Thank you, Mr. Doyle. Mr. Braden.

Mr. Chairman, this is something that I'd like the Minister and the board to really look at with a keener eye. I have a constituent who, in, I think, the 8 or 10 years that they've had ongoing claims and situations before the WCB, they've gone through something like, I think it's almost one sort of client relations officer or claims officer. I'm sorry; I don't know just what they're called, but just about one a year. I think it's been a major factor in some injured worker's frustrations and difficulties. The front line, the people who are servicing their file, change so frequently and they have such different levels of competency, skill or experience. That is one of the reasons why I feel this is a very important recommendation, that regardless of just the...Sorry, not just "the" but the sensitivity training and this kind of thing, that as thoroughly as possible, the policies, the practices, the situations that are particular and peculiar to the North and to Nunavut, that when we put somebody on the telephone or in an office or on a meeting with a client, that they are, to the very best of our ability, tuned right up and ready to go to work and there's as little doubt as we can possibly allow in their ability to service the client from the first day they're on the job. Very important to building the credibility, and I'd like to suggest, Mr. Chair, to the efficiency and the overall cost of resolving the worker's situation, getting them back in their workforce and hopefully saving the fund some money, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. As Members know, we do have a fair amount of work in front of us today so, if you could, please get to the point of your questions sooner rather than later. Thank you and we'll go to Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we have heard the Members loud and clear and consideration of the motion we've invested $270,000 last year and we're going to invest another $270,000 this year. Also to make it compulsory that everyone takes this training so that at the end of the day we have all our employees who have the training so that they can deal with our clients. Again, it's a capital investment that we're very serious about. We're in our second year and hopefully by the time we get to year three, year four, we can cover all our employees. So we have made that capital investment and we will continue to do so. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On that motion, the response from the WCB is that this issue will be addressed in the bill that's going to come before us in the next coming days. Could I ask the Minister whether he could share with us whether that legislation will have a specific mandate and a specific statement about how the WCB will demonstrate its meeting of obligation, duty, to assist the injured workers? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. I'm not certain how much information you gentlemen might be able to provide, but if you could do you best and we can understand if that's not readily available. Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the fundamental difference between the old legislation and the new legislation is to make it readable; make it so that people can understand exactly what the intent of the legislation was, because the old legislation was all over the place. I think now, by bringing forward legislation, by redrafting the whole act so that it's a totally different layout than what we've seen before, would give us that improvement that we're hoping to bring forward with that legislation, but also clearly spelling out especially the roles and responsibilities of the different departments. More importantly, it's simple, clear language so that people reading it can really understand what it says; not legal mumbo jumbo. I think, in most cases, that's what you find with a lot of this legislation. It's trying to simplify legislation, make it clear so that anyone reading it can understand. If anything, that's probably the most important improvement we'll see coming forward with this new legislation. Thank you.

Thank you for sharing that, Mr. Minister. That bill is not before the House. Ms. Lee.

Well, certainly plain language is an important thing but also the substance is as important and also the living up to the spirit and intent of the legislation. I'm going to wait for the legislation. I am going to ask the Minister this, and he doesn't have to answer it but it's something that I will be looking for. I'd like the Minister to indicate whether or not the new legislation, or anywhere, whether in legislation or anywhere, there will be a reflection of the fact that the WCB system...and I think it speaks to the mandate of the WCB which is that the benefit of doubt in decision-making should go in favour of the workers. The practice right now is that the benefit of doubt for the workers only kicks in where the evidence is equal. I don't think that's proper implementation of that rule. I think that benefit of doubt under the WCB system always should go with the workers. I'd like to ask if the Minister or Chairman Rodgers if they could give us any insight as to how the WCB proposed to deal with that, because it's not really saying much in the response. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Minister.

Well, I think the whole principle of the workers' compensation system is to ensure that it's a no-fault insurance system and that people that do pay into it should receive the benefit of the doubt that they are protected. More importantly, they are injured workers and we do whatever we can to ensure that they are able to continue being employed or ensure that they're covered by way of the compensation system. I think the changes to the legislation, like I mentioned earlier, it hasn't been changed for some time and I think that with the final enactment of the Act Now, which is the final phase that was missing which included a lot of the responses by way of dialogue that took place when we had public hearings on that document back in the '90s and implemented in 2001. However, I think it's more important that as workers' compensation legislation across the country realize that we have different aspects of how you need to deal with injured workers and also different types of injuries that weren't there before in the past with regard to environmental aspects, asbestos, and other issues that are out there. I think we have to be able to react to those types of new challenges that are facing workers' compensation boards across the country. I think by adapting from other boards and agencies but, more importantly, implementing the final phase of...(inaudible)...will give us that. But at the end of the day is to try to, like I stated earlier, clear language and simplify the process, that it is transparent and it is workable for all people involved in the workers' compensation system. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Anything further, Ms. Lee? Thank you, committee. We're on motion 36. Are there any further questions on motion 36? Thank you, committee. Now on to motion 37. Are there questions? Mr. Braden.

Mr. Chairman, this motion recommends that the Minister direct that the worker's advisor draw up a proposal to provide for assistance to workers who need expert medical evidence and/or legal assistance with judicial reviews to move their case forward. Mr. Chairman, the response given to this recommendation, this motion number 37, seems to completely avoid the request here. There's no information in here whatsoever that says that the worker's advisor was contacted and asked for how this could be done. All we have here, Mr. Chairman, is a reply that seems to have been drawn up by the WCB, not by the worker's advisor, to why this isn't necessary. This is a question for the Minister. Why wasn't the worker's advisor brought into the response to this recommendation?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the worker's advisor is aware of this decision, but he has not had the time to come up with the final wording, but he is going to have to be developing it and bringing it forward. So he is aware of it, he has been given direction to draft such a proposal. So again, we're still waiting for him to come forward with a draft. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Braden.

Mr. Chairman, it's completely unacceptable that the WCB should...

...should attempt to present itself on behalf of the worker's advisor. It is not the advisor. The Minister has to take responsibility for even attempting to put this in front of us. Totally unacceptable. This is the kind of thing that we want to change, we want to see changed within the WCB. Quite frankly is the arrogance that's assumed in some areas here that it can go around and hold sway and essentially dictate what it wants instead of what we request. The Legislative Assembly is not some special interest group or discretionary body. We issued a serious recommendation here and it was very badly handled. This is unacceptable. This recommendation stays on the books for a proper and a full response at the earliest possible time by the worker's advisor as originally instructed, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. I'm not sure if you wanted a reply from the Minister. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, again, the worker's advisor has been aware of this motion and he is developing the policy. Again, we're just waiting to hear back from the advisor in regards to the draft policy. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Anything further, Mr. Braden? Thank you, Mr. Braden. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The motion 37 reads "Minister to direct the worker's advisor to draw up a proposal to provide for assistance workers who need expert medical and or legal advice." It's a very specific motion. The response we received basically says WCB doesn't feel that that's necessary. I respectfully submit that that's not for the WCB to decide. It was a motion of the communities. So I would like to ask the Minister, in his opinion, or in the chair of the Governance Council, or not an opinion, why is it that the motion gets ignored in that way? No, actually, I look forward to looking at the legislation and putting this into legislation if we can't get it under a committee motion. But having said that, the Minister mentioned earlier that the worker's advisor is aware of it and he's working on the proposal. I would like to know when was the worker's advisor advised of this motion. When was he asked to do a proposal?