Charles Dent

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'll talk to the chair of the Governance Council and see how quickly this can be done. With the Governance Council meeting only between four and six times a year, I can't guarantee that the Governance Council will necessarily have it within the next month. They can't always schedule their meetings that quickly. But, Mr. Speaker, I am confident that they will move very quickly to deal with this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The current pain policy that the WCB has in replace recognizes chronic pain as a convincible injury and that compensation may last for as long as the chronic pain lasts, which could be a lifetime for some people if that's the way it was. One of the things the WCB is going to take a look at, though, is specifically whether or not a permanent partial disability should be one of the things that's listed as possible. The current policy, 03.10, does not specifically list permanent partial disability, even though in effect it can be granted to somebody who has that long...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I think that Justice Schuler's decision is quite clear. It says that the appeal shall be heard in a freshly constituted tribunal in advance of the Workers' Compensation Board having a new policy. She recognized that it would take some time to work out a new policy, and provided direction for the standards that should be in place for the rehearing. I understand, Mr. Speaker, there will be a preliminary hearing later this month for Mr. Valic's lawyer, and after some issues there are resolved we expect that the tribunal can be scheduled fairly shortly after that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think while Justice Schuler's decision did comment on the policy in effect as of 2004, the decision and the ruling was based on the policy in place as of 2001. So that was the reason that the WCB was considering having a constitutional look at the 2004 policy, to see if it would fit the test. In fact, I'm advised the WCB has decided that they are going to go out to stakeholders and take a look at redrafting the 2004 policy over the course of the next few months. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe that previous Ministers were bombarded by Members when their constituents didn't get their SFA on time for the start of school, and so the deadline was imposed in order to make sure that SFA could be delivered before school started if people applied before that. But I'm not sure; this was something that was imposed some time ago and I can't speak for why the rule might have come into play. But I can advise the Member that I have given direction that the regulations for the deadline be changed.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We do work very closely with LHOs. ECE and the regional people with the LHOs are working closely together. We've agreed that we're going to set up focus groups, so it will involve tenants throughout the Northwest Territories, in order to make sure that we're hearing from tenants, what the problems are and how we can address them. So, yes, Mr. Speaker, we're doing that.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We're in a process of constantly reviewing our programs. I'm not confident that I'm going to be able to find any extra money to put into this program this year, given the fact that we only have a limited budget and we know that we're going to spend more than twice what's in the budget already. The strain is already pretty severe on the department to try and just cover the actual cost because of the fuel price increases. But I will certainly do as the Member directs and discuss whether or not there are any changes that we could make, and I'll be prepared to come and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think that we can point with pride to our seniors' programs here in the Northwest Territories. I think the programs that we offer seniors right now are if not the best in North America, they're at least the best in Canada. So we already have a very good program. I think it's important to remember that we call this program a subsidy. No matter what the cost of oil or propane or wood goes to, we provide the same amount to seniors each year. So we're prepared to help seniors, to assist them to stay in their own homes. We're hoping that the communities and families...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good morning. Mr. Speaker, later today, I will table the Workers’ Compensation Board of the Northwest Territories' and Nunavut’s 2006 summer issue of the magazine Reflections. This publication is intended to provide both employers and workers with an overview and deeper understanding of the various activities the WCB has undertaken in the last year.

The cover story of this magazine features the inspirational journey of Les Rohac, a man who came from Czechoslovakia to Canada seeking a better life, but who instead found himself faced with the challenge of overcoming a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I've heard the honourable Member from the other side and we'll look at what our options are. Thank you.