation with the governance council today, would the Minister direct the GC or talk to them to review the whole cross-subsidization process so that no other group could see maximum increases four years in a row? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.