Thank you, Mr. Chair. So we're looking at Committee Motion 31 and this motion, this was one of eight specific committee motions, Mr. Chairman, that this committee presented to the WCB last fall. The commitment was that answers would be delivered by the end of 2006 and, I think, indeed they were received by committee early in January so that was just fine. The motion that's the first one up here, item number 31, recommendation is that the Minister come forward with options to expedite the resolution of longstanding claims and to improve the timelines for the hearing of appeals. The document goes on for about a page and a half and outlines the process and the status report of the review committee within the WCB itself and then how this relates to the Appeals Tribunal, which is, of course, a separate and an independent organization that also has a hand in the resolution of longstanding claims.
Mr. Chairman, I don't see in here something that directly takes up the recommendation that the Minister come forward with options to expedite the resolution of longstanding claims. We have information here in terms of the number of days of turnaround, how long or, you know, how quickly or otherwise it takes to resolve the matter, but what we were specifically looking at was how can we, for the longstanding claims that are before the tribunal, especially to me, Mr. Chairman, get them moved along more quickly. The document here tells us that there are 21 appeals now before the Appeals Tribunal. It documents the status of six of them. That still leaves 15 out there that we don't have any information on. I guess I'm wondering whether these have a longer life to them or a less definite process. How can we get these moved up and decided on a quicker basis? That was the request here, Mr. Chairman, and I don't see it answered in the document.