Jane Groenewegen

I call Committee of the Whole back to order. We have one item before us. General comments. Mr. Braden.

Thank you. You raise a good point. This is good drafting instruction, so that the legislation can be drafted up. This will not be your last opportunity to speak to it. There is always the prerogative to change your mind. To the motion.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll be voting in favour of the amendment. I do think that the way these amendments came forward on the floor of the House in Committee of the Whole is an aberration to how we normally deal with amendments to legislation in our committees. It may only be a convention, it may only be a tradition that we don’t make those kind of significant amendments in Committee of the Whole, but the fact is normally those are carried out in committee and we have diverged from normal process here. For that reason I do agree with the Member that we do need to give constituents a chance...

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Next on the list is Mr. Zoe. To the motion.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will be speaking in favour of the motion as well. I think that if there was a time when we need to be compassionate and particularly attentive to our constituents, it is at the time when they are in need and they have been injured. This can be very trying on many fronts, on people's personal lives, on their financial well-being, on their livelihood and on the well-being of their families, as well.

I think that we need a culture within our WCB which is very sensitive to injured workers. I, as well, have received concerns over the years from constituents who felt...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, for the record, I do believe that Mr. Menicoche does have a point of privilege. If he feels that his ability to represent the interests of his constituents has been curtailed or infringed on in any way, and I think that time is not of the essence with respect to these changes. I think there is substantive time. I would also like to suggest that in fact the reason why these amendments were not made at the committee level was because they couldn't make it out of committee on a vote. Thank you.

Okay. Then you aren’t speaking in favour of the motion. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In all seriousness, if the Premier feels compelled by the arguments that have been made and the comments and the positions that have been taken by all the Members on this side of the House, their comments are also in here and excerpts from Hansard. If he feels compelled to do so, as a result of re-reading this, would he consider bringing the remand closure back to FMB and consider reinstating those funds? Thank you.

Thank you. There is no further business before the committee, so I will now rise and report progress.