Mr. Speaker, I would not do that without the support of all the aboriginal leaders, because they have a lot at stake. When I look at the Aboriginal Pipeline Group, that's one group alone who have a 33 percent stake in the biggest project in Canada's history. We can't just forfeit that because we...So we have to work with everybody and if that was the decision by the leaders in the Northwest Territories, then I'd be right there with them, but I have to talk with them before we can make that decision. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Item 7, written questions. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Health and Social Services.

1. Will the Minister consider listing diabetes as an NWT health risk, similar to climate change?
2. What diabetes programs are scheduled for delivery in the Sahtu region this year?
3. How many diabetes programs/clinics scheduled for delivery in the Sahtu region are geared towards school-age children?
4. When will the Sahtu region be provided with additional resources necessary to deliver their own diabetes programs, similar to the Stanton or Inuvik health authorities?
5. How many people in the Sahtu region are registered as being diabetic patients? I have four questions for the Minister:

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Written questions. Returns to written questions. Mr. Clerk.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Returns to written questions. Petitions. Reports of committees on the review of bills. Tabling of documents. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I'd like to table a signed letter from the Auditor General of Canada, Sheila Fraser. It's in regards to the issue I keep raising: our potential Crown Corporations Accountability Act. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Tabling of documents. Notices of motion. Notices of motion for first reading of bills. First reading of bills. Second reading of bills. Consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters: Bill 21, Committee Reports 7, 8, 9, 10, Tabled Document 104-15(5). By the authority given the Speaker by Motion 22-15(5), Committee of the Whole may sit beyond the hour of adjournment until it is ready to report, with Mrs. Groenewegen in the chair.

Okay, I'd like to call Committee of the Whole to order and ask what is the wish of the committee today. Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Madam Chair. It is the wish of the committee to review Tabled Document 104-15(5), Workers' Compensation Board Comprehensive Response to Committee Report 5-15(5); and Bill 21, Appropriation Act, 2007-2008, specifically Executive, Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations, and Finance. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Does the committee agree?

Agreed. Thank you. Then we'll do that after a short break.

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Thank you, Members. I would now like to call Committee of the Whole to order. We are now dealing with Tabled Document 104-15(5), Workers' Compensation Board Comprehensive Response to Committee Report 5-15(5). First, I would like to ask the Minister responsible for the Workers' Compensation Board, Minister Krutko, if he would like to provide opening comments to committee. Minister Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to be here today to report on the progress made towards the implementation of recommendations made by the Auditor General of Canada and the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight on the Workers' Compensation Board of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

Mr. Chairman, the Auditor General tabled her report on the WCB in June 2006. The Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight conducted a review of this report and provided their response to this Legislative Assembly in October 2006. As part of their review, Members of this Legislature conducted public hearings and met with injured workers and other stakeholders about the administration, compliance and process in relation to their cases with the Workers' Compensation.

Mr. Chairman, the Auditor General's report and the subsequent report by the standing committee are positive documents that identify a number of important issues that need to be addressed with respect to the workers' compensation system. These reports also provided helpful recommendations on how the WCB could improve communication with injured workers, other stakeholders and the Legislative Assembly.

My office and the Workers' Compensation Board are working diligently to implement these recommendations and look forward to additional observations and feedback from both the standing committee and the public.

While the Auditor General concluded that the board was correctly applying legislation and policy, and that injured workers were receiving the benefits they are entitled to, she also pointed out a number of areas where client service could be improved.

In its response to the Auditor General, the standing committee made a number of specific recommendations. I was pleased to table our comprehensive response to these recommendations earlier this week. I would like to take a few minutes to speak briefly about the steps we are taking to address specific recommendations:

• • A draft communications protocol and action plan has been prepared and was tabled in this House as part of our comprehensive response earlier in the week;
• • The board is working with the Department of Public Works and Services to finalize separate office space for the Appeals Tribunal. We hope this can be concluded prior to the end of March;
• • The board has approved a budget and design for renovations to the reception area that will provide a more inviting and accessible setting for injured workers and employers, while continuing to provide a secure work environment for WCB employees;
• • The WCB agrees with the standing committee that training is of critical importance; therefore, the WCB will continue to invest heavily in training programs for its employees. In 2007, $260,000 has been budgeted for training which will focus on key areas such as sensitivity training, communications training for front-line staff and staff orientation; and
• • Next week, I will be introducing a bill to amend the Workers' Compensation Act that will clearly set out the roles and responsibilities for all parties in the workers' compensation system. This bill will also deal with important issues such as processes to resolve cases where there are conflicting medical opinions.

Mr. Chairman, I want to thank all Members for their input during this valuable process. I look forward to answering any questions Members may have. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Krutko. I would now like to ask if you would like to bring in witnesses.

I would, Mr. Chairman.

Does committee agree?

Thank you, Minister Krutko. Sergeant-at-Arms, please bring in the witnesses.

Thank you, Minister Krutko. Thank you, Sergeant-at-Arms. If you could, Mr. Minister, please introduce your witnesses, for the record.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. To my left is Denny Rodgers, chair of the Workers' Compensation Board; to my immediate right is John Doyle, interim president of the Workers' Compensation Board; to my far right is Mike Triggs, legal counsel for the Workers' Compensation Board.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. The chair would also like to recognize Mr. Bill Aho, Mr. Steve Petersen, members of the Governance Council of the Workers' Compensation Board who are with us this afternoon and anybody else in the gallery watching the proceedings this afternoon, welcome.

I will open the floor to general comments. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to thank Minister Krutko and his officials for being here with us today and also I would like to thank the Members for allowing this discussion to occur. I think we are well aware of the fact that this is an important moment because it's not usual or we don't regularly have WCB officials appearing before us. I think this speaks to the desire on the part of the Members of this House to work through some of the long outstanding issues pertaining to the WCB and its services to the public. This is a part of a long-term process, long-term work that's been going on for at least the time that I have been here for the last seven years starting with the Act Now hearing that we

had. There have been series of studies and legislative changes and action plans.

I think this is an occasion for us to comment on the Auditor General's report on the review of the WCB, as well as the response from the WCB along with the other documents such as the communication plan that the Minister has so kindly tabled in this House for us to discuss.

Mr. Chairman, as a general comment, I think the most important thing I would like to see us get a full grasp on and something I would like to see stated very clearly in the upcoming legislation, because we understand that in short order there will be new legislative amendments or new legislation of WCB that's going to replace the current one. I think the important thing that we need to keep in mind and that has to be clarified in the legislation is what the Auditor General said herself in the review. That is that the WCB is a public institution. There is a lot of weight in that and there is a lot of significance in that. For me, something that is a public institution means that it is publicly accountable. That is where my focus is also.

Mr. Chairman, I believe very strongly that it is very erroneous and irresponsible for anyone to adhere to a legal opinion that because WCB does not directly get the money from this body that they are not directly accountable to either the government or the Legislature or the public. I have heard that often and I want that completely discarded. Mr. Chairman, the important thing is WCB, I know they get money from the ratepayers, but they would not be able to get money from ratepayers if it weren't for the fact that this body, a legislative body, a law-making body, made the law that allows them to do that. There is no employer in this jurisdiction who could operate without collecting WCB money. That makes WCB a public institution and a publicly accountable body.

There is a contract that goes behind the fact that WCB can collect ratepayers' money, and that is that employers get relief from any action from injured workers. Injured workers give up the right to sue the employers, so that in exchange employers pay that money to the WCB. So in that very fundamental way, this is a public institution and one that should be publicly accountable. I think that we should take some time and address our mind to what that exactly means.

Mr. Chairman, I think it's really important to say that there is a reason why WCB is called the Workers' Compensation Board. It's not called ratepayers' protection board. I don't have anything against ratepayers. I understand the money has to be spent responsibly, but the board is, first and foremost, the Workers' Compensation Board and they are there to serve the body. It's not called WCB administration protection board nor is it called we will deny you until you give up board. The board is there to compensate and protect the workers, not anything else. The board has an obligation to set up necessary administrative and policy framework so that workers get supportive and courteous service at every level.

Workers have the right to a fair hearing from an independent and a fair-minded tribunal at every step. Workers should have the right, and they have the right, to access necessary resources to make their case and present their case and not the way the situation is now, where the workers have to spend years getting through the process. They have to get their own legal help to take on the establishment that is so much more resourced than they could ever hope to have.

Mr. Chairman, we need to balance this. The whole system runs under the principle that the workers give up the right to sue. Employers are protected, but we are seeing situations where so many workers are having to sue. We have to revisit that.

Mr. Chairman, workers have the right to expect that the board respond to the decisions of the court of the land. When there are decisions at the Supreme Court of the NWT, Supreme Court of Canada or if there are policy decisions in the medical field, even the employers have argued that they would like their workers compensated.

I think that evidence is quite overwhelming that in many cases, and it's not in just one or two cases, in many cases with a consistent theme such as chronic pain policy or in many areas, the workers have not had that kind of response from the Workers' Compensation Board. Workers have the right to expect the...Workers' Compensation Board works for the people and that they would address their mind to change policies with the time, with the changing environment, with the lifestyle, with the kind of work involved, the Workers' Compensation Board would change to address the needs of the workers. We have to go back to the basics. Why does a Legislature like this set up legislation like this to allow a body to collect money from employers and ask the employees to give up their right to sue? Why do we do that? That is so that we have something that works for everyone, the workers, the employers and that there is an accountability principle behind that.

Mr. Chairman, the need to change with the time is very important because when the WCB system was set up in the late 1800s, we lived in a completely different time. The Meredith principle is a good principle but we have gone beyond that where we need to get on with different conditions, different working conditions, different expectations on the part of people about their rights and about their needs from the government in a public accountable body such as this. I can tell you I have not seen any of that. Any measures to accommodate that are being resisted, are being denied, are saying we are being presented with unilateral positions that give no room for discussion and constant effort on the part of WCB to reduce and minimize the role and responsibility of a public accountable body like this.

I am really pleased that we have the Minister and the WCB chair here, because I know that they are very responsive, and the board members. I know we are going to have lots of specific questions and comments with regard to WCB's response to the AG report. I am going to have questions on the communications strategy and what I would like to see included in the new legislation. For now, those are my opening remarks. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.