Sandy Lee

Further to that, Mr. Chairman, I think we have an important section that we added to which is section 1.1, the purpose of this act, which was intentional inclusion and it says "The purpose of this act is to establish an open, fair and comprehensive system of compulsory no-fault mutual insurance for workers and employers," and it has five subsections that we, as Members, wanted to add into it to state and articulate how we would like to see this legislation implemented and followed in practice. I was hoping the Minister would say that this section 92 will be read and interpreted in the context...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I don’t mean to be redundant, but I don’t want to pass the opportunity to also acknowledge and say some thanks for where we are with respect to this new Workers’ Compensation Act and the work that has come before that.

Mr. Chair, I want to, first of all, thank the committee because I think that the report that the chair, Mrs. Groenewegen, read into the House this morning says everything about what we have been able to include in this legislation. I am hoping that the workers, the employers and anybody out there who had an interest in what is going on with...

Thank you. Yes, the question to Mr. Aitken: Does he read subsection (2) to mean that both parties have equal say on who the third party will be?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m glad the Premier mentioned that because I checked with them prior to noon and at that time I was not aware that they had made a decision. So it was somehow criss-crossed in our communication. Regardless, I think this is a good issue that the SideDoor ministry is working on and it’s something that the government and all municipal governments should look at; especially our city. So I would like to ask the Premier if he would employ what resource is available in the government, whether it’s somebody in the youth department or MACA, to see if there are any other...

Can I ask the Minister to commit to…Could I ask the Minister whether there’s any intention under this legislation to give workers a chance to have a say on who that third medical opinion will be?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a number of visitors I would like to recognize. First, two teachers from St. Joe’s who are spending part of their summer holiday to visit us. I don’t think we could see from this side, but it is my constituent Rosemarie Critch and her friend Linda Nickerson.

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I would also like to recognize my family, my mother-in-law who is visiting from England, Peggy Radcliffe; my brother-in-law, Steve Radcliffe, and my other half, Mr. Dave Radcliffe, who is also a teacher.

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Thank you. I take that to mean that somebody…So if there is no condition change on the person…Oh dear, this is so hard. If somebody had a back injury and one doctor says no, it’s not caused by work and another doctor said yes, it’s caused by work, the WCB medical advisor says we don’t think it’s caused from work. Another doctor says you have an injury and it’s caused by work and it should be compensable. You go to a third party and the third party agrees with the worker’s side. No change in condition, no medical opinion or anything. There is no change in the worker’s condition, but you...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to speak today in support of the new program called The Rock Skateboard Ministry established by the SideDoor Youth Ministry. Mr. Speaker, this program currently has the youth of Yellowknife at the arena for the summer months and want to run this program year round. They are looking to secure a portion of the government warehouse building to continue this ministry and are asking for this government’s and city council for support.

Mr. Speaker, they have already had a very good response to the program with over 350 youth attending the King of...

Thank you. Before I move to subsection (4), I have a question on subsection (3), which speaks to the capacity under this clause to go to a third opinion. It says in there in 27(3) that this resolution is binding, so whatever the third opinion is, it’s binding to both parties, subject to new medical evidence. So I have a question about what that new medical evidence means exactly, because it could happen in either case. You could have binding resolution on a conflicting medical opinion where both the medical advisor, WCB and the worker agree to a…Let me just ask first whether they have to...

Thank you. Very conveniently, section 27 deals with the question I had in mind and it's in regards to conflicting medical opinion situations. I'd like to ask either the Minister or whoever on the panel, Mr. Wright, just to explain to the people out there how does this section address situations of conflicting medical opinions.