Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? Motion carried. Tabled Document 522-20(1), Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 1, 2026-2027, will be reported as ready for consideration in formal session through the form of appropriation bill.

---Carried

Thank you, Minister. And thank you to the witnesses for appearing before us today. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses from the chambers.

Committee, we have agreed to consider Bill 48, An Act to Amend the Workers' Compensation Act No. 2. I will ask the Minister responsible for the Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission to introduce the bill. Minister will be making opening comments.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Today I present Bill 48, An Act to Amend the Workers' Compensation Act No. 2. This bill proposes amendments to expand certain presumptions for coverage of firefighters and first responders. Presumptive coverage means a diagnosis is presumed to be work-related removing the need to start a claims process to establish connection between the workers' job and their illness. The intent is to make things easier for workers and their families by reducing administrative requirements and providing more timely access to benefits. This legislation reflects the shared commitment across this Legislative Assembly to ensure that those who put themselves at risk to protect our communities are supported if they themselves are injured or become ill.

I want to acknowledge the Members of the committee who have done hard work on Bill 29, as well as the firefighters, first responders, stakeholders who have long advocated for the improvements in this area. While the bill earlier was unable to proceed on procedural grounds, the intent behind has informed the work that followed and the efforts put into this development have not been lost.

I also wish to recognize the work of the Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission in providing ongoing expertise to ensure that any proposed expansion of presumptive coverage can be effectively implemented in a way that is fair, financially sustainable, and administratively sound.

Bill 48 is the result of the work of many. As it stands now, it is proposed to expand cancer coverage for firefighters from 14 to 27 types of cancers making it the most comprehensive presumptive cancer coverage in Canada.

The amendments also propose expanding coverage for heart disease and injuries and include new presumptive PSD coverage for firefighters and other first responders.

I want to again express my deep respect and appreciation for the work of our first responders, the firefighters, and to recognize that presumptive coverage is not only part of a broader system of prevention, training, workplace safety, and health care needed to support them in the critical work that they do. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Does the Minister want to bring witnesses into the chambers?

I do, Mr. Chair.

Does the committee agree?

Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the chamber.

Minister, please introduce your witnesses.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Witnesses with me today are from the Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission: Susan Abernathy, vice-president, legal and compliance. And Curtis Stewart, general counsel. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I will now open the floor for general comments on Bill 48. Are there any questions from Members? I will go to the Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to thank the Minister responsible for the WSCC for bringing forward this legislation and honouring his commitment to do so. I also want to acknowledge that there are several improvements that went beyond the scope of what Bill 29 offered, including the addition of fire scene inspectors, a mandatory 5-year review of presumptive coverage, and essentially maintaining fidelity with the majority of what was -- of the amended Bill 29 after the good work of standing committee. And, in particular, ensuring that heart disease and heart injury are covered by this legislation, because I think that is a crucial piece, and it brings us in line with the most comprehensive coverage in Canada.

There's one small piece that we'll get to later that slightly misses the mark from what was offered from Bill 29, but at this point the vast majority of those contents are, again, to share fidelity with what was offered before. However, I have heard commentary from several impacted stakeholder groups that are concerned that they are not addressed by this legislation. The first being coroners, the second being wildland firefighters, and the third being social workers. In particular, as often their work brings them either into areas that would expose them to carcinogens or to PTSD and other types of trauma. So I know that, again, that was not the scope of Bill 29 but this isn't Bill 29, this is Bill 48, and the standing committee as well made recommendations in particular around wildland firefighters. Other jurisdictions have moved towards including wildland firefighters as well, so we might be in a situation where we are falling behind. I know the Minister and every member of this House cares about our wildland firefighters and the work they do protecting our communities. So, my question for the Minister is what about those groups that are raising their hand and saying we think we should be covered by presumptive coverage but are currently not. Will that be part of the coming 5-year review, or is that something that those groups will kind of have to engage in advocacy through their MLAs to pursue? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Okay, thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. I think right now what we're doing is we're following the trend across Canada on what's being covered and the different workforces and stuff like that. So, currently, we've committed to looking at some of the, adding the other folks, and we'll continue to do that. Right now, we don't have an agenda, if you will, to add anybody else, but there is a commitment to start looking at the other groups. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Range Lake.

Thank you. Will that work be done with the kind of mandatory 5-year reviews going forward, or will there be a separate process to look at those groups? Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. We can commit to putting that in as part of the 5-year.

Okay, thank you. I'll go to the Member from Range Lake.

Thank you. Again, there will be more to say as we get in to the clause-by-clause but this is a good effort from the Minister to, again, keep his commitment. And I do want to acknowledge, as well, the opportunity to second this legislation was very appreciated by this Member. So thank you very much, and I look forward to going through. And I also want to acknowledge the hard work of first responders, and particularly the firefighters in my riding, who were passionate about this and have doggedly pursued this issue for a very long time. And I know some of them are with us today so I want to use this opportunity to recognize them as well. Christian Pitchoff, thank you for being here to follow this process through. And I see my father, Terry Testart up there as well. Thank you for that indulgence. My father was a firefighter in small communities for many, many years, so this is near and dear to my heart.

I know it's near and dear to the Minister's heart, and I look forward to going through the clauses. Thank you.

Thank you. I believe I had the Member from YK Centre.

I'll just say, now that the mic's on, Mr. Chairman, only just so briefly. I'm glad to see we finally got to this point. It was a complicated process, but the Minister will point out we're not the most advanced in the sense of coverage but hopefully one day we'll expand the coverage to those similar to other jurisdictions, like I think B.C. as well. That said, the significant work hasn't been pointed out, which we've glossed over. It's not meant to be a tongue-lashing or scolding of the Minister, but I would have been hopeful that he would have acknowledged the Member for Range Lake and the time he invested into this. Again, the firefighters have not only invested their heart and soul but I mean, we have them here represented today and this was not an easy process for any of them to break through the static of we want to help but we can't help. And finally, now we're getting to that next phase and we'll see it in action. Again, I can't stress enough, my colleague of Range Lake, you know, he's constantly been the wind behind everyone's sails of this initiative, and I think that we couldn't say enough for how much he's dogged all Members about how important this is to the firefighters. It's not a difficult leap in the sense of believing how important it is, but he made sure it never slipped off the table on how important it was and how much it meant to them, this challenge. And we know we've -- through this process, we also know, lastly I'll say, we also know we lost someone not that long ago who wasn't covered and that has struck at the industry as a whole, feeling that, you know, no one wants to feel without hope or feel abandoned and hopefully this closes the gap on that, and it's the reassurance of reminding people that we honour and care for their service, that they really do put themselves at risk, and it doesn't go unnoticed. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I want to reaffirm I'm supporting this right to the end. Thank you.

Thank you. Are there any further general comments from Members on this topic? Okay, seeing none, is the committee agreed that there are no further general comments? Can we proceed to clause-by-clause review of the bill? Committee?

Thank you. Committee, we will defer the bill's numbers and title until consideration of the clauses.

Please turn to page 1 of the bill. Clause 1, does the committee agree?