Date
June
8
2006
Members Present
ITEM 1: PRAYER
Assembly Members
Debates of June 8, 2006 (day 8)
Topics
Statements
Member’s Statement On Report Of The Auditor General On Audit Of The Workers’ Compensation Board
Bill Braden
Great Slave
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Fourteen months ago, this Assembly passed a motion requesting the Auditor General of Canada to do some very specific and very important work on our behalf. We asked that her office look into the area of claims management for injured workers in the Workers' Compensation Board. We asked her to look and see whether claims were processed fairly, efficiently and impartially, that the appeals tribunal performs its work in a like manner, that the governance counsel’s oversight functions are adequate and that the roles and relationship of the board and the stakeholders are clearly understood.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, of course, you tabled this report. It is indeed a detailed audit. The Auditor General’s team talked with 18 claimants, many council members, staff, medical professionals. They consulted experts in governance, the law and WCB practice. It is 54 pages, very readable pages, Mr. Speaker, containing 27 recommendations, the vast majority of which have been reviewed by the council of governors, the board, the appeals tribunal and, I’m pleased to note, have their concurrence.
Mr. Speaker, I’m relieved, on one hand, that the Auditor General found that there are no specific areas requiring drastic action or to indicate that there is damaging wrongdoing in the WCB that requires crisis intervention. Rather, the 27 recommendations show us that we have significant need for improvement in the governance practices, communications protocols and stakeholder relationships in this very vital part of our workforce governance agenda.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the Auditor General, Mrs. Sheila Fraser, and her team, for undertaking this work on our behalf. I want to thank the Members of this Assembly and our counterparts in the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut for supporting my efforts in the motion that I brought forward last year on behalf of injured workers.
Mr. Speaker, our Accountability and Oversight committee will host Mrs. Fraser here in Yellowknife on June 28th when a public review of her report and the steps that we can undertake in the future to ensure that the WCB merits the confidence of everyone across the NWT and Nunavut. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Applause